Black Suspends Brighton & Hove Labour Party & Invalidates
Election Results at Whim

Ann was personally responsible, as Chair of the Disputes Panel, for
suspending Brighton & Hove District Labour Party and cancelling the
elections they held for a new Executive solely on the basis of allegations made
by those who had been defeated in those elections and their New Labour
associates.

Brighton & Hove Labour Party voted by nearly 2-1 in the largest ever
AGM, some 600 people.  Black, without
even bothering to consult those affected, handed down her dictat from on
high.  Her decision in principle is no
different from dictators through the ages to cancel elections they don’t
like.  It is an affront to democracy.

The Progress leader of Brighton & Hove Labour Council, Warren Morgan
and his associates such as councillor Emma Daniels made false allegations that
they then showed remarkable reluctance to investigate.  Black has done no investigation whatsoever. 

Couple this with her vote, at the NEC meeting earlier this week, to
uphold the NEC decision to charge people £25 to vote and to bar 130,000 members
from voting and it is clear that she is not part of the left.  The vote was won by the Right by 2 votes so
her vote was crucial.  She is on the Grassroots
Alliance slate this year but I agree with the Labour Representation Committee
that this should be the last time that the Left supports her.

As Chair of the powerful Disputes Panel she has been crucial in
overseeing the operation of the Compliance Unit and the suspension of many
people on the Left – myself included – throughout the last 6 months. 

It is time to have socialists on the slate for constituencies in future.

Tony Greenstein

PO Box 173

Brighton

BN51 9EZ

22nd July 2016

Ann Black

Chair

Disputes Panel

Labour Party National
Executive Committee [NEC]

Dear Ms Black,

On July 12th, in an unsigned and undated letter, as Chair of
the NEC Disputes Panel, you took a unilateral decision to suspend Brighton
& Hove District Labour Party.  You
did this without bothering to consult or talk to elected officers or make even
the most cursory of investigations.  

On the basis of unfounded, untested and as subsequently demonstrated,
false allegations, from those who had been defeated in elections, or their associates,
the newly elected Executive was removed from office.  The recently defeated Executive was
reinstated by your personal dictat.

On Saturday 9th July, 600 members of the 6,000 strong Brighton
and Hove District Labour Party, the largest unit in the Labour Party, voted at its
AGM by a margin of nearly 2-1 to replace the existing Executive.  By majorities of nearly 200 the members voted
for Officers who better represented a party that had nearly tripled its
membership in one year.

By your own personal decision you decided that the false allegations of those
who had been defeated in elections should be allowed to triumph over the democratic
votes of ordinary members.  At no stage
did you inquire into those allegations. 
Instead, in your letter you insultingly ‘hope(d) that the local Party
will return to comradely conduct’ when it was your own personal conduct which
was uncomradely.

You  stated that you were ‘concerned that the safety of members at the
meeting was compromised’ because a hall which was far too small for an AGM
of 600 people had been booked.  You then
proceeded to reward the very Executive which had booked this hall, even though it
had been warned about this beforehand.  As
a result there had to be 3 separate hustings. 
Nonetheless no one’s safety was compromised and this is another
transparently false pretext for the decision you made.

Despite having to queue for an hour or more in many cases, people were
good humoured throughout and waited patiently. 
The only incident that occurred, a hate crime which included threats of physical
violence, happened after the meeting had finished.  Its perpetrator was a Progress supporter, Harris
Fitch, a young thug who is an admirer of the BNP. Fitch threatened a Black
Momentum speaker, Seema Chandwani and her companion, who had come down to Brighton
to speak at a rally.  This was reported
in the Morning Star of July 11th but you ignored this.  [See Labour
right thugs threaten own side and Revealed: The anti-Corbyn
“moderate” in Brighton and Hove who stands accused of the hate-crime against
Seema Chandwani] Several Labour councillors were present
when this happened.

The real reasons behind the
false allegations are not difficult to discern. 
Even before the AGM, Council leader Warren Morgan had expressed his
concerns in a private email: ‘Next
Saturday our City Labour Party faces a takeover by a group of individuals from
Momentum… They have made clear that they will be very hostile to me and the
other Labour councillors… with some talking of deselections.’  [PRIVATE:
The socialists trying to “take over” Brighton, Hove and District Labour
Party — according Warren Morgan (a member of Progress)

The allegations of a
takeover by secretive left-wing groups were and are false.  As newly elected Secretary, Greg Hadfield
said:  ‘I
have been a member of the Labour Party for 10 years and have never been a
member of any other political party. The only party I have represented in
elections is the Labour Party.’

The central allegation of those who were defeated was that someone spat at
a caretaker.  [Brighton
Labour member accused of spitting at party meeting makes formal complaint]  Even if this allegation were true, it would
not have affected the conduct or fairness of the vote itself.  An individual, isolated act cannot negate the
outcome of a whole meeting.

In
fact this allegation was a malicious invention by Councillors Warren Jones and Emma
Daniels.  [see Alleged
spitting incident at Labour AGM never happened and Warren Morgan, Emma Daniels & The
Spitting Incident That Never Was] 
Brighton and Hove City College, which employed the caretaker in
question, issued a statement saying that “We have no comment to make about
any alleged incidents concerning our staff.” I understand that they have since
elaborated on this refusal to comment.

No complaint was made to the Police and no attempt has been made by anyone,
you included, to see the CCTV, with the exception of the alleged spitter, Matt
Tully.  Tully, a new member of the Labour
Party, has vehemently denied the allegation. 
In short there was and is no evidence upon which you based your
decision. 

One of the many ordinary members who have given testimony stated:

‘The truly extraordinary thing about the AGM(s) was the extremely well
organised, polite and respectful manner in which it was carried out, and which
make the later claims made about it such a travesty of justice. The atmosphere
throughout was cordial and good-natured. The subsequent ballot count was
conducted by party members who supported different sets of candidates. No
complaints were made from either side about the integrity of the voting or
count.’  [Democracy
Suspended: What Really Happened at the Brighton Labour AGM?]

Your decision to cancel the elections and suspend Brighton & Hove District
Labour Party makes you the Madam Erdogan of the Labour Party.  You have displayed an utter contempt for
democracy.  

The Labour Representation Committee has just issued a statement:  ‘Ann Black and the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance
Slate for NEC saying that it
will never again support your candidacy for the NEC and calling for your resignation
as Chair of the Disputes Panel.  In view
of your behaviour, both with respect to the above and the arbitrary suspension
of individuals, of which I am one, I am writing to you to endorse that call.

Yours
sincerely,

Tony
Greenstein