Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers

Peter Kenyon Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 12:44:13 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

One simple (and dare I say elegant, democratic) device open to Gordon Brown to silence the plotters would be to ask the new General Secretary Ray Collins to circulate nomination papers for Leader/Deputy to Labour Party CLPs and affiliated unions and socialist societies ahead of Conference 2008 in accordance with Party Rules.



This would

i) re-assert Brown's moral compass

ii) draw a line under central command and control introduced by the Blairites

iii) give Labour Party units an opportunity to back the Leader or trigger a Leadership election

iv) demonstrate his political courage

As a newly elected CLP secretary, I would ask our EC to authorise an all-member ballot to endorse the current Leader/Deputy leader or write in alternatives. At the same time it would enable local fund-raising to be promoted.

Last year, we conducted an all member ballot on National Policy Forum representatives. The turnout was 16% even without a SAE, and shareclub income was doubled from £100 a month to over £200 a month.



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Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers | 14 comments (14 topical)

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#1)

by lulu on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 02:20:37 PM GMT

"Silence the plotters" - funny how you are all in favour of debate until it threatens something you support!

 

By the way the Labour Party is a political party, not a cult where we worship the rule book and icons of Sydney and Beatrice.

 Read some Gramsci you tube.


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#5)

by Peter Kenyon on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 05:49:19 PM GMT

Dear Lulu

A moment's reflection and you could have avoided jumping to the wrong conclusion - debate would be stimulated on a grand scale and condensed in votes by members across the party - branch by branch, CLP by CLP, TU ......, and Socialist Society...

My hunch is that the majority of nominating bodies would endorse the current leadership through nomination - leaving the plotters - silenced.


[ Parent ]

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#2)

by Floating voter on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 03:44:48 PM GMT

According to Fraser Nelson in The Spectator, Gordon Brown's downfall is now inevitable and the vultures are picking the flesh from the already decaying carcass of the government.

There must be some truth in it. When journalists say they are being briefed by cabinet ministers and MPs then it must be so.  Our journalists, at their very worst, just don't make this sort of stuff up.

This leaves very few options. Is it worse to fight on or would the damage be limited - would some respect be clawed back - if Brown fell on his sword and called an election?

Opinion on LabourHome seems split at the moment. Many seem convinced that Labour should just carry on until May 2010 and some attitudes remind me of Behold Brecht's comment that "We don't need a new government, we need a new people." Having said, a lot of posters here seem convinced that the next election is lost anyway. If that is really the case, then why prolong the agony and worsen the outcome? Would the party and the country be best served by ending it now before it gets any worse?

I suppose it comes down to the following: If the next election is already lost then
  • what is the benefit of holding on to the last minute?
  • Is there any feasible possibility of turning the situation round so that Labour can win?


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#16)

by DanJ on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:57:54 AM GMT

"Our journalists, at their very worst, just don't make this sort of stuff up."

Touching faith, but in fact they make up anything they damn well please, both the trivial and the significant, if it bolsters their stories and their egos. We have a venal, corrupt and untrustworthy media, from the tabloids to the broadsheets. 


[ Parent ]

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#17)

by Montreal4854 on Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 06:17:33 AM GMT

Yes and the Spectator is one of the worse, this once respectable weekly has become a right wing propagandea sheet, I cancelled my subscription after thirty tears


[ Parent ]

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#4)

by swatantra on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 04:56:27 PM GMT

Echo's of Major: 'Either put up or shut up'. But I think it was a sincere step by Major, getting totally p***ed off by all the sniping and plotting. And I would say that Brown has just 3 months to turn things around; 8 months is an eternity and will lead us into the Euro and County elections, another big headache for Labour looming on the horizon. This Leadership issue has to be settled around Conference time. And a caretaker PM , like Straw, will not do; we have to go for the long term, and a clear intention of winning the next GE. What Brown could do to take some of the heat off him, is to appoint a Deputy PM; now that could be Straw or Johnson. I cannot see why he hasn't yet done so.


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#6)

by Peter Kenyon on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 06:01:17 PM GMT

Dear Labourstaycool


Major resigned. There is no question of me wanting Brown to resign. The Nomination process is a democratic mechanism to test overall Party opinion about whether there should be a leadership election or not. It's easy for HO to administer, it just sends out a nomination paper to be returned by a set date ahead of or at Conference by each Party unit.


We did it every year until 1997 when the 'Command and Control' officers and officials decided without a Conference vote to abandon the practice.

The consequences of abandoning that simple 'safety valve' for the Party to express its opinion about the performance of the leadership are all too apparent.

Gordon Brown's recent proclamation in a New Statesman interview: "I'll leave when I finish the job" illustrates all too vividly the democratic deficit plaguing Labour. No wonder we are losing elections.


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#10)

by Peter Kenyon on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 09:00:10 PM GMT

Dear Labourstaycool

Nothing rude about expressing an opinion.

HO sends Conference papers to every CLP/affiliated TU and socialist society secretary. An additional sheet of A4 paper is very unlikely to make any difference to the postage cost.

It is then up to CLPs to decide how they decide whom to nominate.

In the example I cited of a CLP all-member ballot, the postage cost was more that recouped from the doubling of shareclub income.

You can't be serious about only 30% of CLPs taking part. If over 60% send delegates to Conference, it is likely that a similar percentage would participate in nominating Leader/Deputy. My hunch is that given the opportunity more would take part.

Labour Party democracy is not dictated by the Tories. it is decided, well at least it ought be be, by its members.


[ Parent ]

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#7)

by madasafish on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 08:04:58 PM GMT

Labour is doomed to lose the next GE. NO political party has recovered from 20% behind in the polls to win. None. Never.

The quetion is: do you want a total wipeout or to only lose 150MPs?

Keep Gordon and get a total wipeout. He eats breathes and speaks "loser".


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#11)

by rosie on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 09:05:48 PM GMT

Labourstaycool

This FACT may have escaped you but Brown is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland NOT Africa. Quite frankly his largesse with OUR cash in other countries gets a lot of voters very angry. Especially when we have people in this country who are homeless or can't afford a home, 4.5 million stuck on welfare, pensioners and low income families that are not going to be able to afford to heat their homes this winter, families facing reposession or bankruptcy right now don't care about Africa because they CAN'T afford to.

All that is before we even mention the middle clases who are seeing their house prices fall and soon won't be able to afford the private school fees!


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#14)

by Free Radical on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 10:39:39 PM GMT

I trust your views are not typical of the Cruddas supporters.


[ Parent ]

Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#15)

by 85FS on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 07:40:22 PM GMT

With Brown at the helm, Labour will be facing wipe out at the next general election. He has no answers apart from the usual Soviet Union style tractor production statistics. He cannot connect to the electorate.

If you wish to see Labour reduced to a rump of less than 100 MPs, then by all means, let Gordon carry on full steam ahead for the icebergs.


Yes but no but... (#18)

by russr on Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 04:27:00 PM GMT

A very good idea. But he won't do it. If he had the balls to do something like this in the first place he wouldn't be in the mess he is in now.

If this last year has taught us nothing else it is that one word, more than any other, describes Gordon Brown: INSECURE


Re: Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers (#19)

by adwilliams134 on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 10:11:17 AM GMT

If he had cojones, he would publicly challenge them to openly support him or quit their post.  That's if he had cojones.


Silence the plotters - issue nomination papers | 14 comments (14 topical)