Tuesday 2 February 2010

it's still going on

Anne Moffat MP, pictured after a GC meeting. It is indeed still going on, as the East Lothian print media inform us. Not clear to me from the article whether former whip Jim Murphy MP is being accused of being behind the attempted deselection of Anne Moffat MP or whether he has been trying to stop it. Those in the know in Scottish Labour (sooner them than me) will know exactly who has been talking to the papers. It does however remind of the some of the uglier scenes at the Reading General Committees, with similarly shouting men at the front of the room insisting on silence while they slag off anyone female who behaves in a way that differentiates her from a doormat. In Reading of course there was another MP in the room joining enthusiastically in the boys' chorus. The police were never called to the Reading meetings, unlike the East Lothian one reported on, and there were times I wished they had been. Certainly the violent behaviour by Basher McKenzie at a different meeting warranted it. Scottish Labour and the national party are on trial here. If they cannot do the right thing then they deserve oblivion. I thank my correspondent for sending me the link to the article. That correspondent also says in their message to me:

Obviously, it's a long way from Reading, and I don't have any background information, but some of the facts in the story have a strange resonance, don't they?

Also, the MP in Portsmouth North (Mrs McCarthy Fry) is being opposed by an RMT Union funded opponent (Mick Tosh, a Trotskyist) standing as "Trade Unionists Socialist Challenge" or TUSC, on the basis that she does not show sufficient support for working class issues. She has been a Unite member all her working life, she says.

It looks like the Peoples Party still hasn't qute got hold of the idea of strong independently minded women representing them. I wonder if Daisy Benson would ever have been selected as a Parliamentary Candidate if she had remained a member of the Labour Party?

Great questions to which the answer is No.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope Ann Moffatt will bring police charges - although knowing the propensities of the police, she might find herself up on a charge herself if she dares to protest.

She is an excellent MP - and also a thoroughly decent human being. I make this point because the former does not necessarily guarantee the latter, but it does in Ann's case.Go get 'em Ann.