Rejoice – The Witch is Dead – Crooked McNicol Rides No More

McNicol’s Departure is only the beginning of the campaign to democratise the Labour Party

Conference delegates let their voices be heard

Socialists inside and outside the Labour Party will undoubtedly be celebrating.  The Witch is Gone and this was a very very wicked witch at that, unlike those he persecuted.  The symbol of the decaying carcass of New Labour, with its undemocratic stitch-ups, its lies and manoeuvres and its contempt for ordinary people, has been effectively dismissed.  The man who put his hand into the electronic ballot box and fished out thousands of votes and who suspended people because they were suspected of voting for Corbyn, is on his way out.  This is the man who tried to prevent legal advice reaching the National Executive Committee and who did his damnedest to prevent Jeremy Corbyn restanding for Party leader.

Detested and loathed, McNicol is now headed for the knackers yard

Fraud was a 'private' matter

Barely a week ago McNicol was refusing to suspend Jeremy Newmark, the former Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement for having allegedly stolen tens of thousands of pounds from a Jewish charity.  In the last few days we have learnt that the JLM, which had been confident that Newmark hadn't trousered their funds, has now referred matters to the Police.  We can only assume that the JLM, which was swimming around in Israeli funds to help it destabilise the Labour Party, has also discovered that Newmark has trousered some of their ill gotten gains.  Yet McNicol refused to suspend his Zionist friend.

demonstration outside conference calling on McNicol to 

In a statement more revealing for what it didn't say than it did say, the JLM said that 'in order "to ensure full transparency, openness and to protect the integrity of the movement, we have referred certain internal financial matters to the police for investigation".

But to McNicol this was a 'private' matter and it was also 'historic'.  Whereas those suspended were accused of 'bringing the party into dispute' for all manner of misdemeanours no such charges were levied against someone who was alleged to have committed a major fraud.  Quite extraordinary even for McNicol.

Gormless and corrupt

The man responsible for the suspension and expulsion of, we understand, up to 11,000 members, has finally been told to go.  Skwawkbox claims that after a range of McNicol’s initiatives, including the premature deactivation of the entry passes to Labour’s Southside HQ of Corbyn and his team on General Election night, that McNicol was finally given his marching orders on Tuesday afternoon.  Presumably McNicol, having refused to give any help to Labour candidates in Tory marginals, because he too believed that Corbyn was headed for a devastating defeat, decided to bar Corbyn and his team from Southside in order effectively to stimulate a movement leading to his overthrow and dismissal.

McNicol explains why he refused to suspend Newmark

I shall be demanding my own reinstatement, having been expelled only last Sunday, since my original suspension was clearly unlawful and unconstitutional. For 23 months I was suspended, since March 18^th 2016.  Yet the skeleton argument of the Labour Party’s barrister, Thomas Ogg conceded that:

All of the charges relate to conduct after Mr Greenstein's suspension from the Labour Party on 18 March 2016. Mr Greenstein does not appear to have moderated his abusive conduct online in any way . The NCC should infer that Mr Greenstein is not a person who will respond to any lesser sanction than expulsion by improving his behaviour. The only question is whether Mr Greenstein, given his past behaviour and his unrepentant stance in respect of that behaviour as regards the future, should be permitted to continue to be a member of the Labour Party or not. (paragraph 102)

However it would be premature to celebrate too soon.  In every Labour Party  regional office in the country there are ensconced those who did McNicol’s dirty work, suspending socialists and fixing and controlling elections and putting dissident parties into ‘special measures’ - all to ensure that the elected representatives of the Labour Party were from the Right of the party.

Labour apparatchik Karen Buckingham refused to investigate the lies of the Right in Brighton

Labour Party staff have worked overtime in order to ensure that the party remained undemocratic.  Wallasey Labour Party was suspended when it made it clear that it wanted to support Jeremy Corbyn over its own imposed MP, Angela Eagle.  Brighton and Hove District Labour Party was suspended when we voted the ‘wrong way’ by a 2-1 majority at the AGM on July 9^th 2016.  Naked lies of spitting were told by the Council leader Warren Morgan and Cllr. Emma Daniels and the Labour Party inquiry conducted by Katherine Buckingham refused even to look at video evidence of the ‘spitting’.  All of this must stop.  All those auto-excluded or expelled like myself, must be readmitted to the Labour Party.

We should celebrate but there is much work to be done in clearing out the Red Tories in Labour’s bureaucracy.

Below is a statement from Labour Against the Witchhunt.  Now is the time to join LAW and make sure that we consolidate tonight’s achievement and reverse McNicol’s expulsions and suspensions.

Tony Greenstein 

Statement
LAW welcomes the resignation of Iain McNicol

Labour Against the Witchhunt welcomes the resignation of Labour Party general secretary Iain McNicol. He was directly in charge of the unelected and discredited compliance unit, which has purged thousands of pro-Corbyn members from the party.

We see his resignation very much as an important symbol and an integral part of our fight to radically transform the Labour Party, which is undergoing a long overdue Democracy Review, to which we have also contributed.

The automatic and instant expulsions and suspensions overseen by McNicol – especially those based on alleged anti-Semitism and those based on members’ alleged “support for other organisations” using rule 2.1.4.B – have brought the party into disrepute: They have prevented and discouraged new members from getting involved in party life, while valuable resources have been wasted in persecuting some of the most energetic and effective campaigners for social change. The purging of pro-Corbyn activists has been a major stumbling block to Labour winning a general election, which requires maximum unity.

We ask the NEC – which now has a strong majority supporting the leader of the party - to implement the following changes urgently:

• the recommendations of the Chakrabarti report dealing with the party’s disciplinary procedure based on natural justice and due process should be brought in;
• all those summarily expelled or suspended without due process should be immediately reinstated;
• an accused member should be given all the evidence submitted against them and be regarded as innocent until proven guilty;
• membership rights should not be removed until disciplinary procedures have been completed;
• disciplinary procedures should include consultation with the member’s CLP and Branch;
• disciplinary procedures should be time limited. Charges not resolved within three months should be automatically dropped;
• the first part of Rule 2. 1. 4. B (‘Exclusions’) should be deleted: it currently bars from Labour Party membership anybody who “joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the Party”;
• the party should reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism which, in its list of examples, conflates anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism and support for the rights of the Palestinian people;
• the party should immediately abolish the ‘compliance/disputes unit’. Disciplinary decisions should be taken by elected bodies, not paid officials.

Join or affiliate to Labour Against the Witchhunt
Donate:
Make donation or standing order to
LAW, Sort code 309473 Account No 21409868

LAW email newsletter. Share:
https://labouragainstthewitchhunt.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=209ee62bc6b5062ed8c0521ad&id=1d62cdea75

Contact: 
info@labouragainstthewitchhunt.org
07817 379568
LAW, BCM Box 8932, LONDON WC1N 3XX.