Brighton and Hove Momentum Overwhelmingly Rejects Lansman’s Coup

B&H Momentum Votes to Oppose the Witch-hunt and for Labour to Break all links with Labour Friends of Israel

After Jon Lansman’s coup against democracy a couple of weeks ago [Lansman’s Kitchen Coup Against Momentum’s Membership] members of Brighton and Hove Momentum had the chance to give their views on what had happened. 

Momentum's self-appointed dictator

It wasn’t so long ago that Momentum’s Steering Committee cancelled the November meeting of the National Committee, the very body that had elected tit.  At the December NC Lansman’s faction, despite appointing a host of ‘delegates’ from non-existent organisations, narrowly lost the vote on OMOV – one member one vote. 

A packed Friends Meeting House

If one is to believe him and in the light of subsequent events it’s very difficult to do so, the involvement of all 21,000 Momentum members in  decision making and voting on policy was a matter of principle for Jon Lansman.  When Lansman lost the vote at the NC then there was a veritable propaganda barrage in the Guardian and on-line.  It was all the fault of those Trots in the Alliance 4 Workers Liberty.  All 100 of them were, according to Owen Jones, hijacking Momentum’s democracy.  It was a war of the generations with Jon Lansman, who is not exactly a spring chicken, defending the rights of the teens and tweenies in Momentum’s ranks. 

Before Xmas Lansman and the anonymous ‘Team Momentum’ had gone to the trouble of surveying the views of the membership.  Did people want everyone to vote or would they allow those nasty sectarian Trots to be allowed to destroy Momentum through hijacking a delegate system in which only they could vote?  (it wasn’t quite worded like this but you get the message).  Unsurprisingly most people voted against sin and for god, mother and apple pie.  

Being an untrustworthy soul and smelling a rat I wrote a post Jon Lansman’s Xmas Punch Could Sucker Corbyn and then felt guilty afterwards for not trusting Jon Lansman’s better nature.  After all he (or the ubiquitous Team Momentum) had wished everyone Happy Xmas and New Year and I was deliberately misinterpreting the most noble and selfless of motives as if Lansman was a latter-day version of Dickens' Mr Gradgrind with a touch of Mr Micawber.  

Labour Friends of Israel Chair Joan Ryan MP asking about funding for an MPs trip and to Israel

It must therefore have come as quite a surprise to people when Father Xmas Lansman presented as his gift to Momentum members a hefty Constitution, which not a soul had been allowed to see beforehand.  No doubt it was because he didn’t want to spoil the surprise.  He wanted us to savour that look of delight when small children open their present for the first time. 

However when he gave the Steering Committee the first look at his Xmas present it was certainly a surprise, albeit not not an altogether welcome one.  The Committee (which was not allowed to meet  – it was all done online) was presented with a take it or leave it Constitution which not a soul had seen beforehand.  By 6-4 the Steering Committee voted to abolish not only itself but the body which had elected it, the NC and for good measure the Conference Arrangements Committee too.  

Surprisingly for someone who had indicated that he considered the rights of the membership to vote a principle worthy of going to the stake for, there was no OMOV vote.  Instead there was a highly centralised Constitution in which there will be a 28 member National Co-ordinating Group.  Only 12 of the places will be taken by the members with councillors, MPs, Police commissioners even, taking up the rest, alongside 6 trade unionists.  

The NCG will only meet 4 times a year and in practice will have even less control over Lansman and ‘Team Momentum’ than the existing Steering Committee does today.  Unsurprisingly, tonight’s Brighton and Hove members meeting passed a resolution (see below) rejecting these proposals. 

Brighton and Hove Momentum’s Steering Committee had unanimously agreed upon a resolution to put to the meeting.  I proposed the resolution and after discussion it was passed by 33-4 votes with 3 abstentions.  I quoted the famous Bertolt Brecht poem "Die Lösung" (The Solution) concerning the East German workers' uprising of 1953.  It was most appropriate to the situation we are in:

Bertolt Brecht

After the uprising of the 17th of June
The Secretary of the Writers' Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another? 

After this we discussed three motions – on Anti-Semitism and the Witch-hunt, the NHS and Gender Quotes.  The latter motion, which proposed abolishing them, was heavily defeated.  I abstained on this primarily because although I agree with the sentiments I wasn’t enamoured of the arguments made or how they were presented.  The motion on the NHS passed overwhelmingly.  The only debate was on the anti-Semitism witch-hunt.  As a suspended member of the Labour Party and a Jewish anti-Zionist who had been suspended for ‘anti-Semitism’ I moved the motion.  Many people had already seen the programmes by Al Jazeera  about the destabilisation of the Labour Party by Israeli agents with a million pounds being given to Labour Friends of Israel in order that MPs could visit Israel for a propaganda tour and no doubt other nefarious purposes.

As Colonial Secretary, Churchill had a better grasp on the meaning of Zionism than the Alliance 4 Workers Liberty

Mark Sandell, the previously elected Chairperson of Brighton and Hove Labour Party, a member of the Alliance for Workers Liberty, a pro-Zionist and pro-imperialist group, got up to oppose the motion.  He supported the expulsion of Ken Livingstone for saying that Hitler supported Zionism.  Even if Livingstone was wrong, he wasn’t anti-Semitic.  Among Black people in London Livingstone is almost revered for his opposition throughout his period as Mayor and Leader of the GLC before that for his opposition to racism.

In fact he was basically correct – it is a fact that the Nazi government did support the Zionist movement vs the non-Zionist majority of the German Jewish community.  A cursory reading of say Francis Nicosia's Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany or Lucy Dawidowcz's War Against the Jews, both Zionist historians, would confirm that fact.

Joan Ryan MP is delighted that she has got a lot of dosh - attacks on this Israeli state subsidised body are 'anti-semitic' according to the AWL

At one point Mark asserted that supporters of the motion were talking about a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ – seemingly unable to understand that opposition to an Apartheid state has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.  Becky Massey, a member of the Steering Committee and a member of the previously disbanded Executive as well as the newly elected Chair of her ward stood up to make a really excellent speech rebutting the Zionist nonsense of the AWL.  She made it clear that we oppose things like the demolition of an Arab village in order to make way for a Jewish town for the same reason we opposed similar things in Apartheid South Africa.  The AWL, which  refused to call for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and supported Partition in Ireland, has a history of support for western imperialism.  

Joan Ryan is so happy at having got £1m for her slush fund that she cracks a joke

The meeting voted 28-6 with 10 abstentions to support the motion.  We were then faced with the choice of which motion to send to the forthcoming Momentum national policy making conference and a vote was taken after two short speeches.  The meeting voted by 28-18 with some abstentions to send the motion on Anti-Semitism and the Witch-hunt to conference and thus support all those who are suspended because of bogus allegations of anti-Semitism.  The motion also called for links to Labour Friends of Israel to be broken.

The meeting then broke up into 3 constituency meetings so that people could ensure that there were enough people willing to stand for places on the Executives of the three constituency Labour Parties.  After Labour’s NEC under Ann Black suspended Brighton and Hove Labour Party on July 4^th last year, because the Right had lost the elections, a decision was subsequently taken to break the district party, comprising all 3 Brighton and Hove constituencies, into its component parts.

I counted at one stage 57 people in what was a good natured and lively meeting.  We also voted to send 8 delegates to Momentum’s conference, 4 men and 4 women.

Resolution on Current Situation

1.       We condemn the attempt by Jon Lansman and the majority of the Steering Committee to abolish the National Committee and the Conference Arrangements Committee, which was elected at the December NC meeting. 

2.       It is not possible for the Steering Committee, which was elected by the NC, to abolish the very body which elected it.  

3.       We do not recognise the newly-announced ‘Constitution’ imposed by way of an email.  It has no validity. We note that the Steering Committee, let alone the National Committee, was not even given an opportunity to discuss this proposed Constitution. 

4.       We particularly condemn the fact that those who refuse to accept an imposed, undemocratic Constitution, will be deemed to have resigned from Momentum.

5.       6.       We wish to give full support to the elected National and Conference Arrangement Committees.  We urge that a national delegate conference open to all Momentum groups and oppressed groups be convened as a matter of urgency and ask that in the meantime a bank account etc. be opened by the NC in order that the necessary financial arrangements can be made.

7.       We call on other Momentum groups and oppressed groups to boycott the proposed conference that Jon Lansman and the Steering Committee majority are organising.  It will be undemocratic and will not discuss policy, the new 'constitution' or motions.  Likewise we urge members to boycott elections to the new National Co-ordinating Group.  The NCG has no political, moral or legal validity.

8.       We urge that Jon Lansman and the Steering Committee majority to place all Momentum data in the hands of the Steering Committee and warn them that any ‘change in use’ of that data will be illegal under the Data Protection Act 1998.

9.       We hope that the Steering Committee rethinks its decisions as to the agreed Conference as it has clearly led to widespread anger and confusion amongst Momentum activists, including calls for a split.

Anti-Semitism and the Witch-hunt – Motion for Momentum Conference

Conference believes:

i.               That there has been a systematic and concerted attempt to destabilise the Labour Party with false allegations of anti-Semitism. 

ii.             That the sudden upsurge in anti-Semitism in the Labour Party when Corbyn became leader was a fiction created and sustained by a well organised campaign by both the Israel lobby and pro-Israel supporters within the Labour Party. 

iii.           The Labour Party has been the target of black propaganda or psyops by the Israeli embassy.  Corbyn was himself initially targeted as an anti-Semite by the Daily Mail and Guardian. 

iv.           We note the recent Al Jazeera programmes ‘The Lobby’ which revealed the involvement of the Israeli Embassy and its Senior Political Officer, Shai Masot, in destabilising the Labour Party.  We note Masot’s close links with Labour Friends of Israel, including his attempts to create a new Young LFI.  We also note the links between the Jewish Labour Movement and the Israeli Embassy. 

We propose:

1.             That those suspended as a result of the bogus allegations of anti-Semitism, in particular Jackie Walker, Ken Livingstone and Tony Greenstein, are reinstated immediately.  That no one should remain suspended unless there is clear and convincing prima facie evidence of racism and they should be notified of such evidence immediately in line with the recommendations of the Chakrabarti Report, which to date has been ignored.  Further that the new Momentum Committee takes up the witch hunt as an immediate priority.

2.             That an inquiry is set up into the background of both the wave of suspensions last summer and the false anti-Semitism campaign in the Labour Party with particular regard to the allegations against Oxford University Labour Club, the incidents at the Chakrabarti press conference and the participation of two Labour members in the flawed Home Affairs Select Committee report which attacked Corbyn, Chakrabarti and others.

3.             That it is unacceptable that an affiliated socialist society should be the British wing of an overseas party, the Israeli Labour Party.  We note that the JLM is an affiliate of the World Zionist Organisation, an openly racist organisation.  We demand that the JLM be disaffiliated and that a genuine Jewish section of the Labour Party, which is not Zionist, to which all Jewish members can belong, is established.

4.              That the Labour Party cuts its ties with Labour Friends of Israel, which operates as an extension of the Israeli Embassy inside the Labour Party.  It is unacceptable that an Israeli state lobby should operate inside the Labour Party.  The Al Jazeera revelations clearly show that Friends of Israel groups are an extension of the Israeli Embassy.

Warren Morgan, Emma Daniels & The Spitting Incident That Never Was

The Lies that led to the Overturning of Elections & the Suspension of Brighton & Hove Labour Party

One of Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party’s three AGM meetings on Saturday (Photograph:L @MichaelH14)

Momentum rally at Brighthelm Centre before AGM - hall is jam packed with nearly 200 outside unable to get in

Councillor Warren Morgan, Labour leader of Council, is certain that incident happened despite producing no an iota of proof.  The arrogance of the man is demonstrated at the end - he is no Mr Morgan but Councillor Morgan.  No doubt in time he will be rewarded with an even nobler title!

The real reason why Morgan invented a spitting incident - it was the only way to avoid what he termed 'an outright opponent' winning the election

Despite seeing nothing Warren Morgan is adamant that Kyle MP was abused and venue staff (note the plural) were spat on - of course Warren Morgan has a vested interest in there being such an incident

Morgan is 'saddened' that people question his lies - it is from 'people who were not there' but Morgan never claimed to actually witnessed anything - nonetheless he is in favour of expelling the person concerned

Warren Morgan's lies continue - 'several others have confirmed' yet there is no victim and no complaint and no witness names either.  Nonetheless according to  Morgan 'Someone was spat on' - a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie

Despite being contradicted and told his allegations were 'a complete lie' Warren Morgan says that 'unhappy security staff member' and CCTV footage will prove him right - problem is that they don't!

This is the story of how a false allegation of spitting at the Brighton & Hove Labour Party AGM was made into the pretext for shutting down the B&H party and cancelling the elections, in which 600 people had voted.  Despite allegations stemming from Councillors Warren Morgan and Emma Daniels that there had been a spitting incident, no victim has been produced, no complaint has been made, no CCTV has been produced nor have the Police haven't been contacted - indeed there is no evidence whatsoever apart from the lies of Daniels and Warren Morgan that an incident took place, though even they can't bring themselves to say that they actually witnessed it.

Unsigned letter sent to Secretary suspending party and accepting allegations without investigation

But even if there had been a spitting incident.  Suppose that one individual had behaved in such a manner, would that have been a reason to cancel an election in which 600 people took place?  It is reason to deal with the person concerned but it is not a reason why 600 people should be penalised.  Likewise the allegation of crowding, alleged safety concerns (though no one was hurt in any way) are just pretexts for Labour's Right-wing inability to accept a vote that goes against them.

The one serious incident that did take place hasn't merited any comment by Warren Morgan or fellow Council liar Emma Daniels, even though it was witnessed by Cllr. Julie Cattell

On Friday 8^th July, Warren Morgan, leader of Brighton & Hove Council and member of Progress, issued a panicked e-mail to a closed circle of his friends and cronies.  Morgan complained of a ‘take-over by a group of individuals from Momentum… and other fringe left-wing groups.’  Morgan warned that ‘Around 100 or so are signed up to attend a rally held just prior to the AGM.’

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, who lives in Hove, has been vociferous in attacking an election which her friends lost - which is quite understandable from a member of the unelected House of Lords

Warren Morgan, who last summer supported the 4.5% candidate Liz Kendall in the Labour leadership elections, showed just how out of touch he was.  Some 800+ people attended a rally that was so large that around 200 people couldn’t even get into the Brighthelm Centre.

Many of those at the rally made their way to the Labour Party AGM and voted to oust the old incompetent Executive.  An Executive so incompetent that despite being warned that a hall holding 200 people wasn’t sufficiently large to hold an AGM for the 6,000 members of Brighton and Hove Labour Party, went ahead and booked it anyway .

Emma Daniel states as fact that the caretaker was spat at - but complains that a newspaper is 'hassling' the original liar Warren Morgan for a comment

When confronted by the person who allegedly spat at a caretaker, Emma Daniels backs off saying 'I haven't accused you of anything' Daniels is happy to make allegations but slow to corroborate them

Daniels   doesn't like being held accountable for her lies and demands that the person she was responsible for accusing of spitting stop tweeting her with 'no evidence' normally it is the accuser who should provide the evidence

Because of the good humour, sense and patience of people queuing to vote, despite having had to wait over an hour in many cases, the meeting went on smoothly despite people having to vote at 3 separate hustings.

Up to her neck in it - Emma Daniels asks why a security guard would lie to her when the obvious question is why was she lying

Some people, in particular Peter Kyle MP and Warren Morgan and hangers on like Emma Daniels were anything but happy.  Indeed they were furious.  They had spent their lives fighting the Left.   They felt comfortable in their existing relationships with the Tories on the Council, with whom they have few real political differences.  The enemy within, socialists, had captured the Party that had given them so much.

An orderly queue forms outside City College

long but orderly queues - people determined to vote - perhaps they will expel 200 people to get the right result next time?

Together with dinosaurs and fossils such as his nobleness Baron Steven Bassam of Brighton and her ladyship Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (though she doesn’t live there!) the basis of a plan took shape.  The idea was to emphasise the chaos of the meeting and then to inflate what was apparently a minor difference of opinion over a locked door into a major spitting incident.  By her own admission, Emma Daniels – member of the racist Zionist Labour Movement and an arch Blairite – was the first to create a storm out of a mill pool. 

Nicky Eason, a member of the previous Executive, who was voted out by the largest majority of all, takes the allegation of spitting as fact although she must have known it was a fabrication

The scene was thus set for an approach to staff in Labour HQ.  Despite Corbyn winning the leadership he hasn’t taken control of the civil service which has been running a slow burning witch hunt in the past few months via the Stalinist named Control Unit.  Closing down a dissident Labour Party is bread and butter to these people.

Warren Morgan issued a Press Statement on the Monday July 11^th stating that

'I am sorry to hear that our local MP was subject to abuse by some of those attending, and that a member of venue staff unconnected with the meeting was spat on. This is not behaviour we should tolerate in local politics or our city, and I expect the new Executive officers to identify and expel the individual concerned swiftly.'  

Note how the 'spitting incident' is a fact and how Peter Kyle has also been made the subject of abuse, though Warren Morgan doesn't tell us what this abuse consists of.  Warren Morgan, of course, was in no position to know whether there had been any spitting since he hadn't himself witnessed this alleged incident.

With the aid of the NEC’s Disputes panel, Morgan and co. secured a decision to void the result of democratic elections and to reinstate the old Executive Committee.  An unsigned letter from Labour Party HQ to the new Secretary, Greg Hadfield, spoke of ‘reports from the ballot results were not properly reached.’  It is clear that the email was drawn up in a hurry, in response to a complaint against Warren Morgan.  What does it mean that ‘the ballot results were not properly reached.’ apart from the fact that the right result was not reached?  This is bureaucratic gobbledydook.  No one has alleged people voted who weren’t entitled to or that there was fraud or malpractice in the counting thereof.  It is clear that the purpose of the letter was to cast aspersions whilst providing no evidential basis for their decision.

Matt Tully, the accused, in front of City College

This letter from LP HQ is quite amazing.  It talks of ‘the safety of members at the meeting was compromised’ – which was the reason why there was a minor disagreement with a caretaker, not a security guard.  The reason for the overcrowding and the safety concerns was that the old Executive had booked a room far too small for those attending.  So what do the witch hunters of Labour’s Disputes Panel do?  They put the same useless Executive back in charge!

The NEC letter doesn’t even pretend to investigate the matter.  On the basis of Warren Morgan’s organised complaints they shut down the party, suspending it, banning meetings and reinstating the old Executive.  The final line ‘I hope that the Party will return to comradely conduct’ seems like a sick joke.  It is the uncomradeliness of the complainants and their willing stooges at Labour Party HQ which is the problem, not the behaviour of members.

Emma Daniels spoke of the spitting incident as a fact ‘Wow the member yesterday who spat at the security guard (on CCTV) is demanding an apology for smears’.  She neither saw the alleged incident nor did she see any CCTV.  She complained that the Morning Star, which carried a story detailing how a member, Matt Tully, had been falsely accused of spitting, was ‘hassling Warren’ about it, i.e. trying to get a quote from Morgan.  Presumably Daniels thought that Morgan should have been free to make false allegations without being questioned on them.  Ms Daniels nonetheless had the audacity to proclaim that “It’s best just to let people run an investigation properly.”  Clearly she didn't need any investigation to make up her own mind.

Despite having stated that the spitting incident was a fact, Councillor Daniel said: “I think Greg has compromised the investigation by getting involved.”  Presumably her own involvement didn't compromise anything.

Matt Tully has since made a complaint about the spitting incident to Iain McNicol, Labour's General Secretary, though it is highly unlikely that McNicol, who is the eminent grise behind the suspensions, will carry out any investigation.

It’s not surprising that the Morning Star tried to obtain a comment from Warren Morgan since he had stated, in a comment on an article in Brighton & Hove that ‘The incident happened.  I’ve spoke to 3 Party members who spoke to the staff member who was spat on.  CCTV is likely to have captured it.’ We haven’t of course been told the names of the 3 members, though we can guess.

The ‘spitting incident’ was clearly concocted out of nothing between Daniels, Kyle and Morgan.  Cllr. Daniel Yates, another member of the Progress tribe, also contributed his pennyworth asking Matt Tully ‘how did they identify you if you did not spit at him?  Was he just mistaken.’

There is just one problem with all of this.  No complaint was made by the person, a member of the City College staff, who had allegedly been spat at.  There was no victim and therefore no CCTV.  One would have expected the City College authorities to have complained in the strongest manner if one of their staff members had been abused and spat at by someone attending the Labour Party AGM.  Yet when asked for a comment, City College issued a statement saying that ‘We have no comment to make about any alleged incidents concerning our staff.’  That is it.  It doesn’t even accept there was an incident.  There is no mention of CCTV.  The inference is clear.  There is no evidence because there was no incident. 

Warren Morgan, Peter Kyle and Emma Daniels between them manufactured an incident out of nothing.  Why?  Because they couldn’t accept the fact that their favoured candidates had overwhelmingly been defeated by a vote of the membership which wanted change.  Like any aspiring South American dictator they sought to annul the vote that delivered, for them, the wrong results. 

And having failed to win the vote they are now seeking to engage in a McCarthyist witch hunt against the new Chair Mark Sandell and Phil Clarke, a new Executive member and Secretary of Brighton and Hove Trades Council and a member of the NUT Executive.  Whilst ex-Tories and ex-UKIPPERS are welcomed into the Party, socialists are distinctly unwelcome to the Tory Progress Party that Daniels, Morgan and Kyle are signed up to.

But if Daniels, Kyle and Morgan are eager to invent incidents that didn’t happen, they are doing their best not to condemn a very real incident that did happen.  After speaking to the Momentum meeting, Seema Chandwani and Michael Calderbank were accosted in a pub by two  thugs, including an acolyte of Morgan and threatened with violence.  They faced ‘physical threats, swearing and aggression’ from 2 friends of Morgan and Daniel.  Present were 2 Labour councillors including Julie Cattell, the far-Right councillor from Preston Ward.  A full description of what took place was covered in an article in the Morning Star of July 11^th.

Below is a statement by the person accused of spitting, Matt Tully and you can access copies of all relevant material into the gerrymandering and subversion of Brighton Labour Party democracy here. 

Tony Greenstein

Brighton Labour member accused of spitting at party meeting makes formal complaint

Frank le Duc Posted On 18 Jul 2016 at 9:57 pm

A Brighton Labour Party member accused of spitting at a college caretaker at a packed meeting has made formal complaints as he attempts to clear his name.

Matt Tully, 36, said today (Monday 18 July) that he did not spit at anyone although a Labour Party staff member accused him of doing so in front of several party members.

The accusation was made at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party at City College, in Pelham Street, Brighton, on Saturday 9 July.

Mr Tully has complained to City College about the caretaker and to the Labour Party after the accusation was tweeted by, among others, council leader Warren Morgan.

He said that he had not ruled out legal action – such as a claim for defamation of character – adding: “It is my intention to pursue this and I will consider my options. I just want to do things in the correct way.”

He asked Councillor Morgan to retract the allegation on Twitter, identifying himself as the person accused of spitting. He said: “I identified myself (on Twitter) because I wanted the rumours and false allegations to stop.”

Matt Tully

Councillor Emma Daniel said that she had spoken to the caretaker at the meeting. She said that he told her that when he went to shut the doors “one guy was pretty horrible and spat on the floor in front of me”.

Councillor Daniel said that she reported the claim to party staff and executive members and said that she had “no idea who the person was” until he identified himself on Twitter.

She added: “It’s best just to let people run an investigation properly.”

Since the AGM the local party has been suspended by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) after “many complaints and reports of concern”.

An email, reporting the suspension of the local party, said: “These allege abusive behaviour by some attendees as well as reports that the ballot results were not properly reached.”

The election of a new executive committee – predominantly supporters of Jeremy Corbyn – at the AGM has been declared void.

The old executive committee remains in office until a new AGM and election in the autumn after Mr Corbyn learns whether he will be replaced as Labour leader.

The local party was suspended on Thursday (14 July) and yesterday (Sunday 17 July) Baroness Maggie Jones, who lives in Hove, spoke out on the Sunday Politics South East on BBC One.

She said the AGM “was a badly organised meeting”, adding that she “did witness one of the officials being very upset because he had to deal with a spitting incident”.

She also said that there were “entryists” at the meeting, indicating that they included those elected to the executive committee at the AGM.

One of them, Mark Sandell, who was elected to chair the local party, denied the claim on the same edition of the Sunday Politics.

Another, Phil Clarke, said that he had stood against Labour in previous elections and that this was known when he joined the party.

Like all the candidates, he said, his name and candidacy was published eight days before the AGM, adding: “No complaints were raised and nobody took issue with me standing.”

He said that the real reason that the local party had been suspended was because the NEC “did not like Jeremy Corbyn supporters being elected at a fabulous and well-organised meeting attended by more than 600 members”.

Greg Hadfield, who was elected to the post of secretary, has put together a dossier about the meeting and the claims.

Councillor Daniel said: “I think Greg has compromised the investigation by getting involved.”

But Mr Tully, in his formal complaint to Labour Party general secretary Iain McNicol, said that Councillor Morgan had subverted natural justice through his involvement.

He alleged that the council leader had “brought the party into disrepute” by alleging that staff at City College were spat on, adding: “These irresponsible allegations, which were quickly rebutted by others present, were nevertheless repeated without any concern for natural justice or the complaints procedures of the Labour Party.

“At least three other members of Councillor Morgan’s Labour group (of councillors) repeated the allegations, assumed them to be true and ignored my protestations of innocence.”

Sussex Police said that no complaint had been received of spitting at the meeting while City College has received a complaint – but from Mr Tully, not about him.

Having been identified while in the meeting and concerned to clear his name, Mr Tully added that Councillor Morgan’s allegations had “caused me immense distress”.

Alleged spitting incident at Labour AGM ‘never happened’

By Bex Bastable on July 18, 2016

An alleged ‘spitting incident’, which may have led to the suspension of the Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party, ‘never happened’, according to the man who has outed himself as the accused.

Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) suspended the local party on Thursday (July 14), following the local branch’s AGM meeting the previous Saturday (July 8) at City College, where Jeremy Corbyn supporters were elected to the executive committee. The results have since been annulled.

Matt Tully said the spitting allegations are false

The NEC said the reasons for the suspension included alleged ‘abusive behaviour’, concerns that ‘the ballots were not properly reached’, and safety, due to overcapacity. The meeting was held in three parts for capacity reasons, as more than 600 Labour members turned up to vote.

Matt Tully said he was involved in the incident where spitting was alleged – but said no spitting occurred.

In a statement giving his side of the story on the AGM, Mr Tully explained that he was told that when he arrived at Labour’s AGM at 3.40pm, he and others were told by a staff member at City College that ‘they could not come in and that the building was at capacity’.

Mr Tully said he asked the staff member how he was going to vote at the AGM, but the man’s response was ‘You can’t’.

“I then walked past him and joined the queue in the foyer,” Mr Tully said.

“I waited in the queue for about 10 minutes. And then I noticed the main doors — which provide the main entrance and/or exit to the building — had been locked.

“Both sets of doors were locked to prevent people entering the building. Which obviously prevents people leaving too.

“From the inside, I told the caretaker that it was dangerous to lock the doors and that it was a health and safety risk. He shouted back, through a small gap in the doors — which could not be moved — that now I was in I had to stay in and could not come back out. He was communicating with someone before this exchange via a communications device.

“Quite quickly, a security guard appeared. He asked me what the problem was and I explained that locking the main doors to the building was far more dangerous than letting more people in.

“He agreed and told the caretaker to open the doors.

“At this point, there was no mention — or accusation — of spitting.”

That didn’t come until later, when the AGM had started.

Mr Tully said: “Shortly after the chair started talking for the second round of the AGM, someone on with a Labour Party staff t-shirt  approached me and asked me to leave the room so he could talk to me.

“At this point, the Labour Party staff member said I had spat in the face of the caretaker and that they had it on CCTV.

“I said that was impossible. He asked for my name. Which I gave him. He then told me he was going to report me and I would be kicked out of the Labour Party.

“I asked him why. To which he told me again I had spat in the face of the caretaker.

“I then asked him if he’d seen the CCTV and he said he hadn’t.

“I asked him how he knew I had spat in the face of the caretaker. To which he replied, he didn’t.

“Very quickly and anxiously, the Labour Party staff member backed down and told me he never said I had done it nor that I was guilty. I agreed that he never said I was guilty. But, when he approached me originally, he did present it as fact — rather than accusation.

“He said sorry and said he didn’t mean it to come across that way.”

Mr Tully said as he missed the vote, he then sat in on the third round of the AGM and voted.

It was not until after the meeting that the spitting allegations resurfaced on social media, and less than a week later the local branch was suspended.

Statement from City College authorities - no comment on 'alleged incident'

A statement from City College said: “City College Brighton and Hove can confirm that the Brighton, Hove and District Labour Party hired our main hall on Central Campus, Pelham Street for their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, July 9. We have no comment to make about any alleged incidents concerning our staff.”

A Labour spokesperson said: 

“We don’t comment on on-going investigations.

“No abuse of any kind by Labour Party members or supporters is tolerated. Any complaints of bullying or intimidation and allegations of misconduct are always taken very seriously.

“We would encourage anyone who has been the subject of threats to inform the party and contact the police.”