On the Momentum new constitution furore...

I have no real interest in all the arguments and differences at the "top" of the organisation. For me what matters is what happens on the ground, and if Momentum helps achieve a Labour govt, Labour cllrs, and success at by-elections then that's fine, but I see no point in endless disputes about how things are run. That is just counter-productive and generates negative feedback in both the media and within the wider Labour Party itself.

I don't want to see another organisation with similar structures to the Labour Party. Why would Momentum want to copy that? Why do we need delegates and national committees and policies etc? Surely if we are supporting a Corbyn-led LP then those are the policies we follow and support? Momentum is not, nor should it be, a party within a party. 

Simply operating as activist clusters supporting Labour candidates and policies is the better option. What we need is local activism: feet on the ground, members knocking on doors, holding open discussions, making contacts with voters, working with comrades in trades unions, being active in socialist campaigns and projects that benefit our communities, etc...

So, unless Momentum stops all the squabbling and silliness it will die a death. Meanwhile, we have work to do here in Cumbria, so let's get on with it!

New year, new targets...

It's almost two weeks into 2017 and I feel I have achieved very little so far, other than attending a very interesting Momentum-organised meeting in Kendal at which Julie Ward, MEP for the North West, was guest speaker.

I decided that I would review what I want to achieve politically, and then I can work out how to achieve those aims... so here goes.

My aims and objectives are

• ... to achieve a Labour government for the country,
• ... to help elect Labour MPs in by-elections,
• ... to help elect councillors to county and district councils,
• ... to raise the profile in a positive way of the Labour Party,
• ... to promote the social and economic policies for the country put forward by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell,

Next step is to work out how best to achieve these...  watch this space! 

Being a left-wing nuisance is necessary and desirable

I wrote this on Saturday, 8 August 2015, during last year's Labour Leadership election, and it appeared on my personal blog rather than this one, but a year on it is worth reposting onto Awake the Dragon, as it outlines why my support for the re-elected leader, Jeremy Corbyn remains steadfast.

Becoming involved once more in the politics of the Labour Party, and the election for its new leader has given me much to think about over the past weeks. Coming from a trades union background (USDAW), serving on trades councils, and being appointed as a national officer for BTOG at, what was then, a very young age for such a job (26) I met and worked with many committed trades unionists who were considerably older than I was. Indeed, many were old enough to be my parent or even grand-parent, in some instances!

Having that experience helped me to learn such a lot about the history of the Labour Party, from those involved, and what it stood for, and what it had achieved in the years before I was born. I enjoyed long chats with people who had been on the Aldermaston Marches, with people who had been involved with the NHS at its inception, and with those who had been involved with various labour disputes over the decades. It was, for me, where I honed my political beliefs, beliefs which I had first heard at the knee of my lifelong Socialist grandfather, who died when I was 10 years old.

One of the women with whom I had contact whilst working at USDAW was the late Audrey Wise (1935-2000), former MP for Coventry South West (1974-1979) and Preston (1987-2000). Audrey Wise teamed up with Jeff Rooker to draw up the Rooker-Wise Amendment to the then Chancellor Denis Healey's 1977 finance bill. The Rooker-Wise Amendment "introduced retrospective inflation-proofing on tax allowances, which led to £450m being handed back to taxpayers." That was quite an achievement - two backbench MPs managing to over ride the plans of the Labour government's own Chancellor for the people. It made me realise that ordinary people could make changes happen if they stand up for what they believe in.

Audrey was a huge inspiration to me. She was never afraid to say what she thought, she spoke her mind, and stood firm for her principles. According to her obituary in The Guardian, "At Westminster in the 1970s she was regarded as something of a left-wing nuisance, a state of affairs that she viewed as necessary and desirable." In many ways Jeremy Corbyn reminds me of Audrey: firm in his beliefs, principled, straight talking, able to inspire people and to make them believe that they can make changes happen. It's also what I believe in.