For all those of us who had hoped that
the Labour Party leadership election campaign might bring some serious
debate
on the need for socialist policies, we have this morning received yet
another
blow. After the NEC decided to make the period for candidates to collect
nominations from MP a mere four days (24-27 May), in the way of the
uphill
struggle for John McDonnell has been placed another formidable obstacle
in
Diane Abbott.
Ever since John McDonnell failed to get
the required nominations to stand for leader in the last leadership election
three years ago, the left of the Labour Party has been waiting for another
chance to have a debate about the future of the party. After managing to
overcome an attempt by Michael “five homes” Meacher to get the backing of the
left for his candidature, the press at the time refused to give John McDonnell
any publicity. Gordon Brown’s aides also bullied and bribed MPs (including
supposed left-winger John Cruddas) into not nominating John.
This time we were hoping and are fighting
for something different. After the defeat in the recent general election became
clear, the NEC of the party did their best to ensure that the left would have
as little chance as possible to influence the nominations of MPs for the next
leader. They introduced a nomination period of a mere four days, setting the
deadline just before the major union conferences and before most CLPs (party
branches) would have a chance to meet. Thus they minimised any pressure being
exerted on the MPs.
For John McDonnell, whose support among
wide layers of militant trade unionists and left-wing activists is without a
doubt strong, this was a heavy blow. Still, after announcing his candidature,
the media, for their own reasons, have picked up his candidature and allowed
him to present his ideas on the news and on important programs such as
Newsnight and Any Questions. His campaign was beginning to gather momentum also
among the MPs, many of which were running out of excuses not to back him after
John Cruddas said he wouldn’t stand. Yet, the Blair-Brown clique had another
trick up their sleeve: Diane Abbott.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke
Newington made herself a name by sending her kid to private school – after
criticising Blair and Harman for sending their kids to selective state schools.
In the affair she admitted her decision to be “inconsistent” and said that she
had to chose between her reputation as a politician and her son. It is very
nice for MPs to have such choices. Most of the poor workers of her constituency
would have no money to pay for a £10,000 a year private school. She is of
course completely correct on the point that this would ruin her reputation as a
politician.
Now Ms. Abbott has decided to scupper
John McDonnell’s campaign by splitting the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs,
saying:
“The other candidates are all nice and
would make good leaders of the Labour Party but they all look the same… We
cannot be offering a slate of candidates who all look the same. The Labour
Party’s much more diverse than that.”
Claiming to represent black women, she
now has gotten the backing of sundry petty-bourgeois groupings, including Simon
Woolley and his Operation Black Vote campaign who have just welcomed the
election of Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng. The idea is that as long as someone
is black and/or a woman one deserves the support of the left. Never mind what
policies one put forward, never mind what support one has in the movement –
what really matters, according to Diane Abbott, is the colour of the skin.
We reject the notion that a candidate’s
sex or skin colour alone make them suitable to be a leader and we reject this
blatant attempt to derail John McDonnell’s campaign and a genuine debate about
the future programme of the Labour Party. We call on all trade unionists and
party members to put maximum pressure on Labour MPs to nominate John McDonnell
and ensure a proper contest with a proper choice.
