Respect councillor defects…. to Tories
This comes from the East London Advertiser EXCLUSIVE By Ted Jeory A RESPECT councillor, former ally of George Galloway and member of the Socialist Workers Party has dramatically defected to the Tories in what is being seen a major milestone in Tower Hamlets politics. Ahmed Hussain, who represents Mile End East at the Town Hall,…
1–2 minutes
EXCLUSIVE By Ted Jeory
He becomes the local party’s first ever Bengali councillor and in doing so he has made the Tories, who less than two years ago boasted just one councillor in Tower Hamlets, the authority’s official opposition with eight members.
Cllr Hussain, who was also being courted by Labour recently, said he had been interested by Tory Leader David Cameron‘s approach.
The former Labour supporter was one of MP George Galloway‘s ’12 Bengali tigers’ elected as a Respect councillor in 2006, and has voted against Conservative motions at the Town Hall since.
57 responses to “Respect councillor defects…. to Tories”
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How can the SWP seriously hold their heads up and say that the split in Respect was a ‘left/right’ divide? If there is not an almighty accounting for this and change of ways, they are finished, surely?
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How much did he get?
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hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaHA!
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No doubt the SWP will stagger on by utilsing their usual economy with the truth, but unfortunately this is going to reflect badly on both ‘versions’ of Respect.
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You can read
“Abjol Miah and George Galloway respond to news of SWP/Respect councillor defecting to Tories”http://worldpressnetwork.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=194
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I don’t see how this has anything to do with the SWP or reflects negatively on their analysis of the split. This is the action of one counsellor. It reflects the pull of electoralism and echo’s the behaviour of certain TH candidates selected while RR was part of Respect who then defected.
In the past there are various members of the SWP who have moved to the right as is the case for every socialist organisation. To gloat over this unfortunate turn of events that affects workers in TH does nothing to help build a left alternative to Labour.
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I should add that members of the SWP (or any socialist organisation) who move to the right either drop out or are expelled.
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Or get elected to the CC.
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Blimey….and they go on about class traitor Ken…!!!!
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forget all of that, this is a new idea from the SWP central committee
they are trying out the cunning tactic of entryism, into the Tory Party!
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Yes, it’s important to be consistant about those who have moved to the right.
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When the SWP was explaining away the Respect split as a left-right split, I had no idea they were the right-wing element.
“Atta boy, John Rees. Your leadership shall set the working class free!
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How fascinating that the SWP have released to the press a ‘denial’, which says that he is staying with Respect. They dismiss it as a rumour.
So perhaps he has turned around and returned to Rees-pect.
However, the SWP’s press release refuses to explain what has actually happened. Why did Hussain make the quote he gave to the press, be photographed in the image above, side with the Tories in the council and so on.
People are allowed, and welcome, to change their mind. However, that not the same as pretending that nothing happened, and that it was not notable.
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Chris brooks – that link has been chopped, can you shorten it at tinyurl.com and repost it please?
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[…] Plenty of discussion on this over at Socialist Unity and at Liam’s. […]
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So we were told a pack of lies were we? He has not joined the Tories? Do you accept his denial, or are you calling him a liar? Where is your evidence? Just one more lie from Respect Renewal. Being seen shaking hands with the Tories is bad. The SWP should tell the guy to get his act together. However, if everyone who shook hands joins another party… If Liam, Andy, Galloway or anyone else has proof that this indiviidual is indeed a closet Tory, then let them supply this evidence to the SWP central committee, so they wont’ foist him on the electorate. If, on the other hand, all they want to do is exploit embarrasment of John Rees, then by all means help a closet Tory infiltrate the SWP, to be exposed when it is most embarrasing to the SWP. If you have simply invented a pack of lies, then get a solicitor to help you minimise libel damages.
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Tower Hamlets Councillor stays with Respect
14/02/2008
Tower Hamlets Councillor Ahmed Hussain quashed rumours that he had joined the Tory party today and insisted that he was sticking with Respect.Following stories in the local paper, The East London Advertiser, the leader of the Respect group of councillors Oliur Rahman said: “I spoke with Councillor Ahmed Hussain today and he made it absolutely clear that he is staying with Respect and stands by its values.”
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So basically this guy joins the Tories and Liam and others are going to pretend that there is no one, absolutely no one in their current grouping who might also have dodgy politics and have just joined Respect for personal gain within the political arena? C’mon Liam, let’s not be a hypocrite here. Try being a little honest with yourself and the rest of us instead of pretending everyone in your RR project is above repproach (see I didn’t even use the word b******s so you don’t have to be offended this time – I know how sensitive you are to swear words Liam…..)
Seriously – the SWPers are trying to claim this is a lie (even if it is, it looks like the guy has been having serious discussions with both the Tories and New Labour and the SWP cannot pretend this isn’t a major problem) and RR are using it for cheap shots and point scoring. If anything this shows what a fiasco Respect is (both groups) and why it remains that way.
I see Splintered Sunrise is now claiming that a “Trotskyist” councillor has joined the Tories. Why would either the SWP or Splintered Sunrise be so ridiculous as to claim this guy was a serious leftist in the first place instead of just another opportunist?
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Paul – the denial actually makes matters worse not better for the SWP.
That press release came from the hands of John Rees at 2am this morning, clearly intended to bolster the SWP troops in today’s by-elections.
There is no quote from Ahmed Hussain – we have yet to hear how he accounts for his visit to Tory HQ and the photo call with Tory MPs and councillors. Nor has it been denied that he had a long telephone conversation with the Liberal Democrats to discuss joining them.
Certainly it is perfectly reasonable to question how a member of the SWP, as Hussain certainly was on Tuesday, can go into the national Tory Party HQ on Wednesday morning and be seen in front of press photographers shaking hands with Tories and praising David Cameron. He then does a disappearing act for the 4pm press conference.
By the early hours of Thursday morning he is apparently back in the Respect, and presumably SWP, fold and nothing has changed!
I think we should remember that the SWP expelled long-standing socialists over their positions within Respect, and justified a split with the likes of Galloway and Yaqoob because they were on the ‘right’ of a ‘clear’ left/right divide.
Unfortunately for Respect Renewal, the antics of the SWP have made the name of Respect a laughing stock over the last 24 hours. That is clearly going to be an issue for future concern.
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Now – what was all that chaff about lies? Below is the latest from the East London Advertiser.
FORMER Respect councillor Ahmed Hussain put pen to paper today (Thurs) and signed his Tory party membership forms… only hours after frenzied speculation he had changed his mind.
He met local Tory bosses at 12.30pm and sealed his defection after an extraordinary 24 hours of confusion over his future.
After Tower Hamlets council confirmed the defection a short while ago, Cllr Hussain, a former strong ally of Respect MP George Galloway, told the Advertiser: “I’ve signed the forms and I’m just relieved it’s now all settled so I can look forward to the future.
“It’s been a very tough 24 hours. It’s always difficult to leave your friends, but when you have to make a decision, you’ve got to do it.”
The Tower Hamlets political scene went into ‘meltdown’ yesterday after we revealed that Hussain, representing Mile End East ward on the authority and a former member of the Socialist Workers Party, was defecting to the Conservatives.
After being greeted like a king at Tory HQ in Millbank yesterday morning, Cllr Hussain had a sudden last minute attack of nerves sparking a day of dramatic twists and turns.
He told the Advertiser at 2pm yesterday he was going ahead with the defection and applauded his new national party leader David Cameron’s approach in a quote.
But when rumours started circulating around the Town Hall that he was set to become the Tory’s first Bengali councillor in Tower Hamlets, he was bombarded with calls and text messages from colleagues urging him to change his mind.
Some warned he was committing political suicide.
About an hour before he was due to inform council chief executive Martin Smith of his move, he told Tory group leader Peter Golds he needed ‘more time.’
He then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening consulting with councillors from all parties for advice.
At midnight, leading political figures believed that he had U-turned and decided to remain with the rebel Respect Unity Coalition group, and leave Cllr Golds as the humiliated ‘bride at the altar.’
Respect Unity group leader Oli Rahman and SWP boss John Rees then issued a press statement in the early hours of this morning attacking the Advertiser’s story as “a rumour”. They insisted Cllr Hussain remained firmly on their side.
But after spending the night thinking, Cllr Hussain called the paper at 9.30am to confirm he was defecting.
Three hours later, he met Cllr Golds and former Tory group leader Simon Rouse to sign his party membership forms, then emailed the council’s chief executive shortly after.
It means the Tories, who less than two years ago had just one councillor at Tower Hamlets, now have eight and have become the main Opposition group.
Cllr Golds said: “I’m absolutely delighted he has joined us. We’ve been in discussions with each other for some time on this matter and have had meetings both locally and with Conservative Central Office.
“Ahmed will make a wonderful addition to the Conservative group and will continue to contribute to the political debate in both Tower Hamlets and nationally.
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I was being a little facetious in referring to the “Trotskyist” councillor. Although he was a member of the SWP and held up by them as a representative of the left wing in Respect. Opportunistic recruitment does have a tendency to bite you in the ass, as the SWP leadership should have realised years ago. Roger Rosewell, Peter Hitchens, Garry Bushell…
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Splinteredsunrise, I don’t think you are clarifying anything with invoking Roger Rosewell. Rosewell joined in 1963 and left eleven years later. I knew him throughout that time, and though I can say I never liked him personally, there is no doubt he was committed enough to revolutionary politics. I wonder what tests for opportunism would have kept him out. And how many more would they have kept out? Should the Bolsheviks have refused to recruit Stalin? I think “non-opportunistic recruitment” would lead to very small organisations.
Actually, the lesson is a lot simpler. If you take risks, things sometimes go wrong. If you don’t take risks, you might as well be dead.
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It’s also pretty crap for the voters of Tower Hamlets. But then working class voters never get much of a say in our crap ‘democracy’
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I defer to Grim in the matter of Cde Rosewell. And actually I agree that you can’t pre-empt what people might do months or years down the line. I’ve argued that point at some length with SWP comrades who reckoned you could.
(Although I still think Bushell should never have been let in the door…)
But at the same time, there is recruitment and there is recruitment. And we know there is such a thing as opportunistic recruitment. As in, a left group (not just the SWP, mind) recruits some notable figure who has as much in common with their politics as the man in the moon. The individual is not won to a set of politics but soft-soaped until moving on to greener pastures. I’ve seen it up close a few times and it’s never worked.
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Grim and Dim, you are confusing me:
I think “non-opportunistic recruitment” would lead to very small organisations.
As opposed to the mass parties that make up the far left now, I suppose?
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Hussain’s recruitment was of the trophy variety – it was part of the Rees inspired lurch following the elections in May 2006. The opportunist saw that he could be part of a gang who would unquestioningly promote him so that they could then demonstrate the success of the SWP’s politics and its growing influence. Several of us pointed out that he was on the right, not the left of the spectrum of councillors.
So this wasn’t some mishap, Grim and Dim. It was a product of a flawed sectarian strategy which some of us argued against only to find ourselves undermined by a whispering campaign and then expelled.
You’ve been around long enough to discern the truth of this.
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Rosewell is before my time, but was his eminence in the organisation partly due to his alleged sycophancy to Cliff?
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This whole debacle has obviously caused much glee for Respect Renewal but it seems to me their glee is seriously misplaced.
Firstly, the real lessons are to not have an opportunistic lurch but instead have a longer term orientation to win people to politics not quick-fix electoral solutions. RR can, with some justification, point out that the SWP have been blind in this but their own method is not so different really or are we going to see much more of a concentration on socialism from Respect Renewal rather than the idea of the next big thing round the corner? Have they broken with the politics that led the SWP to wind up the Socialist Alliance and launch Respect as a get-rich-quick scheme? I sincerely doubt it.
Secondly, another issue is where have the voters of Tower Hamlets been left in all of this with a defection from an apparently revolutionary left organisation to the Conservatives! Indeed to making the Tories the main opposition. But where are the demands for Hussain to stand for re-election? Galloway and Rees split Respect without asking the voters and now both argue over the responsibility for this defection without as far as I am aware either side arguing for accountability before the voters.
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Kevin: I’m not commenting on the specifics of Tower Hamlets because I don’t know enough about it (perhaps others should follow my example). You say that the “flawed sectarian strategy” goes back to 2006, and that you argued against it. Your arguments must have been confined to a very small circle. When I spoke to you at Marxism 2007 I got no inkling that you were unhappy with the situation. Surely if the situation was that bad you should have spoken out earlier. So don’t you bear some part of the responsibility too?
Dave: A fair point. NONE of us have built mass organisations (even the Labour Party has lost half its membership in the last ten years), so perhaps we should all be a little bit more modest instead of claiming that all would be well if only our particular approach were adopted. But I still think an organisation of 3000 or even 300 is more effective than one of just three – which is what you would get with “non-opportunistic recruitment”.
Andy: I don’t think Cliff liked sycophants – I remember he personally nominated me for the Executive very shortly after we had a long argument where he demanded I dissolve the faction I was in and I refused.
Rosewell owed his “eminence” to the fact that he was a good, if rather mechanical, speaker, was very knowledgeable about the labour movement, and was a very good industrial organiser – he laid the foundations of the organisation among Birmingham engineering workers that played some part in launching the Saltley picket in 1972.
Rosewell was an ambitious and clever revolutionary. He thought the struggles of the early 70s would continue, that IS would replace the CP as the main left force in the TU movement, and that Roger Rosewell would replace Bert Ramelson as the key fixer in smoke-filled rooms. In 1974 – spotting the “downturn” quicker than the rest of us – he jumped ship.
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Ovenden & co were keen to get Bengalis,no matter what there politics to stand for Respect.
No surprises here then
Theres another one gonna go from Miahs group in the next two months.LikeLike
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Here’s the statement from SWP Respect which I just got in my e-mail inbox:
Dear Members,
We sent out the following press release earlier today.
Respect National Office
Statement from Respect on Cllr Ahmed Hussain’s resignation
14/02/2008We are sorry to hear that Cllr Ahmed Hussain has joined the Tories. We had discussions with him yesterday where he agreed that he was going to stay with Respect. We issued a statement saying that, in good faith, but clearly his assurances meant nothing.
He has joined a party which supports war and privatisation, which has little representation among ethnic minorities, and which has few supporters among working class people in Tower Hamlets or anywhere else.
This is a betrayal of the principles on which he was elected and will be a great disappointment to those who voted for him. He should resign immediately and stand in a by election, where voters will have the chance to cast their opinion on his change of politics.
——
If you have been sent this email in error, or no longer wish to be on our mailing list, please send an email to tell us at admin@respectcoalition.orgLikeLike
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Interesting that there are no quotes in that statement. Not from Rahman nor Rees.
I really don’t know what’s worse: Rees’ stupidity or Rahman’s gullibility.
Rees knew exactly what he was doing when he sent the first press release out in the early hours. He knew that by quoting Rahman, that would give Rees a bit of slack and meant that the fallout would land on Rahman. The sincere revolutionaries in the SWP (who I presume are the majority) should stand up and reclaim the party. And those sincere about a broad left formation should reclaim Respect.
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Grim and Dim
I’m afraid the form of argument, too often repeated in the party, that those who raised objections to a course of action share culpability because they didn’t speak out loudly enough is self-serving crap.
I am quite prepared to look back at my own role in this. You, however, are a well respected member who is still in the SWP. You told the CC that you trusted them to handle this crisis.
If you were to speak out now, it could have a big impact. Same goes for a whole layer of people of several decades membership who recognise that this is a complete disaster.
Hiding behind my and Rob’s alleged failures is, frankly, cowardice.
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It’s rather embarrassing to read all the spite and invective that those hostile to Respect and the SWP are engaged in on this thread. It’s the kind of petulant behaviour that you see on the Jeremy Kyle Show. Is this the usual way these people behave?
How all this sniping helps build a left alternative to Labour is hard to imagine.
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Statement from Respect on Cllr Ahmed Hussain’s resignation 14/02/2008
“We are sorry to hear that Cllr Ahmed Hussain has joined the Tories. We had discussions with him yesterday where he agreed that he was going to stay with Respect.”
That shows pretty clearly the utterly flawed approach to organisation that Respect had from the start. (In this case the SWP wing)
A councillor who had already publicly issued a statement of intent to defect, should have been immediately suspended from membership and proceedings for expulsion beguan asap – no questions asked, no opportunities for “discussion”.
At best he was a vacillating opportunist, at worst an outright traitor. Placating him just allowed him to slide into the latter role because he probably decided there would be no consequences for him personally. But he should be treated as the scab he is to deter others.
regarding Roger Rosewell – I did meet him once at Cottons Gardens when picking up the branch SW order during a rail strike. He strutted around the place in a three piece suit and had fantasies about turning it into the Corleone family compound. I thought he was a bit of a wanker even then and my first impressions of people are mostly right. But Iv’e got a forgiving nature, dammit.
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whatever else this shows it is clear that you wouldn’t trust the political judgement of John Rees or the SWP CC further than you could throw the combined weight Tory frontbench.
all animosity aside, they are complete political incompetents
they been outmanoeuvred since the outset of the Respect split, time after time they’ve tried different tactics and all of them failed
yet what is most conspicuous is that they won’t admit they failed, which suggests they are either immature, stupid, or both and haven’t learnt anything in the process
when it was clear that Respect was finally split they could have had the good grace to say “we disagree strongly with you, but let’s tidy this mess and maybe we’ll work again”, but instead they carry on regardless making headless chickens look positively considered and thoughtful by comparison
the SWP leadership are utterly useless, they are professional political operatives and still they are outwitted by Galloway and his allies, then fall foul of the electoral commission and now the councillors
What will be Rees’ and the SWP’s next humiliation?
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Respect came third with 7.2% and beat the Tories in the Leyton ward. In Preston, Barry Hill got 6.8%. Not bad considering Respect had never stood in the wards before and they had to stand as Independents.
The danger is that this modest vote is dismissed as insignificant due to the hubris of some people like modernity who continue to resent the SWP. I hope we can build upon this in the future.
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I thought it worth pointing out that in the May council elections of 2006 Respect polled very poorly in Hackney compared to Tower Hamlets. I believe this is because Respect had not developed the roots and profile it had in TH. The same is true for Preston and Leyton, we need to continue to build roots and a profile in these areaa, which is why I think there is optimism if the left unifies during election campaigns in the future.
Unless we are willing to work together rather than remain divided the only winners are the Lib Dems and New Labour.
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I also note that Newham had mixed results for Respect in 2006 despite having the second highest Asian population in London after Tower Hamlets.
It’s great that Respect is doing well in TH but these gains aren’t translating so well to workers in other areas. The anti-war stance of Respect rightly attracts many Muslim voters who are sick of the Islamophobic attacks from Labour and other political parties.
However, unless we can broaden the profile of Respect (and any left alliance we build) by organising in our unions and the wider community then a left alliance will be limited to those areas that will vote for the anti-war position. We need more than an anti-war profile to build a left alliance if one of our strategies is to challenge seats in elections.
I think this is a pertinent issue that needs to be addressed by RR as well as Respect.
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report from SW on preston and leyton results
ood votes for Respect in two local by-elections
by Esme ChoonaraRespect did well in two local elections on Thursday of this week.
Respect member Carole Vincent came third in Leyton by-election in Waltham Forest, east London, winning 7.31 percent of the vote and beating the Tories into fourth place. Labour lost the seat to the Liberal Democrats.
On the same day, Respect’s Barry Hill polled 6.8 percent in the Tulketh ward council by-election in Preston. Labour narrowly held the seat after a close-run fight with the Lib Dems.
In both areas, Respect members were contesting the ward for the first time and campaigners in both wards say that in the course of the election they have made serious inroads in building new local networks.
Speaking from the election count, Carole Vincent told Socialist Worker, “Labour got a hammering in the election. This shows that people are sick of Labour’s privatising agenda. On this occasion the Lib Dems picked up most of the protest votes, but Respect has also made a big step forward in an area where we haven’t stood before.
“The fact that we came third means that we are now the real opposition to both Lib Dems and Labour, who together make up the ruling coalition of the council.
“I want to thank everyone who came to help in the ward. We have put down local roots and made sure people know what Respect stands for nationally and locally.”
Full results:
Leyton ward, Waltham Forest:
Khevyn Limbajee, Labour – 675 (28.02 percent)
William Measure, Green Party – 90 (3.74 percent)
Edwin Northover, Conservative – 108 (4.48 percent)
Winnifred Smith, Liberal Democrat – 1,360 (56.45 percent)
Carole Vincent, Respect – 176 (7.31 percent)Tulketh ward, Preston:
Barry Hill, Respect – 84 (6.80 percent)
Kizzi Murtagh, Green Party – 36 (2.91 percent)
Paul Balshaw, Conservative – 292 (23.64 percent)
Peter Rankin, Labour – 423 (34.25 percent)
Rick Seymour, Liberal Democrat – 400 (32.39 percent)LikeLike
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The spin on this is comical and embarrasing. The results are terrible, no matter how they are dressed up.
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Compare with:
2006 results for Respect in Preston
PRESTON
Riversway, Abbot, Elaine , Respect, 318 votes, 25.6%
Town Centre, Master Mukhtar, Respect, 647, 37.1 %
St Matthew’s, Field Danielle, Respect, 297, 22.7 %
St George’s, Rizwan Sumera, Respect, 225, 25.3 %
Fishwick, Urmarji, Valli, Respect. 210, 18.3%2008: Tulketh ward, Barry Hill 84 6.8%
Waltham Forest election results 2006:
WALTHAM FOREST
High Street, Claire Louise BUDDLE, Socialist Party, 245 votes, = 6.8%
Leytonstone, Peter ASHAN, Respect, 387 votes, 12.3%
Leytonstone, Caroline COLEMAN, Respect, 384 votes, 12.3%
Markhouse, Mahtab Anwar AZIZ, Respect, 533 votes, 17.4%
Markhouse, Carole Ann VINCENT, Respect, 471 votes, 15.4%2008: Leyton ward, Carole Vincent, 176 votes, 7.2%
Incidently, the percentage vote shown here for Waltham Forest is based upon the number of Respect votes as a precentage of the total number of ballot papers issued, the inept SWP spin-doctor Richard “Lenin” Seymour in claiming that Respect got only 4.3% in Leytonstone ward in 2006, but that is becasue he is foolishly basing his calculation on the number of votes cast, ignoring the fact that each voter had multiple votes.
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It’s true the results are not good and it’s also true that they’re somewhat less good than the left got before.
What should be our conclusions?
A minor conclusion is that even by diluting our politics, we haven’t got the expected breakthrough- e.g. Socialist Alliance 37% in Preston. Of course the Socialist Alliance was not revolutionary but it was explicitly socialist and had some good formulations-
“No rich and no poor, no profits and no wage slavery, no palaces and no homeless, no jobless and no overworked!
Within the ranks of our Alliance there are different views on what will be eventually necessary in order to achieve this. But we are all united in one principle- the decisions will be made by working class people themselves, through their own democratic organisations. Socialism will never be achieved behind the backs of the working class, by decree or by some committee or other.”
Junking socialism and getting rid of a lot of radical non-shibboleths has achieved nothing new.
Of course standing on a socialist program on its own might not have got any better results but at least we can nail the lie that we have to ditch our politics to get the votes.
These lessons apply just as much to Respect Renewal as The SWP Respect side.
A bigger conclusion is that we should aim for something other than just garnering votes. We should be for an openly socialist campaigning organisation that can begin to lay down roots in communities to encourage working class people to form our own democratic organisations to struggle for power.Arguing for vague inchoate politics on the patronising basis that working class people aren’t ready for socialism is on a hiding to nothing. Working class people will be won to socialism, oaf they are, not by making our arguments vaguer and less explicit but by engaging with issues that move working class people. Not by turning up with set prescriptions but by turning up ready to lend a hand and to fight for the issues working class communities want to fight for; by entering a dialogue, not having a monologue, by listening not preaching.
This should be completely genuine, open and honest. I for example am a revolutionary socialist as indeed many who post on this site are. I think I’ve got some interesting experiences and things to say. But I’m saying I’ve got all the answers. I’m sure many people would tell us, understandably enough, to f… off if we did think that. But neither should we conceal or dissemble our views- that’s just as dishonest. No most working class people aren’t revolutionary socialists but if we turn up, get involved in campaigns- e.g. Against a school closure, a factory closure, whatever,- then we cna begin a discussion.
I think the left as w hole should also be in discussion like some are in some places over how we can unite in action and discuss our differences not in fractured or factional manner, argument as insult and invective, but reasonable and patient discussion, heated at times may be, as a source of potential mutual illumination.
Jason
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Bit of a typo above- should read
“working class people will be won to socialism if they are not by making our arguments vaguer and less explicit but by engaging with issues that move working class people.”Jason
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I did love the bit that went “The fact that we came third means that we are now the real opposition to both Lib Dems and Labour, who together make up the ruling coalition of the council” Well if you ignore the Tories who hold 13 seats on Waltham Forest council I suppose.
If you want a contrast though- as to the sort of vote we need to be acheiving- the BNP polled 18.2% in a by-election in Burton yesterday- with the remanants of Veritas polling 13% in the ward as well.
However good a start this vote was, it needs to be better.
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As I mentioned on the other thread RR ought perhaps to be cautious before junking other peoples election results. As they should be cautious about shouting about problems which they resolutely refused to address. Who knows what the future will bring?
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Amm….thanks for that Johng. Very insightful. Perhaps you might try spell out just a tad more clearly exactly what it is you are trying to say?
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Well everyone has to face an election sometime (I believe your lot have a few in a few months). And given that the problems which gave rise to the defection were problems all sections of the pre-split Respect, unless you believe that RR are somehow immune to these things, it seems a bit silly to shout too loudly about it.
Just a thought…
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It’s not only silly to attack other socialists it’s seriously undermines any chance that a left alliance will grow in the future. I realise that there are those in RR who are still bitter about the split but for socialists to want left candidates to fail is incredibly destructive for the left.
The risk is that this type of destructive attitude will eventually affect RR to the extent that any group or individual who holds a different opinion to those controlling the official line will receive a torrent of abuse that will destroy any meaningfiul debate within RR.
It’s important to note that Respect doesn’t engage in the same destructive behaviour. It’s refreshing that the organisers of this blog actually argue from a political perspective (one that I may not agree with at times) rather than resort to jibes and attacks as do some of the less principled supporters of RR.
Returning to the actual vote. It’s disengenuos of Andy Newman to compare election results when he knows that Respect has never stood before in both wards in Preston and Leyton. They also had to stand as Independents due to the farago of the split. Unlike May 2006 which was a high profile campaign for Respect the campaigns for these elections were not built over a similar period.
Therefore, I think comrades did well to poll better than the Tories in Leyton. It’s also interesting to note that the Greens did less well than Respect. This is significant considering Andy Newman elevates their importance as part of a left alliance on his blog.
For socialists with alliance members like Newman who needs enemies?
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given that the problems which gave rise to the defection were problems all sections of the pre-split Respect, unless you believe that RR are somehow immune to these things, it seems a bit silly to shout too loudly about it
Shouldn’t exactly the same argument have been made against Chris Harman when he wrote about the battle between principled socialists and opportunists within RESPECT?
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Johng: In South Birmingham we are completely immune to it. In fact, during the last winning Sparkbrook campaign there was not an SWP member in sight because they were instructed not to take part. No loss there then.
Any victories or losses we endure come May will have nothing to do with the events surrounding the split.
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Johng
I’m afraid your credibility when it comes to commenting on events in Respect is threadbare.
Have you questioned Meaders about the misinformation he provided you with about Tower Hamlets, which you took as corroboration of the CC’s bogus line? How is Meaders feeling about his healthily “ultra left” councillor heading off to join the Tories?
We’ve had a little less of his uptight pomposity of late – a blessed relief.
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I’m suprised that Ger Francis believes that the split will have no impact on elections in May. This is quite a statement considering the left as a whole has been weakend by the split and is considered regretable by most socialists. There is no point in making a virtue out of such an unfortunate turn of events.
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Isn’t Mr Ovenden supposed to do constituency and Parliamentary work?
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What about this comment , about the careerist Hussain from one of the other defectors who left the Respect whip to align themselves to the SWP.
“That’s a slap in the face to cllr Abdul Miah”
No blame put upon Rees and the SWPThese people are deluded! – they have got more spin than Kylie Minogue.
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Liam redux 
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