It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, September 20, 2024
UK
Inside Labour Together: the project behind Keir Starmer
The red half of Westminster will shortly decamp to Liverpool for the first Labour conference since the party’s general election landslide. Host Sascha O’Sullivan looks at a group which played a key role in that victory — the left-wing think-tank Labour Together.
Sascha pieces together the fascinating origin story of Labour Together, speaking to ITV Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana, author of a new book, which details the group’s influence, and Keir Starmer biographer Tom Baldwin.
Andrew Cooper, political pollster and member of Labour Together advisory board, tells Sascha how Josh Simons, former director of the think tank, built on the work of Morgan McSweeney by using deep voter analysis to help Labour HQ.
Sascha speaks to the group’s new chief executive, Jonathan Ashworth, about Labour Together’s role in shaping the thinking of the new government. He addresses some of the cronyism accusations surrounding the think tank and is quizzed by Sascha on its purpose now Labour is in power.
Henry Newman, former political adviser and author of the Whitehall project, explains the concerns about how Labour Together acted as a middleman for political donations between wealthy individuals and politicians.
Labour “mega-donor” Dale Vince tells Sascha why he gave money to the think tank.
And think tank stalwarts Harry Quilter-Pinner of the Institute of Public Policy Research, Ryan Wain of the Tony Blair Institute and Charlotte Pickles explain how Labour Together fits into the world of the wonks and how different it is from most policy outfits.
Britain shows 'complete disregard' for Palestinians after abstaining on UN vote
THE British government faces a backlash for showing a “complete disregard” for Palestinian suffering by abstaining from a key UN vote on ending Israeli occupation.
The UN general assembly resolution passed last night demanded that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip within a year.
An overwhelming majority of 124 countries voted in favour of the resolution. Britain was one of 43 countries to abstain. Just 14 countries, including the US, voted against it.
Amnesty International’s secretary-general Agnes Callamard said that governments, including Israel’s allies, must ensure that the country complies with the resolution.
“Over the past 11 months, the systematic human rights violations that are a hallmark of Israel’s brutal occupation and system of apartheid have drastically intensified,” she said.
“Implementing the resolution is key to restoring faith in international law.”
Global Justice Now campaigner Tim Bierley said that Britain’s abstention has shown a “complete disregard” for the ongoing suffering of Palestinians.
“To stay on the right side of international law, the UK’s dealings with Israel must drastically change, including closing all loopholes in its partial arms ban and revoking any trade or investment relations that might assist the occupation,” he said.
Earlier this month, Britain suspended just 30 out of 350 arms export licences, after finally acknowledging that Israel has been violating international law.
Campaigners pointed out that the suspensions “do not go far enough” and fail to encompass components for F-35 fighter jets.
F-35s have been used repeatedly in executing Israel’s war crimes, including in the bombing of an Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi, in an attack which killed at least 90 people in July.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said today that Britain’s arms restrictions on Israel were “fair” and “proportionate.”
He told LBC that he set a scope of limitations “to restrict those licences to the conflict in Gaza, making sure that Israel can still be in a position to defend itself against Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
He made the statement after explosives planted within pagers and walkie-talkie devices led to widespread destruction in Lebanon, injuring 3,500 and killing at least 37 people, including two children. The attacks are widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Stop the War vice-chairman Chris Nineham said: “Reynold’s comments are morally repugnant.
“Instead of condemning Israel’s brutal acts of terrorism in Lebanon this week, his talk of allowing Israel to defend itself against Hezbollah implies the British government appears willing to stand by the Israeli government whatever atrocities it carries out.
“The UK's policy might as well be designed to encourage Israel to ever more extreme acts of violence.”
Emily Apple of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said: “This government is still perpetuating the narrative that the Israeli government is acting in self-defence.
“Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinian people. There can be no excuses for the atrocities it is committing in Gaza, or its deliberate escalation of conflict with Hezbollah. This is not self-defence.”
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson argued that Labour’s limited restrictions on arms exports to Israel are nowhere near enough.
“Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians and is using both conventional and hybrid warfare to kill and injure people in Lebanon,” she said.
“The Middle East stands on the edge of a wider regional war and the British government is more than happy to cheer it on. This has to stop.”
UK lawmaker calls for halt on all arms exports to Israel following waves of explosions in Lebanon
'Israel knows it can commit war crimes with impunity. End all arms sales NOW,' says Zarah Sultana
Burak Bir |19.09.2024 - TRT/AA
LONDON
Labour Party lawmaker Zarah Sultana on Thursday reiterated her call to cease arms sales to Israel after communication device explosions in Lebanon, saying "Israel knows it can commit war crimes with impunity."
Recalling a two-wave attack using wireless devices that exploded in Lebanon, Sultana said "Israel’s indiscriminate detonation" of pagers and walkie-talkies across homes, workplaces and streets has killed at least 37 people and injured over 3,000 others.
"Israel knows it can commit war crimes with impunity. End all arms sales NOW," she wrote on X.
On Sept. 2, the British government announced that it was suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel after a review, warning that there is a clear risk that certain UK arms exports to Israel might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
The 30 licenses cover components for military aircraft, helicopters, drones and items that facilitate ground targeting, excluding UK components for the F-35 fighter jet program.
Earlier on Tuesday, thousands of pagers exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, killing 12 and injuring 2,323. A second wave of device explosions on Wednesday killed 25 people and injured 608 others.
There has been no Israeli response to the blasts, which occurred amid an escalation in cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of Israel's deadly onslaught against the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,300 people, the majority of whom are women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 of last year.
UK
Community Camp for Palestine Opens Opposite US Embassy
A community-run Palestine peace camp has opened opposite US Embassy in London
A group of thirty peace campaigners and Ghazzah ceasefire activists have erected a camp opposite the US embassy in Nine Elms Lane, south west London. The camp was set up on Sunday September 1st and will remain there until there is a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave of Ghazzah.
The US government has been a staunch and vocal ally of Israel during its unconstrained and indiscriminate attacks on Ghazzah, which many have labelled a genocide. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories concluded in March of this year: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Ghazzah has been met.”
The US has sent an average of two shipments of weapons to Israel daily since October 7th 2023, equating to approximately 150 tons of munitions and equipment per day. In addition, the US has deployed multiple naval strike groups off the Ghazzah coastline, effectively blockading the twenty-five-mile-long stretch of land. There is also wide speculation of US intelligence services supplying Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) with detailed satellite imagery and analysis. In diplomatic circles the US has continually blocked any efforts to sanction Israel, while at the UN security council it has repeatedly used its veto to shield Israel from any resolutions aimed at ending the genocide.
The camp, situated at Nine Elms Pavilion, comprises a handful of tents, an open kitchen area and communal seating. The pavilion is decorated with a series of banners calling out US involvement in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. In July 2024, The Lancet – one of the world’s leading medical journals – suggested a conservative estimate of the real death toll in Ghazzah could be close to 200,000, around 10% of the population. Approximately two-thirds of those murdered by IOF are suspected to be women and children.
Camp hosts organise daily events that attract a wide range of visitors, including from the surrounding neighbourhoods. Events so far have involved an open mic evening, an outdoor showing of the Palestinian film Where Olive Trees Weep, letter writing, dabkeh (a traditional Palestinian dance) lessons and hosting various speakers. There have also been walking protests outside the embassy. I spoke with several residents who were supportive of the camp, including some who brought food and other provisions for the camp’s occupants.
“We are mindful of our neighbours and have ensured the camp doesn’t disrupt their day-to-day lives. They have welcomed us and have regularly joined our activities. We are a peaceful reminder of the need to stop the genocide in Ghazzah and that is a universal message,” said one of the camp’s hosts.
The camp is a reincarnation of one set up in April 2024, which ran for a week. The new camp is larger and has drawn campaigners from across the country.
“The first camp was here for a week. We didn’t think the genocide would be allowed to continue. We were wrong and so we’re back, this time indefinitely. We, alone, are unlikely to influence the US government but by being here we are showing we care. When people are walking or driving by, they see how we are willing to make personal sacrifices to hold this space for Ghazzah.”
Volunteers are rostered for an around-the-clock presence, often forcing them to place their own lives on hold. Some do short stints, a few hours, while others join the camp for blocks of days at a time. Personal space is limited and while there is power it can be intermittent. Local public bathrooms provide hot water and toilet facilities.
“Maintaining the camp has its own complexities and sometimes it doesn’t seem sustainable. But then we look at Ghazzah, and life in Ghazzah isn’t sustainable; it’s beyond not sustainable, it’s a devastating experience and in comparison, ours is a minute sacrifice.”
Find out more at Insta @sw.act4pal to get involved or find out about events planned.
UK
Terrorism legislation used against Palestine Action co-founder
Yesterday morning, Palestine Action co-founder Richard Barnard appeared at Westminster Magistrate’s Court for a plea hearing, after being charged for alleged offences pertaining to two speeches he made in October 2023. The speeches took place a month before a six-week trial in which eight Palestine Action supporters walked free over more than two dozen charges after the jury either failed to reach verdicts or acquitted them.
Barnard was found not guilty of encouraging criminal damage during that trial, but is now facing two new charges under the same offence (Section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007), along with a new charge of expressing an opinion or belief that was supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, or being reckless as to whether it encouraged support of that organisation, contrary to Section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The decision to charge him under Terrorism legislation came after 10 activists from Palestine Action were detained without charge for seven days under that same legislation, following their action which is claimed to have cost Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems, over £1million in damages. They were eventually charged under other more standard criminal legislation, leaving Barnard the first Palestine Actionist to face terrorism charges. There are currently 16 people in prison, some on remand, in a deepening clampdown on the campaign against Israeli arms company Elbit Systems.
Fellow co-founder Huda Ammori said that it was revealed in court the new Attorney General Richard Hermer had decided to proceed with the terrorism charge, despite his supposed pro-Palestinian signalling, and it reveals the new government is more determined to crack down on citizens who believe they are acting in line with international law, than to confront Israel and Elbit Systems, a company complicit and profiting directly from the war on Gaza.
Yesterday, Barnard’s barrister, Audrey Mogan, argued that he could not enter a plea because the Crown had not provided the full evidence they relied on, and also overturned their request for bail conditions preventing him from attending ANY protest or demonstration. He as given unconditional bail and ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on October 4th to enter a plea on the three charges against him.
Supporters rallied outside the court yesterday with various banners including a huge one calling to “Stop Arming Israel”.
Supporters of Palestine Action co-founder rally outside court
Richard Barnard is being charged under the Terrorism Act
Palestine Action (PA) co-founder Richard Barnard was brought before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday as part of the state’s latest attempted crackdown on protest.
He faces three charges for two speeches. He is accused of inviting support for a proscribed organisation under Section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act. The accusation is that he “expressed an opinion or belief that was supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, being reckless as to whether it encouraged support of that organisation”.
Barnard is also said to have encouraged criminal activity under the Serious Crime Act. His charges relate to speeches during a Manchester protest on 8 October and in Bradford on 11 October.
The prosecutor said he had broken the Terrorism Act and also praised Palestine Action’s campaigns against Elbit, Israel’s largest arms firm. The magistrate sent Barnard to the Old Bailey on 4 October for the next stage of his case.
The prosecution confirmed that Labour’s attorney-general Richard Hermer, the government’s top legal adviser, consented to the terrorism charge. Hermer signed an open letter to the Financial Times newspaper last October over Israel’s possible violations of international law. Now he signs off those who oppose such Israeli action.
The prosecution sought bail conditions banning Barnard from taking part in protests or going within 100 metres of such a protest. But the magistrate did not impose any restrictions.
Outside the court, PA supporter Ayesha told Socialist Worker, “Richard is a hero for standing against genocide, and so are all those the state targets.”
Tom added, “Our action against Elbit is hitting home. That is why these prosecutions are happening.”
The state is not always winning in court. Last Friday a jury in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was divided and refused to convict four activists who cost Teledyne’s weapons factory over £500,000 in damages. They had disrupted the production of Israeli missile parts.
This result came despite the judge rejecting all legal defences, including the necessity to save lives and prevent a greater crime.
A retrial is expected in February 2026, giving another opportunity to expose who the real criminals are.
Recent arrests and trials have shown the state is hoping to intimidate Palestine solidarity. It is also stepping up sentences of Just Stop Oil activists and other environmental campaigners.
We need to continue the mass movement for Palestine and back those who take direct action.
Outside Westminster magistrates’ court, PA co-founder Huda Ammori said, “It’s very clear that they are doing this because he is a co-founder of Palestine Action.
“It’s because we call for direct action against Israeli weapons factories. This is a vindictive trial.
“Rather than prosecute the war criminals, they’re going after those who speak out against them, who call for us to take direct action against them.
“One of the charges is Section 12, under the Terrorism Act, essentially for calling for direct action. The very vindictive charge is one that has been spurred on by a Zionist campaign.
“I also want to remind everyone that we have 16 political prisoners. Sixteen people from Palestine action are in prison for trying to stop a genocide.
“They are wielding counter-terrorism powers in a bid to protect Israel’s weapons trade. And they are doing it because they know Palestine Action is a threat to the companies who are arming genocide.
“But Palestine Action will not stop. We will not give in, we will not surrender. And Elbit’s days in this country are numbered.” Stop prisoner isolation
Palestine activists William Plastow and Ian Sanders are both in Wormwood Scrubs prison awaiting trial.
They are accused of being connected to an action which cost Elbit over £1 million in damages. They have not been allowed to receive any outside letters or emails for nearly four weeks.
William and Ian, along with eight others, were detained in solitary confinement for a week. They were interrogated repeatedly by counter-terrorism police, before being remanded to prison.
The state has refused them the right to receive outside post while on remand and access to a working phone. By doing so, it’s manufacturing the isolation of Palestine Action’s political prisoners.
Contact the prison and demand that both William and Ian have access to their post and are placed together in the same cell with a working phone.You can ask to speak to the governor, Amy Frost, or any other member of staff to raise your concerns on 020 8588 3200 or 0208 588 3216 or email wormwoodscrubs@hmps.gsi.gov.uk
The Labour benches during the Winter Fuel Allowance debate
Ben Wildsmith
When Keir Starmer opted to launch his election campaign in the heart of Tory Kent, it signalled the beginning of a tricky new era for his party in the Senedd.
SENEDD IS WELSH FOR PARLIAMENT
This week’s Conservative motion condemning means testing of the winter fuel payment is an early taste of what’s to come for a Labour group that is unused to seeing its basic principles scrutinised.
There must be darker moments when Labour members recall the comfortable certainties of their roles under a Tory administration in Westminster. Life was so simple then: if it works, we did it; if it doesn’t, blame Westminster.
That routine was so grooved into the mechanics of Senedd business over the last 14 years that it seemed to operate reflexively. Failures in crucial devolved matters like health and education have been waved airily away by a party that had a get-out-of-jail-free card for every eventuality.
Obviously, they wanted to fund our services properly, but their hands were tied by the cartoon villains in London.
New material
Without this crowd-pleaser to rely on, Eluned Morgan’s turn at FMQs this week was like watching Keith Harris without Orville the duck. Projecting the sort of confidence you’d expect from a peer of the realm, the Baroness revealed Labour’s new material for the first time.
The First Minister is not, it transpired, to be questioned about anything that is decided in Westminster.
While it was wholly appropriate to blame the Conservative regime there for any shortcomings in Welsh governance, it is taboo to question UK Labour’s decisions on the Senedd floor.
Andrew RT Davies and Rhun ap Iorweth were instructed to seek Westminster seats if they wanted to question the impact of the UK government on Wales.
The four-legs-good-two-legs-bad naked hypocrisy of this position is untenable.
Welsh Labour (sic) has excused itself for years as struggling in the shade of unjust governance from London. It has allowed itself to continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK party, reportedly without even a bank account of its own. So, the buck stops at head office, just as Morgan & Co. insisted it did when the Tories were in charge.
A poll this week revealed that a third of the Welsh electorate would like to see the Senedd abolished in favour of direct rule.
We have seen that this view does not translate into votes for parties who would enact this, but the figure is much higher than in Scotland and should be a worry for all who care about Welsh democracy.
Unionism
Mindful of incoming howls of derision, there was once a respectable Labour case for unionism.
After the war, when Labour was enacting partial socialism across the UK, the argument ran that a justly governed UK would benefit Welsh people immediately and recognise the sacrifices Wales had made.
Welsh servicemen were instrumental in campaigning for a Labour government amongst British troops stationed overseas. The new Britain was seen by many as just desserts for participating in a war on behalf of the old one.
45 years after Thatcher ended the post-war consensus, however, it is absurd to argue that a systematically impoverished Wales holds interests that are indivisible from the government in London.
In the fuel allowance debate, Labour representatives of deprived Welsh areas parroted the Treasury line about a £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances as if chanting a Latin mass.
Do they imagine that their unusually loyal voters turn out for them in the expectation of this?
The ‘nothing to do with us, guv’ approach to UK Labour by its cohort in the Senedd is not going to wash. The communitarian values of traditional Labour voters here are being insulted by Keir Starmer’s iteration of the party.
Stockbroker belt
If the UK is to be governed according to the mores of the stockbroker belt, then the responsibility of those representing Wales is to stand up for us.
For many people, the Senedd is indivisible from the Labour Party. Casual voters see a monolith of remote power that ploughs on regardless of their complaints. If the party here persists in unrepresentative obeisance to UK Labour it will be risking the viability of devolution as voters see their views ignored.
People are exhausted with the management-class mediocrity of a government that seems to distribute jobs without regard to expertise or any track record of success.
This, right now, is what they promised us would be the sunlit uplands of Wales under a Labour UK. Here’s Mike Hedges MS on the fuel allowance.
“There is a discussion to be had over the universality of support – there’s a balance between ensuring no one misses out and the cost of provision.”
Actually Mike, there was a discussion on that, it happened in London, and nobody asked any of you to contribute to it. The result of that discussion was to draw the line just above absolute poverty.
It’s a certainty that at some point Keir Starmer will appear here to invoke the ghosts of the Welsh Labour movement and wear its clothes for the cameras.
As he stands in front of historical banners claiming that inheritance for his government, the grinning handmaids of the Senedd will applaud politely.
Just another day cheerfully managing the decline of their nation.
UK
Unite to push winter fuel vote at Labour conference
Rajdeep Sandhu Politics correspondent Kate Whannel Political reporter
BBC
PA
20 September 2024
Unite, one of Labour's trade union backers, will try to force a vote on reversing the government's cuts to the winter fuel allowance at the party's conference in Liverpool.
The union has submitted a motion calling for "a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts".
It also urges the government to introduce a wealth tax and to end self-imposed rules which prevent borrowing to invest.
Despite criticism from opposition parties and unease among his own MPs, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended his cut in winter fuel payments, saying "tough decisions" are needed "to stabilise the economy".
He has also said that the impact on the 10 million pensioners losing out will be softened by a 4% increase in the state pension, due next April.
From this autumn, older people in England and Wales not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits will not get the payments, worth between £100 - £300.
Unite's motion says that "workers and communities voted for change - a better future, not just better management and not cuts to the winter fuel allowance".
It adds that the country should not "turn back to failed austerity".
Mick Whelan, head of the train drivers' Aslef union and chair of the group of Labour-backing unions said he would vote against the cut.
Asked about the relationship between unions and the government, he said: "There'll be times when we'll be applauding... and there'll be other times where, as tradition, we'll be firm but critical friends."
Unite is understood to be confident that its motion will be put to a vote at Labour's annual conference, which opens in Liverpool on Sunday 22 September.
Under conference rules, delegates get to vote for the topics they want to discuss. Members of the Conference Arrangements Committee, delegates and party staff then agree the wording of a final motion to be voted on.
Any vote would be non-binding, but a result that criticises government policy could embarrass the party leadership.
Unite traditionally backs Labour, but has been very critical of Sir Keir's leadership and last year its general secretary, Sharon Graham, warned the party there were "no blank cheques".
In 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, the union donated £3m to Labour. This year it did not give anything to the central party's campaign.
The union also refused to endorse the party's election manifesto, saying it did not go far enough on protecting workers' rights, and jobs in the oil and gas industry.
Labour's annual conference will be its first since the party's landslide victory in July's general election.
“In light of the extraordinary rise in fuel prices, this decision will cost lives.”
By Steve Price
And so it begins, a newly elected Labour Government, and the first serious misstep. After 13 long years of grotesque Tory misrule, I bring you- New Labour, Old Austerity. The means testing of the Winter Fuel Allowance. And they are already coming under attack, and from all directions.
That was a very short honeymoon period indeed! And it’s entirely self inflicted. The early signs are that this is not a slick rebuttal operation, like the one deployed under Bliar, Brown, Mandy and Malcolm Tucker.
I was on a bus the other day, and a guy who had just come back from a festival (I think) was loudly telling his friend (and anyone else who was interested) that he’s 82, and doesn’t need the ‘extra’ money. He was ranting on about rich pensioners abroad, all those living in big houses, all the usual rhetoric. lt soon became pretty clear, however, that this was not the opinion of most of the people on the bus.
All of this takes me back to my days in the civil service, where the left of my old union (in CPSA/PCS) always argued in favour of universal benefits, even though in theory that would mean less bureaucracy, and fewer jobs! (We also argued that staff should be redeployed, to create a more humane benefit system, one which actually HELPED people).
Back then, it was all about take up. For all the claims about benefit fraud, there was always much more benefit being unclaimed or underclaimed. In light of the extraordinary rise in fuel prices, this decision will cost lives. I mean, it just will. Restricting the benefit to those on pension credit is basically cruel. That top-up benefit is set at a very low level, so even if you’re only a tenner above the limit you’re basically poor.
And many pensioners who could be entitled to it will not claim because of the excessive bureaucracy (there are 213 questions), and the intrusive nature of those questions. “I’m not going to tell them all my personal business…”. This becomes an issue of personal dignity. And we know how low UK pensions are compared to most of Northern Europe.
And it’s not even being argued effectively. Reeves’ assertion to those losing £300 (or more) that ‘your pension went up by £400 last year’ went down like the proverbial lead balloon. It was borderline offensive, considering how much the cost of living rises disproportionately affected poor people.
And disingenuous too, in relation to the ‘shock horror’ £22 billion black hole. Ooh, didn’t see that coming. And yet, with a slight adjustment of the Treasury’s Fiscal Rules, the supposed hole would disappear. This is a political choice, not a financial necessity.
It has been noted that retaining the Winter Fuel Allowance was written into the 2017 and 2019 Manifestos, but suspiciously absent from the one the Party just got elected on! Hmmmm.
And what happened to the much hyped massive rebellion of Labour MPs against this cruel and unnecessary policy? After endless speculation as to the size of the rebellion, the group of already-suspended MPs has been increased by – one. Thanks Jon.
Many of the others were involved in an agonising struggle with their conscience, and for most of them their consciences lost. What did those abstaining think they were going to achieve? The amendment (from the Tories!) was easily defeated, so what was the point?
The voters and party members won’t look the other way so easily though. First the refusal to abolish the two-child benefit cap, now this. Labour’s own figures show that 4,000 older people could die this winter – that’s on top of the 8,000 who die every year from living in fuel poverty. This is just storing up trouble for the future.
This article was originally published in the September/October 2024 edition of Labour Briefing magazine
