John Spencer-Davis July 26, 2016 at 18:32
I received an e-mail from Owen Smith MP today, and I publish it and my response below.
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E-mail from Owen Smith MP dated 26th July 2016 Labour’s future, radical politics
John,
I grew up in South Wales during the miners’ strike. That’s when I came alive politically.
I saw the power of politics to change lives, for better and worse. We are seeing it again with a Tory government inflicting such damage through austerity. That’s why we need a radical, united Labour Party and why I am standing for Leader.
Jeremy Corbyn has reconnected our party with its radical principles. But it’s now time for a new generation with the energy and ideas to turn those principles in to action.
Under my leadership, we will be a powerful voice for social justice.
Together we can defeat this government.
Owen
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I received an e-mail from Owen Smith MP today, and I publish it and my response below.
*****************************************************
E-mail from Owen Smith MP dated 26th July 2016 Labour’s future, radical politics
John,
I grew up in South Wales during the miners’ strike. That’s when I came alive politically.
I saw the power of politics to change lives, for better and worse. We are seeing it again with a Tory government inflicting such damage through austerity. That’s why we need a radical, united Labour Party and why I am standing for Leader.
Jeremy Corbyn has reconnected our party with its radical principles. But it’s now time for a new generation with the energy and ideas to turn those principles in to action.
Under my leadership, we will be a powerful voice for social justice.
Together we can defeat this government.
Owen
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| John Spencer-Davis: |
Reply dated 26th July 2016 to Owen Smith MP’s e-mail of the same date
Mr Smith,
No, I will not click here to watch your election video. I am not interested in your leadership challenge. You should not be running for the Labour leadership at all. The Labour Party already has a leader, elected less than a year ago with a vote so far above that of his nearest challenger, that you should be heartily ashamed of what you and your colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party have done. Given the ridiculous antics that you and your fellow MPs have indulged yourselves in over the past month, I am astounded that you have the temerity to e-mail the membership at all.
However, I am very glad of the opportunity to tell you exactly what I think of you and your colleagues, and why. I am also going to formally request a response to this e-mail. First of all, I would like to draw your attention to a report in the Times dated 28th November 2015, of which I am certain you will be perfectly aware, titled “Secret bid to oust Corbyn” which describes senior Labour figures and MPs as “desperate to keep Corbyn off the ballot paper” in the event of a leadership challenge, and states that the firm GRM Law has issued legal advice on the matter at the request of these senior Labour figures and MPs. Secondly, I draw your attention to a report in the Telegraph dated 3rd May 2016, titled “Revealed: plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn by using veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge to spark leadership contest”, which includes the following: “A plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader has emerged, with veteran MP Margaret Hodge said to have been persuaded to stand against him to spark a leadership contest…The veteran MP could be used as a stalking horse before dropping out to allow moderate MPs to remain unscathed as they launch their leadership bids”. Thirdly, I draw your attention to a report in the Telegraph dated 13th June 2016, titled “Labour rebels hope to topple Jeremy Corbyn in 24-hour blitz after EU referendum” which includes the following: “Labour rebels believe they can topple Jeremy Corbyn after the EU referendum in a 24-hour blitz by jumping on a media storm of his own making… By fanning the flames with front bench resignations and public criticism they think the signatures needed to trigger a leadership race can be gathered within a day”.
I assume that in the light of what began on 26th June 2016, you are not going to insult my intelligence by suggesting that these newspaper reports, and a number of others like them in newspapers and social media, were fantasy, and I assume that you will not likewise insult it by suggesting that you were unaware of these reports and the movements behind them. One of the two MPs who submitted a vote of no confidence to the Parliamentary Labour Party Chairman on 24th June 2016 was Margaret Hodge. A series of front bench resignations began after Hilary Benn MP deliberately invited his own dismissal in the early hours of the morning of Sunday 26th June. Among those front bench resignations was yours from the Shadow Cabinet. You participated in the vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party. I will be pleased to be more specific about other similar reports if necessary.
In the light of what I have stated above, it is impossible to credit that the events of the 24th to the 26th June 2016, and subsequently, did not take place in order to force the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour leadership and thereby assure that he was not able to garner sufficient support from the PLP and MEPs to be eligible to seek re-election, as per the legal advice provided by GRM Law in November 2015, two months after his emphatic victory in the leadership election. It is also impossible to credit that an intelligent person with your political connections and experience could fail to be aware of what was going on during those days, and therefore, whether you care to admit it or you do not, it is as plain as day to any objective observer that your resignation from the Shadow Cabinet and your participation in the vote of no confidence make an utter mockery of your assertion, as reported on 13th July 2016, that you were not part of any plot or coup against Jeremy Corbyn MP. That assertion is flatly and obviously false. I also draw your attention to the tweet by Andy Burnham MP on 26th June 2016, which honourably stated: “I have never taken part in a coup against any Leader of the Labour Party and I am not going to start now.” Mr Burnham evidently knew what was going on. Do you seriously assert that you did not? You are taking all of the members and supporters of the Labour Party, including myself, for mugs, Mr Smith, and I do not like it. I also draw your attention to the tweet by John Mann MP on 13th July 2016, which stated: “I was approached six months ago to back Owen Smith to be Labour leader. I politely declined the offer”. I quote again the Telegraph from May 2016 regarding Margaret Hodge MP: “…could be used as a stalking horse before dropping out to allow moderate MPs to remain unscathed as they launch their leadership bids”.
I don’t need to know any more about your leadership bid than I have outlined above, Mr Smith. Unlike Andy Burnham MP, you have acted in the most dishonourable and disgraceful way, and have enthusiastically participated in a wholly undemocratic attempt to deny the members and supporters of the Labour Party their right to choose, again, the leader that they overwhelmingly chose in late 2015. You have also had the hypocrisy to state that you will fight a clean leadership campaign, when your campaign has been dirty and tainted from the very beginning, for the reasons I have summarised. Your subsequent actions have also been so, but that is no surprise given the way you started, and there is no need to go into that: what I have said is enough. You should be ashamed to show your face at any leadership husting, and I urge you to do the honourable thing even now, at this late stage, and say that you will have no further part in this cynical affront to Labour Party democracy and to the members and supporters.
I will be publicising your e-mail to me and my answer to it as widely as possible, so that as many members and supporters of the Labour Party I can reach can see the sources I have cited and what an ordinary member thinks of you and your e-mail and your leadership bid. I will also be copying it to my own MP.
I await your reply.
Yours sincerely,
John Spencer-Davis
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2 comments:
Whilst Simon Danczuk has been suspended from the Labour party for more than six months and is being referred to by the Tory council leader as 'our Independent MP, it was after a so called 'sexting' incident. It was not about the questions which arose from after he and his then girlfriend holidayed in Spain. When a number of members of Rochdale Labour party tried to ask that the matter be looked at it was they were called before a Labour party inquiry which resulted in their expulsion.
If the claims made in the Spencer-Davis article are true, and I see no reason to disbelieve them, then they would seem to amount to a deliberate attempt to undermine a democratically elected Labour leader and a reckless disregard for the effect that this would have upon the public image of the Labour party should it become known to the public, as it surely would.
How does this make Labour a party to be trusted? How does it make Labour seem like a party that you would want to run the country?
The support which Corbyn has received from ordinary members of the Labour party has shown what they can do collectively if they put their minds to it. Is it not time for those same ordinary members to start demanding a proper inquiry into what seem to be long standing and determined efforts to get rid of a democratically elected leader by some 'senior' figures in the party?
The open letter to Owen Smith from John Spencer-Davis raises once again the question of just what you have to do in the Labour party to be suspended for bringing it into disrepute, provided you have the right connections.
Whilst Simon Danczuk has been suspended from the Labour party for more than six months and is being referred to by the Tory council leader as 'our Independent MP, it was after a so called 'sexting' incident. It was not about the questions which arose from after he and his then girlfriend holidayed in Spain. When a number of members of Rochdale Labour party tried to ask that the matter be looked at it was they that were called before a Labour party inquiry which resulted in their expulsion.
If the claims made in the Spencer-Davis article are true, and I see no reason to disbelieve them, then they would seem to amount to a deliberate attempt to undermine a democratically elected Labour leader and a reckless disregard for the effect that this would have upon the public image of the Labour party should it become known to the public, as it surely would.
How does this make Labour a party to be trusted? How does it make Labour seem like a party that you would want to run the country?
The support which Corbyn has received from ordinary members of the Labour party has shown what they can do collectively if they put their minds to it. Is it not time for those same ordinary members to start demanding a proper inquiry into what seem to be long standing and determined efforts to get rid of a democratically elected leader by some 'senior' figures in the party?
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