McDonnell promises a 4-day working week and affordable homes - so why is Labour unpopular?

John McDonnell - Labour Shadow Chancellor

DESPITE having a British Conservative government that is led by a pathological liar - who even misled the Queen - a chancer, and someone who is clearly out of his depth and unfit to be the Prime Minister of the UK, some opinion polls have given the Tories a 15-point lead over Labour. One opinion poll went so far as saying that Jeremy Corbyn was the "most unpopular opposition leader of the past 45 years." 

The survey by Ipsos MORI, for the Evening Standard, gave the Labour leader a net satisfaction rating of -60, with just 16% of voters pleased with him and 76% unhappy. According to the Evening Standard, Corbyn is now more unpopular than the former Labour leader Michael Foot.

This weeks shambolic Labour conference, is unlikely to boost Corbyn's ratings with the electorate. At various times the Labour Party conference has descended into chaos, as Unison hack, Wendy Nichols, the Labour NEC chair, struggled to maintain order. Delegates were furious when a motion supporting 'Remain' was rejected on a show of hands and Nichols refused to hold a full paper ballot. She initially thought the motion to 'Remain' had been carried until she was corrected by Labour's general secretary Jennie Formby, who insisted it hadn't been carried. Earlier in the Week, Nichols had provoked  a row when she remitted a motion back, in spite of delegates saying they hadn't a clue what the motion was about because it wasn't on the order papers.


I almost  pissed myself laughing when Labour's Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, referred to Labour's Shadow Economic Secretary, 'Blairite', Jonathan Reynolds - a protégé of both Lord Mandelson and 'work-for-your- dole', James Purnell - as "taking socialism into the heart of the city." Yet, McDonnell outlined a range of Labour policies that one would have thought would have been hugely popular with the working people:-


A £10 minimum wage from 16-up; a ban on zero hour contracts; a 32-hour, 4-day working week within the next decade, without loss of pay; 20% of company shares to be held by workers; restoration of trade union rights; workers right to take effect from day one; stop the roll-out of Universal Credit - not abolish it; personal care free at the point of use in England; build a million affordable homes and give free prescriptions.

Why Labour is flagging in the opinion polls is indeed curious given that a paper like the Financial Times, recently warned that Labour wanted to pick the pockets of the rich and to put it into the pocket of the workers. Likewise, the Tories are in complete disarray over Europe, and up shit creek without a paddle. Many of Labour's policies like re-nationalizing the railways and utilities are extremely popular with the electorate and not many of us are going to lose much sleep over public schools losing their charitable status, as they aren't charities  or even public schools, as most of the public couldn't afford to get in. However, one suspects that Labour may have promised far too much and if we leave the EU, many of their policies might not be affordable because of the negative impact leaving would have on the British economy. 

Not all the blame is solely down to Jeremy Corbyn - an ardent Brexiteer - who has never enjoyed the support of many of the Labour 'Blairite' right in Parliament, who have sought to bring him down from day one and would much rather have a Conservative government than a Labour one led by  Corbyn.

None of this in-fighting and intrigue plays well with the voters, even if some of Labour's policies are popular.  I suspect that if there was an election tomorrow, the Tories under Boris Johnson, could get re-elected but possibly without a working majority. Johnson, a cad and scoundrel, will position himself as the saviour of Britain who wants to implement the will of the majority of British people who want to leave the EU. The next General Election will fought on the basis of the people versus an intransigent parliament.

Although most people haven't a clue what Brexit means, Boris Johnson does have a clue. It is about cutting taxes for the rich and turning British workers into doormats for billionaires. It is about a race to the bottom and having a bonfire of regulations that cover such things as employment rights,  food standards, health and safety, the environment and even the NHS.

The Politics of Delusion

by Les May

I VOTE Labour. In the referendum I voted to remain in the EU, but accepted the result.   At no time have I felt it necessary to criticise Labour’s policy about Brexit. It has confounded the ‘scribblers’ in the media whose criticism has had to be limited to grumbling about its lack of clarity. How nice it would have been for them if Labour had declared its support for, or opposition to, a further referendum.  They would have been able to look forward to lots of ‘exclusive’ briefings from Labour MPs in favour of or against the policy, as the equivalent of open warfare gripped the party. It has not happened.

Credit for this not happening is not due to Corbyn alone.  Those seen as ‘big names’ in the party who do not entirely agree with his stance, John McDonnell, Emily Thornberry, Keir Starmer, plus those Labour MPs which some sections of the media would find more congenial as Labour leader, e.g. Yvette Cooper, Hillary Benn and Stephen Kinnock, have been muted in their criticism.

Criticism has tended to come from Labour MPs eager to convince us that if only it would adopt their preferred strategy of supporting a second referendum and campaigning to remain in the EU, the party’s poll ratings would magically improve.

What people who believe this forget is that Labour does not have a majority in Parliament. Labour is essentially a bystander with no power to influence the decisions of the next prime minister, who at this moment is being selected by 160,000 Tory party members in no way representative of the wider population and who seem happy to trash the economy, the union with Scotland and tear up the international treaty which gave guarantees to the people of Ireland in a single minded pursuit of leaving the EU.

If Labour did adopt such a strategy it would have the support of the Welsh and Scottish nationalists, LibDems, MPs who identify themselves as Independent and some Tories.   Even if collectively the different groupings could muster a majority, constitutionally there appears to be no mechanism by which Parliament can prevent a Johnson or Hunt led government forcing us to leave the EU without a deal. To believe that Labour declaring itself in favour of a second referendum and that it will campaign to remain in the EU will in some way influence what happens when a Johnson or Hunt led government takes over is the politics of delusion.

The people who believe this are not alone in being deluded. Corbyn, Hunt and Johnson all share their own delusions.  They believe that if they become Prime Minister they will be able to negotiate with the EU to produce something that is different from the deal that was rejected three times by Parliament.  Corbyn has already tried to sweet talk the Irish government to no avail. I doubt whether the other 27 countries of the EU are exactly quaking in the boots at the prospect of meeting Boris or Jeremy who both seem to think that threatening to leave with ‘no deal’ is going to wring some major concession from the EU.

Labour’s worst nightmare has to be that blame will be dumped on it for the chaos that will follow if Hunt or Johnson have to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ and the UK leaves the EU without a deal.  Labour will be accused of doing ‘too little, too late’ by people who don’t want to acknowledge that its ability to significantly affect whether the UK leaves the EU after the referendum was always limited. Labour’s best option now is probably to look to a damage limitation strategy. 

********** 

10th anniversary meeting of BLACKIST GROUP

One week to go until our 10th anniversary meeting in parliament... we've got new revelations that are gonna make the news:

5pm Wed 6th March 2019

Committee Room 10

Houses of Parliament, Westminster

Confirmed speakers (so far): 

John McDonnell MP - founder member of the Blacklist Support Group (and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer)
Imran Khan QC - BSG lawyer at undercover policing public inquiry
Gail Carmail - UNITE the union, Assistant General Secretary
Chris Stephens MP - SNP employment spokesperson 

More to be confirmed  

************ 

Decade of blacklisted workers fighting for justice

10 years on - blacklisted workers are still fighting for justice

Blacklist Support Group - 10th anniversary parliamentary event

Wednesday 6th March (5pm - 7:30pm)

Houses of Parliament 

Westminster

Hosted by: John McDonnell MP & Chris Stephens MP

6th March 2019 is exactly ten years since The Consulting Association blacklist of union members in the building industry was exposed.  BSG is holding a 10th Anniversary meeting in parliament to celebrate the successes of our campaign, but also to highlight the injustices that still need to be put right.  It started out as an industrial relations issue, it's now turned into a human rights conspiracy involving multinational companies and the police. 

We guarantee that important new information will be put into the public domain at this meeting.  We will be using this as a means of telling politicians what we want to see in future election manifestos. 

All blacklisted workers and supporters welcome.

Please circulate. 

More details to follow once speakers are confirmed (a small part of the meeting will act as the BSG AGM). 

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

Police admit role in construction blacklist scandal

 sent by Trevor Hoyle (Rochdale)

THE Metropolitan Police has confirmed undercover Special Branch officers supplied information to the construction industry blacklist.

Blacklisted workers have fought tirelessly to expose wrongdoing photo

The admission follows a campaign by blacklisted workers to prove they were spied on by the police.

It comes in a letter sent by Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Richard Martin in response to a complaint made by the Blacklist Support Group to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The letter states: “Allegation: Police, including Special Branches, supplied information that appeared on the Blacklist, funded by the country’s major construction firms, The Consulting Association and/or other agencies, in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. 

“The Report concludes that, on the balance of probabilities, the allegation that the police or Special Branches supplied information is ‘Proven’. 

The letter goes on to explain: “Sections of the policing community throughout the UK had both overt and covert contact with external organization, including the Economic League” 

It also conformed an “improper flow of information from Special Branch to external organisations, which ultimately appeared on the Blacklist”.

The blacklist scandal has seen more than £75m in compensation paid to workers by major contractors.

Allegations of police collusion in blacklisting were first made back in 2012 but the claims were strenuously denied by the authorities.

MP John McDonnell said: “It is now abundantly clear that various arms of the state including the Police colluded in the blacklisting process.

“This is one of the hidden scandals of the abuse of civil liberties in our country that needs to be recognised fully and addressed. The people involved need to be brought to book.” 

Dave Smith, secretary of the Blacklist Support Group said: “When we first talked about police collusion in blacklisting, people thought we were conspiracy theorists.

“We were told, ‘things like that don’t happen here’. With this admission from the Met Police, our quest for the truth has been vindicated.”

“The police are supposed to detect crime, instead they infiltrated trade unions and provided intelligence to an unlawful corporate conspiracy.”

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail, said: “This is a major breakthrough the police have finally been forced to admit what we already knew that they were knowingly and actively involved in the blacklisting of construction workers.”

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/03/23/police-admit-role-in-construction-blacklist-scandal/

Dave Smith, the excellent representative for his union members, was interviewed (fairly) by Sarah Montague on Radio 4 this morning. I will put the link up later. 

******

Tameside Tories see RED over Communist Party funeral flag!

Tameside Health Campaigner - Rod McCord

A major row has erupted over a families right to display in public, the Communist Party flag, in memory of their father, who was a lifelong communist. 

Last Thursday, over 300 people attended the memorial service to Rodney (Rod) McCord at the Stalybridge Civic Hall.  A local health campaigner and member of Stalybridge Labour Party, Rod died in Willow Wood Hospice, on  Wednesday 15th February 2018, aged 67. Later in the afternoon, a service took place at the Dukinfield Crematorium.

Originally from Openshaw, Manchester, Rod was one of three children of Phyllis and Charles McCord. Along with their father, Rod and his two sisters, Christine and Marilyn, were all members of the Communist Party (CPGB). Rod left instructions that the Communist Party flag was to be draped over his coffin and a communist  banner with the hammer and sickle and "RIP COMRADE", was displayed in the civic hall. The Red Flag and The Internationale were also played at the service and relayed out into the street.

Afterwards, family and friends retired to the Stalybridge Labour Club, where £1,348.94 was collected for Willow Wood Hospice. To show honour and respect to their father, the McCord family, decided to display the CP flag on the flagppole at Stalybridge Labour Club to "mark our Dad's passing."

A local busybody Stalybridge councillor, called Doreen Dickenson, a kind of priggish, parochial, Mrs Grundy type of character, got wind that something rather communist and lefty was going on in her own backyard of Stalybridge.  Even before, Mr McCord had been laid to rest, she was scurrilously tweeting about how un-English and alien it was to display communist flags and play communist songs, in this little northern cotton town. Although Dickenson, later removed the offending tweet, after being contacted by the McCord family, she said she'd received complaints from constituents about the 'Communist Party Flag' and communist music being relayed outside by loudspeakers that she found disgusting. She also seemed to think that because the event took place in a public building (which the family had hired for the occasion), they had no right to fly the flag or play music.

Many Tameside Labour members appear to have been either unaware of the incident, indifferent,  or in support of the kind gesture to honour Mr. McCord, who was held in high regard.  Jonathan Reynolds MP, who represents Stalybridge & Hyde, said:

"Rod was a truly lovely person, generous, intelligent and warm. Many people will know him in particular for his work with Tameside Hospital Action Group... I always thought he was one of the most well read and informed people I ever met. There was a great turnout today, and Rod's sons and grandchildren all gave magnificent tributes to him. Dave Ormsby gave a brilliant eulogy, which was funny as well as poignant. Rest in Peace Rod."

Councillor Jan Jackson, who chairs the Stalybridge Town Council, said the flag was a family matter and was "not aligned or associated in any way with the New Stalybridge Labour Club." she said:

"It has gone viral and caused a furore on social media, something that should not have happened. It was the funeral of a very stalwart person who sat on the Tameside Hospital Action Board (sic) and did a lot of good work in the community. People are dying all over the world and struggling to put a loaf of bread on the table, yet flying the flag has caused all this fuss.  There are more important issues."

The McCord family later issued a statement saying that it was not their intention to cause offence, upset, or to associate the flag with the Labour Party.

I don't suppose that any of us should be surprised at the foul antics that the Tories and the far right are prepared to stoop to in order to make political capital over their opponents. Even the death of a truly decent man, and the respect his family paid to him, is something that cannot take place without controversy or be exploited for political gain.  Some have even tried to connect this flag incident with the recent poisonings of Yulia and Sergei Skripal.  But what should one expect from a party that snatched milk off the school kids and now threatens to take their free school meals off them, if their family earns more than £7,000 per year.

We understand that the manager of Stalybridge Labour Club received death threats following this incident.  We also understand that someone in the office of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, contacted one of Mr McCord's son's, demanding that the communist flag be taken down and that when he asked to speak to 'Jeremy', he was told he was out at a meeting.  This seems rather cowardly and gutless action from a party that proclaims itself to be socialist.  Needless to say, the party must have found it a political embarrassment.

Despite being embarrassed by a red flag, the Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, says in his 'Who's Who' entry, that his hobbies include "fermenting (sic) the downfall of capitalism."  In 2011, he called on unhappy workers to spit in their bosses tea.  Clearly, the pragmatic politician lies behind many of these hard men on the left.

And what would my dear friend Rod McCord, be making of this right now?  I bet he'd be laughing his little red socks off. He certainly went out with a bang! RIP mate.

Derek Pattison,

Joint Editor Northern Voices.

Blacklist Support Group progress report:

Roy Benthan reports:

'Cheers for the heads up there Brian.  It [the Tameside MBC's broken model] looks like a carbon copy of our predicament here on Merseyside and i will be using your broken model when the time arises' 👍

Blacklist Support Group update - 6th March 2018. 

1. Model Blacklisting working group resolution which can be presented to all Constituency Labour Parties (CPL) passed at Liverpool Wavertree Constitutuency Labour Party last month. 

Model resolution (please amend as required):

This Constituency Labour Party notes Liverpool City Council’s ill-fated relationship with two of the most prolific Consulting Association blacklisters - namely Carillion and Laing O’Rourke, which has been brought into even sharper focus by the recent collapse of Carillion.

The CLP shares the Blacklist Support Group’s dismay that these rogue contractors have been securing public contracts within our city, thereby rendering the Cabinet's motion, passed in 2013, meaningless. It also contravenes the ethos of the document referred to as the 'Workers Charter'

The CLP therefore resolves to remind the Council that blacklisting was and still is an unacceptable practice, which cannot be condoned. We therefore urge that those companies who were members of the clandestine organisation, the Consulting Association, and any others found to be engaging in blacklisting, be removed forthwith from the approved list for future construction work procured by the Council.

Since these discredited contractors have continued to be awarded work in the city, this CLP calls for a working group to be set up, comprising two elected members of the Blacklist Support Group and the appropriate cabinet council members, to monitor this process of disengagement.

Roy Bentham, blacklisted carpenter from Liverpool and BSG joint secretary noted:

It’s a groundbreaking motion which sailed through a vote our CLP and it recognised the need for change within planning and the procurement processes. Carillion was a Grenfell moment within the construction industry and we can act as a vanguard against unethical companies with this resolution. 

The old model was broken and we need to face upto that.. Its now up to us fix it with the firm implementation of the workers charter. There can be no other way". 

http://www.left-horizons.co.uk/index.php?section=10&page=216

2. Spycops - Serious concern over ongoing delaying tactics at inquiry into undercover political policing 

http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/

http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2018/02/14/which-justice-campaigns-spied-on/

3. Was my friend an undercover police officer? 

Shocking revelations here too

http://undercoverresearch.net/1260-2/

4. Mark Constantine introduced our session at the Lush Summit 2018 by saying, “Spycops is THE most important campaign in the UK today”

5. BSG out in force with banners and showing support for the Keep NHS public day on Saturday 3rd March and RMT train drivers strike too 

6. Big feature article on John McDonnell in the FT on Friday 1st March. Both joint secretary’s Dave Smith and Roy Bentham contributed to the article of one of our founder members. 

McDonnell lists his hobby in Who’s Who as “fermenting the downfall of capitalism”. 

"Our objectives are socialist. That means an irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people,” he explains. 

Dave Smith, head of the Blacklist Support Group, says he would often encounter McDonnell at a picket at 6.30am:  “When no one else was prepared to talk to us he was there . . . representing working people fighting for justice.”

Royston Bentham, a blacklisted construction worker from Liverpool, says McDonnell sometimes visits Anfield:  “People come over all the time and shake his hand and chant his name in the pub . . . he has been through the bad times in the Labour Party and is now on the cusp of something big.”

https://amp.ft.com/content/d9c2b1be-1c10-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6?__twitter_impression=true

7. BSG member Jack Fawbert scribes another brilliant piece on his Blacklisting experiences here 

http://www.left-horizons.co.uk/index.php?section=10&page=204

8. Mears dispute has been won by the brothers and sisters emphatically up in Manchester. 

We send our solidarity upto the Nw on a magnificent victory 

http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/mears-settles-manchester-dispute

9. And finally we stand shoulder to shoulder with our UCU comrades striking for pay and pensions in education and the Crossrail electricians in dispute with Balfour Beatty. They have our full support in their struggles.. 

http://shopstewards.net/2018/02/4802/

In solidarity 

Roy Bentham  

'Deep Throat' Delivers Rebuke

Who Knew What About Carillion?

Editor:  The observations below appeared in a post on the Alan Wainwright Blog yesterday.  It makes serious claims that the characters named were aware of the situation regarding Carillion.  Northern Voices is not in a position to judge the validity of what Alan Wainwright is saying.  But we believe Mr. Wainwright ought to be listened to.  In 2007, Mr. Wainwright performed the role of the 'Deep Throat' in the context of the blacklist in the British building trade.  Without the help of the whistle-blower Wainwright, the blacklist would very likely never have been exposed.

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/2017/03/capenhurst.html

www.alanwainwright.blogspot.com/

Thursday, 18 January 2018:

CARILLION LIES - WHO KNEW AND DID NOTHING?

Theresa May, Greg Clark, Margot James - Government

John McDonnell - Land of Make Believe

Aidan Kehoe - Chief Executive Liverpool Royal Hospital

Board of Directors - Liverpool Football Club

Steve Rotheram MP 

Philip Green, Keith Cochrane, Steve Mogford, Andrew Dougal, Alison Horner, Ceri Powell - All Carillion

& many others

******

I was National Labour Manager at Carillion for seven years, reporting directly to the managing directors. With responsibility for around 2,500 mechanical and electrical operatives and a £60 million annual labour bill, I had access to key financial personnel and the relevant financials.

This post should be read in conjunction with the other Carillion Lies posts HERE.

As you will see from the three letters to Philip Green, Keith Cochrane and the other Carillion non-execs, John McDonnell was also copied in the correspondence and I have alerted both him directly and his team on many occasions to my concerns about Carillion.

McDonnell ignores me, as I continue to campaign to expose the trade union officials involved in the blacklisting, and current senior trade union leaders such as McCluskey, Cartmail and Beckett who ignore all the evidence I've presented to them about this and Unites cover up of the blacklisting back in 2006 to protect the millions they were receiving from the construction companies at the time, which is detailed HERE.

As no one was responding to the very serious concerns I was raising about Carillion, I asked my MP David Hanson to get involved and set out all the correspondence between him and Theresa May, Greg Clark, Margot James. No 10 and John McDonnell below.

David Hanson to Theresa May - 18 October 2016 (download link)

David Hanson write to the PM, highlighting my correspondence to Philip Green (and the other Carillion non-execs) and questioning his suitability to advise the PM on Corporate Social Responsibility. Theresa May punts this off to Greg Clark on 28 October 2016.

David Hanson to Greg Clark - 10 January 2017 (download link)

David Hanson follows this up with Greg Clark on 10 January 2017, as no response had been received to date.

Margot James to David Hanson - 22 February 2017 (download link)

Margot James responds on behalf of Clark, stating that Mr Green was appointed by the previous PM, David Cameron and that she had been advised by No10 that he no longer held the position.

David Hanson to Theresa May - 17 March 2017 (download link)

David Hanson writes to Theresa May highlighting further questions from me about Mr Green and steps taken to ensure he was suitable for the role as Special Adviser on Corporate Social Responsibility.

David Hanson to John McDonnell - 17 March 2017 (download link)

David Hanson writes to John McDonnell, highlighting my letters to him from January, March and April 2016 and asking what steps he had taken in relation to the concerns raised about Carillion.

McDonnell ignores him for months, so I ask David to chase this up, which he did. McDonnell eventually responds by email on 2 August 2017 stating: 
'In response to the correspondence from your constituent Mr Wainwright, I was working on the basis from his past correspondence that Mr Wainwright had expressed such a virulent lack of confidence in me that he was continuing to pursue his concerns via yourself as his constituency MP.'

McDonnell had been aware of the fact that Carillion had blatantly lied to the City, their clients, shareholders and employees, and a parliamentary select committee since January 2016 and his first response 18 months later is that?

The response didn't even make sense, as I only contacted David Hanson for help as McDonnell had been ignoring me all this time.

10 Downing Street to David Hanson - 13 June 2017 (download link)

Andrew Paterson responds to the above 17 March 2017 letter to Theresa May, but does not provide the information requested.

So everyone knew about Carillion Lies and the fact that Howson & Co were prepared to lie to their clients, shareholders and employees, and a parliamentary select committee, but nobody did anything about it.

******

Blacklister McAlpine gets Big Ben Contract

Report from Blacklist Support Group:

THE refurbishment of Big Ben is once again the centre of huge political argument.  And not just about the bells falling silent to protect the hearing of construction workers.  Blacklisted construction workers, MPs and unions have voiced their outrage after is was revealed that the contract to refurbish Big Ben is to be awarded to Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, the company at the very heart of blacklisting scandal, described as the UK's 'worst ever case of organized human rights abuse against workers' by the John McDonnell MP, who spearheaded the blacklisting campaign in parliament.  The issue will be debated this Tuesday (5th September) in parliament. 

The £29million contract to refurbish Big Ben is to be awarded to Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, the company at the very heart of blacklisting scandal. The issue will be debated this Tuesday (5th September) in parliament.
******

Carillion's Share Price & other comments

 N.V. Editor:  

  Yesterday, Construction News reported:  

' “Grisly” is how one analyst described Carillion’s profit warning this morning.  
Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalef was speaking after the Wolverhampton-based contractor issued a profit warning on contracts worth £845m, which could cost the business up to £150m in 2017 and 2018. Chief executive Richard Howson has stepped down with immediate effect, Carillion Building managing director Phil Wakefield has left the company after more than a decade leading the division, and a “comprehensive review of the business” will be undertaken.'

Below also is yesterday's website response of the well-know whistle-blower, Alan Wainwright, on the now notorious Consulting Association blacklist in the British building trade:  Here is what he has to say about Carillion:

CARILLION LIES

As Carillion collapses and Howsen resigns, let us not forget all their lies in relation to the blacklisting.

It's all HERE

 PHILIP GREEN, CARILLION & THE PM

On 1 October 2016 Sky News reported that Carillion's Chief Executive, Philip Green had been in talks with Teresa May about a role advising her on 'responsible business'.

Sky News Report - 1 October 2016 
The report also revealed that Mr Green had been advising David Cameron on 'corporate social responsibility' during his tenure.
This beggars belief!
Now Carillion's position...
"Crown House, the only Carillion subsidiary to use the Consulting Association's database, stopped doing so back in 2004. The practice was proactively stopped because the HR manager responsible for checking the database believed it was wrong."
...is a total pack of lies.
I set out all the facts and evidence disproving their lies in my three letters to Philip Green and the other Carillion non-executive directors in January, March and April 2016.

You can view all three letters and the evidence HERE 
This was ignored by Mr Green, all the other Carillion non-execs, and the politicians who were copied in on this (see below).

This was recently highlighted to my MP, David Hanson in October 2016, who subsequently wrote to the Prime Minister highlighting the facts. The PM responded in late October 2016, stating that she had referred this to the business department.

Over three months has now passed and no further response has been received to date. David has therefore submitted a formal written question to the Secretary of State for Business, which can be viewed HERE 
Okay, so I expect nothing less from the Tories who are quite happy to turn a blind eye to Carillion's lies, but look who else was copied in on the correspondence over a year ago and did nothing about it.
Pete Wishart - Chairman of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee
Jim Eadie - Infrastructure and Capital Investments Committee
John McDonnell - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Steve Mogford - Carillion Non-exec
Andrew Dougal - Carillion Non-exec
Alison Horner - Carillion Non-exec
Ceri Powell - Carillion Non-exec
Keith Cochrane - Carillion Non-exec

Meanwhile, Sam Dean and Rhiannon Bury in the Daily Telegraph report::(10 July 2017):

Hedge funds pocketed huge windfalls yesterday after more than £300m was wiped off Carillion’s stock market value on Monday as the building contractor warned on profits, axed its dividend and parted company with its chief executive.

Carillion is the most shorted stock in the FTSE 250, with more than 25pc of its shares on loan to short-sellers. Its shares crashed 39.04pc at 117.1p, shedding £322.6m in value.

Short-sellers make one-way bets that a company’s share price will fall rather than rise, profiting when it does so.

***********

Blacklist Support Group News

1. The Labour Manifesto pledges to hold a full public inquiry into blacklisting whereas Theresa May has repeatedly refused to set up a public inquiry when she was Home Secretary. The polls indicate that the General Election is now a 2 horse race between Labour and the Tories, therefore the Blacklist Support Group is encouraging its supporters to vote for a public inquiry on June 9th and where possible to volunteer in the campaign.

BSG set up a video shoot with other rank & file union activists outside parliament and the Conservative Party HQ last week. 

This is the outcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTMdi8hLEeE

Share this video to support the campaign. The pop-up gig by Steve White & The protest family on the steps on Tory Party Central office has also started a Guerrilla Gig Challenge amongst musicians - if you know any band that has performed a political slot in the street or outside a hustings, post a video on social media using the hashtag #GE2017GuerrillaGigChallenge 

While at the gig outside Tory Party Central Office, the Reel News photographer Guy Smallman managed to take photos of Steve Back leaving the Tory HQ, the photojournalist whose pictures have been used to smear Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.   

See here: https://www.facebook.com/ReelNews/posts/10155375652174605?pnref=story

2. Our giant Corbyn banner has become a 'thing' in the campaign - after it appeared on the Kop and at Goodison, working class voters are flocking to be associated with the campaigns on it - Blacklisting - Hillsborough - Orgeave - Shrewsbury (plus Corbyn & McDonnell). Videos & photos are appearing all over social media  The iconic image is now available as a t-shirt with all proceeds going to food banks across Merseyside - great work by Roy Bentham who have been on Radio Merseyside and the Liverpool Echo. 

T-shirts available from: http://hat-scarf-or-a-badge.com/epages/915e4285-c20f-4bb0-8d60-8ddcaf597b83.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectID=21040654

Associated media coverage: 

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/confident-scousers-plan-jeremy-corbyn-13126022

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jeremy-corbyn-says-labour-election-13122296

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/corbyn-special-message-liverpool-fans-13109175?service=responsive

3. The fascist English Defence League were chased out of Liverpool at the weekend by over 1000 scousers and the Blacklist Support Group banner was proud to be in the middle of it. Photo attached.

4. Shrewsbury Pickets Protest - 12 noon Wed 7th June 

Criminal cases Review Commission 

5 St Philip’s Place
Birmingham
B3 2PW

This is because of the CCRC reluctance to give a decision on whether of the not the case of the Shrewsbury Pickets is to go to the court of appeal. Campaigners have been told time and time again that a decision is imminent. The case of the Shrewsbury Pickets is 45 yrs old. There can be no place in our society for miscarriages of justice to go unchallenged. 

5. Spycops 

New judge to take over at the undercover police inquiry due to the ill-health of Lord justice Pitchford. 

http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2017/06/04/new-spycops-public-inquiry-chief-named/

Scottish police were seconded to work in the disgraced NPOIU undercover policing unit - little wonder campaigners complain about the police investigating themselves again - Full public inquiry needed in Scotland.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15326930.Confirmed__Scottish_police_were_seconded_to_disgraced_undercover_spy_unit/

6. Solidarity videos form the heroic Reel News 

LSE cleaners - fighting for equal rights:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VJ2RXYLK2c

NHS protests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCbHEd2O6bQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk8H4Yg2Ckc

7.And finally;

'Liar Liar' by Captain Ska - the song banned by the BBC has become the soundtrack to the general election and is number 4 in the charts - enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxN1STgQXW8

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

Noam Chomsky on the Labour Party

by Brian Bamford

LAST Sunday, Trevor Hoyle wrote a comment on the 'McCluskey states the obvious' post on this N.V. Blog in which he claimed:
'Not clear what your position is Brian. "McCluskey states the obvious" -- well it is obvious because it's true that the vast majority of the mainstream corporate media are, and always have been, against Corbyn. ANY leader, no matter who, with such a sustained campaign of vitriol waged against him, including the so-called left-of-centre Guardian, would have struggled to overcome such a negative media image. '
Earlier this month dealing with the relative unpopularity of the British Labour Party, Noam Chomsky admitted to an interviewer:
'... that the current polling position suggested Labour was not yet gaining popular support for the policy positions that he supported.' 
Only last Saturday, Joshua Chaffin, in the Financial Times said that the polls 'suggest Mrs May is cruising toward a big victory on June 8.'
But by yesterday, with news that the 'dementia tax' was hitting the conserative party hard on the doorstep, Mrs May rewrote a major item in her election manifesto - social care reform - after four days of pressure; leaving her open to the accusations of show bad political judgement and being weak when the heat is on.
Meanwhile, over the weekend the polls showed that Labour under Corbyn, was closing the gap on the Tories.  Yet, still the Corbyn approach lacks charisma.
Professor Chomsky described to The Guardian what he thought was wrong:
' "If I were a voter in Britain, I would vote for him,” said Chomsky, who admitted that the current polling position suggested Labour was not yet gaining popular support for the policy positions that he supported.'
Pro. Chomsky then added:
'There are various reasons for that – partly an extremely hostile media, partly his own personal style which I happen to like but perhaps that doesn’t fit with the current mood of the electorate,'  he said. 'He’s quiet, reserved, serious, he’s not a performer.  The parliamentary Labour party has been strongly opposed to him.  It has been an uphill battle.'
Trevor Hoyle in his comment complains:
'I don't think Corbyn or McDonnell are dull at all.  They state their case and explain their policies in adult, measured tones.  To expect them to go all showbiz and join the media frenzy is to support exactly what is wrong with the political climate in this country.'
It might well be that a serious tone is preferable to those who read The Guardian like Trevor Hoyle, or The New York Times like me, but most of the people in the towns and cities in the North of England where the working-class target voters reside don't read these papers, and these people judging from what we are hearing prefer what Cyril Smith used to call Razzamataz than the kind of sombre socialism we might fancy.
When asked what motivation he thought newspapers had to oppose Corbyn, Chomsky said the Labour leader had, like Bernie Sanders in the US, broken out of the 'elite, liberal consensus' that he claimed was 'pretty conservative'.
Chomsky told Anushka Asthana, The Guardian Political Editor on Wednesday on 10 May 2017, that 'Labour needed to "reconstruct itself" in the interests of working people, with concerns about human and civil rights at its core, arguing that such a programme could appeal to the majority of people.'
Chomsky talks of the need for socio-economic programmes and the way the key defence against the existential threats of climate change and the nuclear age were being radically weakened, and then goes on to describe what he wants is the defence as a 'functioning democratic society with engaged, informed citizens deliberating and reaching measures to deal with and overcome the threats'.
This is all well and good, but the circles I move in among my neighbours  and other working people, I don't find much genuine concern about the kind of things that might concern Chomsky, Trevor Hoyle and me, like 'human rights'; 'civil rights'; or even the environment generally.
The great academic, Noam Chomsky who often describes himself as 'a kind of anarchist', and who is in Britain to deliver a lecture at the University of Reading on what he believes is the deteriorating state of western democracy, claimed that voters had turned to the Conservatives in recent years because of  'an absence of anything else'.
What the good professor ought to understand is that the left in this country since the Chartists, has rarely had a program or a strategy for social change which in any way will convince or inspire ordinary people, instead it continues to react to an aganda set by the establishment and the State.  Marching, protesting and demonstrating against cuts; Trade Union Acts; privatisation and the erosion of the NHS is all that the left reacts to.  There is very little vison on the British left, and that is why the right in this country these days always tends to have the initiative.

Elections, Pitchford Inquiry & Vain Expectations?

 WE are publishing the newsletter below from the

Blacklist Support Group.  We publish it as we

always do, but without any great expectations

or hopes with regard to any kind of plebian victory 

resulting from the General Election.  While we may 

agree with Ludwig Wittgenstein that William the Conquer

got himself a good bargain in 1066, generally we side with

Orwell who said:  'The corruption that happens in England 
is seldom of that kind [overt].  Nearly always it is more in the 
nature of self-deception, of the right hand not knowing what 
the left hand doeth.  And being unconcious it is limited.'
(See The Lion & the Unicorn').  That is why, in the final
analysis, Northern Voices cannot fully embrace the optimism
of the Blacklist Support Group either with regard to the
Pitchford Inquiry or indeed in their expectations from a
Labour Government.  We wish the blacklist campaigners
well, but we cannot stomach the necessary self-deception
involved in promoting the Labour Party.
******

EVERY political party in the General Election is claiming to be the voice of the workers. Blacklisted construction workers know the score:

1. Labour pledges a public inquiry into blacklisting: That gets our vote!

http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/workers/

This pledge was announced by John McDonnell in St.George's Hall, Liverpool last week in front of the huge Blacklist Support Group banner.  

2. Article in today's Morning Star exposing the failure of the ECGR and British courts to protect blacklisted workers and challenging political parties to grant basic employment rights to all workers in the UK.   If workers rights cannot be protected by judges in the UK or the European Court of Human Rights, then it is time to change statutory legislation. 

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-dc1a-No-blacklist-justice-for-Britains-agency-staff

3. In the same week as the ECHR ruling above, blacklisted electrician Frank Morris, is sacked again. This time on an NHS hospital. Let's hear candidates queue up to call for Frank Morris to be reinstated.  

Reel News video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iKhQdLpUm4&t=129s

4. Spycops

New 59 page ruling from the undercover police public inquiry. Releasing the cover names of undercover police officers who spied on activists is a 'priority' but Lord Justice Pitchford allows Met Police another 12 months extension to carry out 'risk assessments' in preparation for more anonymity applications.  But the police are not engaged in 'delaying tactics', oh no.

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170502-ruling-MPS-applications-re-SDS.pdf

Victims boycott Scottish police internal investigation

http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2017/05/03/spycops-victims-boycott-scottish-inquiry/

Scottish activist spied on by police seeks judicial review to win a Scottish inquiry

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/undercover-policing-scotland/

Other than John McDonnell and Jenny Jones, most politicians have been surprisingly quiet about the spycops scandal. 

5. May Day greetings from the Blacklist Support Group to all sisters, brothers & comrades fighting for their rights around the globe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh6vCsfaKWU&t=3s

6. Dates for the diary:

Friday 5th May - Blacklisted worker turned academic Dr Jack Fawbert speaking on Corporate Crime 7 Blacklisting at Anglia ruskin University in Cambridge 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/anglia-ruskin-university-community-engagement-1110250731

22nd May - Last day to register to vote in General Election

https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

7. And finally:

Congratulations to the blacklisted workers and rank & file activists elected to represent construction on the UNITE Executive Council Frank Morris, Royston Bentham, Tony Seaman & Joseph Pisano

Blacklist Support Group

Unite's Len McCluskey Wins on a Low turn-out

by Brian Bamford

LEN McCluskey, the incumberant, and the favourite to win the election for general secretary of the Unite union, has been re-elected leader.  Yet the victory was much closer than anticipated:
McCluskey won 59,067 votes (45.4%), Gerard Coyne got 53,544 (41.5%) and the rank and file candidate Ian Allinson took 17,143 (13.1%), on a low turnout of just over 12%, the union announced.
The Coyne team was hoping for a high turnout of up to 20% of the membership, which they believed would have ensured a surprise victory.   McCluskey’s vote dropped from 144,570 in 2013 when the turnout was nearly 15%.
As a consequence of these figures the result cannot be seen as a ringing endorsement of the trade unionism or of their influence in British society.  Even among its own membership the Unite union has struggled to interest the members sufficiently to vote for a leader who might cast a shadow over political life.  And if the union leaders cannot even involve their own members in a significant way for such an event as a union election, why indeed should the general public listen to their leaders' deliberations on social or political matters?
It looks like McCluskey has got 60% less of the vote he got in 2013:  144,570 in 2013 down to 59,067 votes in 2017.
Today, The Guardian website reports:
'Coyne’s camp will this weekend take legal advice over unsent and late ballot papers and what they see as a flawed electoral process.
'Coyne, who ran a campaign alleging that McCluskey was misspending members’ money and was too involved in national politics, responded to the result with a statement calling for McCluskey to change the way the union was run.'
Gerard Coyne is now saying:
'The union machine consistently attempted to bully and intimidate me, something that has continued even after the close of polls.'
'Turnout has fallen disastrously. Many members have reported to me that they did not get their ballot paper at all or, if they did, that it arrived literally on the day polls closed and so was useless. This was no vote of confidence, with falling turnout and a halving of Len McCluskey’s previous vote.'
Wil Hutton on The Guardian website on the 9th, April, arguing that the British left is in 'a malaise', wrote;
 'The brutal truth is that trade unions need root-and-branch reinvention to attract new members. Then, from the legitimacy won by having a base of rising membership, they could start to insist on the rewriting of fairer laws that incorporate new forms of collective bargaining and participation and so recast the increasingly high-risk, low-quality character of the British workplace. McCluskey, like the current Labour leadership he so generously but misguidedly backs, is nowhere near thinking through what is needed.'
I have listened to the arguments for McCluskey and they fixate upon his links to the old left, that he once was a supporter of Militant and he once had a job in the docks in Liverpool.  But I believe my branch members - the members of Bury Unite Commercial Branch - were right to nominate Ian Allinson and get him on the ballot paper to open up a debate and deny McCluskey a coronation.  They were right to do that even though Ian Allinson was a rank outsider.  But in the same way and for the same reasons I agree with the economist Wil Hutton, when he writes 'Coyne is at least attempting to open up the debate about how Unite can grow. The union has an income of £170m; Coyne calls for more transparency in how this money is spent, disputing sweetheart deals backing Jeremy Corbyn'.
It is also clear for anyone who gives the matter any serious thought, that Wil Hutton is right when he argues: 'McCluskey, Corbyn, John McDonnell and the leaders of Momentum are not moving beyond slogans and their preoccupation is less with winning power than hard wiring ancient and outmoded left positions into union and party policies that turn Labour into an unelectable social movement.'
It is not that the old British left is too radical, it is that they are too conservative.  The minds of these men McCluskey, Corbyn and McDonnell are the minds of men who have gramaphone records for brains whose needles have become stuck.  Such men are inadequately placed to solve the current social and political problems.

Allinson on BBC 2 Daily Politics!

Workplace activist, Ian Allinson, who is standing as a "grassroots socialist" candidate for the position of General Secretary, of the trade union, Unite, was interviewed yesterday by Jo Coburn, on the BBC2 'Daily Politics' show. Both Gerard Coyne and Len McCluskey, who are also standing in this election, declined to appear.

Allinson, is the only candidate in this election who is not a full-time paid trade union official. An employee of the global tech firm Fujitsu, in Manchester, and a trade union convenor, he is the underdog in this election having fewer branch nominations than the other two candidates. If elected, as General Secretary of Unite, Allinson has vowed to forgo the six figure salary that goes with the job and to work for his current pay. He also wants to see all Unite officials elected, rather than appointed.

Questioned by Coburn about being the favoured candidate of the 'Socialist Workers Party' (SWP), Allison said that he had a broad range of support within Unite. Nevertheless, Allinson's political background is within the SWP.

During the run up to the election, there has been a certain amount of mudslinging between two of the candidates. Gerard Coyne, the West Midlands, Regional Secretary of Unite, accused McCluskey of taking a loan off the Union to buy a property in London and  he claims that McCluskey, is more interested in Jeremy Corbyn, and the Labour Party, rather than Unite members. His brother, Kevin Coyne, is  also a national officer of Unite.  

Coyne, is seen as the candidate of the Labour right and the one candidate who is most acceptable to New Labour and the bosses. He was recently given column inches in Rupert Murdoch's "Sun" newspaper, to present his election address, entitled - "I'll get your union back." He says in his election address to Unite members - "Just last year, Unite put £417,000 of your money into a luxury London apartment for his (McCluskey's) personal use."

Writing for the Murdoch press, is hardly likely to endear Coyne to many British trade unionists, given the way in which, the Murdoch press have vilified trade unionists over the years. Rupert Murdoch also backed Donald Trump in the U.S. Presidential elections and News International, was also embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal.

Unite have stated that the loan made to McCluskey was a -"shared equity arrangement made with officials required to move to London with the property being sold after the official left the post." However, prior financial assistance of £90,000 was given to McCluskey in 1994, to buy a house with his then partner, Jennie Formby. In 2013, Formby was appointed Unite's political director on a salary of £75,000.

Len McCluskey, has been General Secretary of Unite since 2011 and until his resignation, in December 2016. In his election address, McCluskey says - "I'm overwhelmed that nearly 1200 branches - more than 80% of the total - have nominated me... I regret that this election has been marred by so many smears and lies by Mr Coyne, aided by the right-wing anti-union media, designed to undermine your union to further his own ambitions..."

Yesterday, on 'Daily Politics', Allinson said that he felt that Unite had not put up enough fight against government austerity policies and the recent Trade Union Bill. Like many Trotskyists, he believes that English workers are always itching for a fight but are being restrained and held back by the likes of trade union leaders, like McCluskey. He said that he was in favour of the free movement of labour across countries and opposed Trident. He feels that the money could be used to create sustainable jobs and to build more council housing. Asked about the allegation that McCluskey, was intending to affiliate Unite to 'Momentum', which supports Jeremy Corbyn, he said this was utter nonsense as only a Unite conference or the NEC, could make that decision.

Len McCluskey recently stated that Jeremy Corbyn should be given 15 months to see if he could improve Labour's opinion poll ratings. If not, he feels he should be replaced by another leader. Allinson, supports Corbyn unequivocally, in spite of his shambolic performance as leader of the opposition. Although Labour held Stoke in a recent by-election, with a reduced majority, it also lost the safe Labour seat of Copeland, which went Conservative.  At the Richmond by-election held in December 2016, Labour lost its deposit and got fewer votes in the constituency than there were Labour Party members.

Jeremy Corbyn, leads a party that was pro-Remain and pro-EU, yet he's been a life-long opponent of Britain's membership of the European Union. After the vote for Brexit last summer, he stupidly called for Article 50 to be invoked immediately. John McDonnell, also claimed that Britain leaving the EU was nothing less than an "enormous opportunity." In February, having seen all their amendments defeated, Corbyn led his Labour MPs into the House to vote alongside the government for its Brexit bill. However, some Labour MPs, opposed the three line whip and voted against it.It was reported that immediately after Labour voted for the Brexit bill, some 7,000 Labour members stopped their standing orders and packed it in. Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, said that the un-amended bill was the "blueprint for an extreme Tory Brexit and Labour waved it through."

Already there is speculation as to whom might be the next Labour leader. Keir Starmer, Clive Lewis, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, have all been tipped as future Labour leaders.

Ballot papers for the 2017 election of Unite General Secretary were sent out on Monday 27th March.