Party Politics Get Personal Internal turmoil for both Labour and Tories
Following on from our lead report in HIP 204 that Cllr Maya Evans has been excluded from a “long list” of prospective Labour party candidates for the next parliamentary election in the constituency of Hastings & Rye, a formal letter of protest has been signed by over 80 local party members and sent to its National Executive. Among the signatories were several prominent councillors and ex-councillors of Hastings Borough Council, including former parliamentary candidate Peter Chowney, and current cabinet members Judy Rogers, Andy Batsford and Simon Willis.
The letter describes Cllr Evans as “a popular figure locally, holding a senior council position for Labour, and with a track record of community activism for good causes”; it argues that she “fully deserves a chance to compete alongside other excellent candidates in a democratic selection process locally.”
(Left) Cllr Maya Evans; (Right) Sally-Ann Hart MP
The letter goes on to complain that no grounds have been given by the National Executive for her exclusion from the process, nor has any breach of rules been cited. On the contrary, it refers to a “commitment in the procedures that candidates supported by trade union affiliates be automatically longlisted” – Cllr Evans has the backing of Unite and others – and asserts that it is “a matter of basic party democracy” that the local constituency party should have the right of selection.
“Rebuilding the PLP”
That’s plainly at odds with the powers wielded by the National Executive, which has been refashioned since the election of Sir Keir Starmer as party leader in place of Jeremy Corbyn two years ago. The Guardian newspaper last week reported “allies” of Starmer as “insisting the party is merely weeding out individuals who would not be effective MPs, and rebuilding the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) to make it more unified”. But in the same article, a spokesperson for the former Corbyn-supporting pressure group Momentum was quoted as saying: “This is a brazen, systematic attempt to exclude anyone to the left of Tony Blair from the PLP, with Keir’s people being parachuted in instead.”
The integrity of Parliament must be upheld… I am no longer able to support Boris Johnson as Leader
Other “Labour sources” are reported to suggest that Cllr Evans has been told that her involvement with Stop the War campaigns, including arrest and conviction relating to anti-Iraq war protest in 2005, is regarded with disfavour, as is the local party’s decision to enter into a cooperation agreement with the Greens on Hastings Borough Council. However, she herself has denied that any reason has been given to her by the National Executive.
Hart renounces Johnson support
In the opposing camp, and exercising a quite different kind of personal assessment, Sally-Ann Hart, sitting Conservative MP for Hastings & Rye, eventually made a public call on 6 July for prime minister Boris Johnson to quit, having up to that point (barely 24 hours before his resignation) maintained a position of steadfast loyalty.
Since her election to Parliament in December 2019, Mrs Hart’s voting record had shown virtually unblemished support for Mr Johnson’s government, and only a month earlier, on 7 June, after publication of the Sue Gray Report on “Party-gate” and a vote of confidence within the Conservative party, she issued a formal statement:
“I feel strongly that the unrelenting attacks on the Prime Minister are detracting from the Government’s hard work and effective policy making over the past two and half years…Bearing in mind the mandate given to the Prime Minister at the last General Election by the electorate, I refuse to engage in party political navel gazing at a time of national and international crises by voting against a democratically elected leader. It has always been my view that it should be the public who determine the Government of the day, and, for this reason, the Prime Minister continues
to enjoy my support at this time…Most people that I speak to in Hastings, Rye and the surrounding villages want to draw a line under this and focus on the real issues facing our local area, the country, and the world.”
On 6 July, however, she took to Twitter to reverse her stance: “Considering the further revelations that have come to light [presumably related to the appointment of disgraced Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher], and given that the integrity of Parliament must be upheld, on behalf of my constituents of Hastings and Rye I am no longer able to support Boris Johnson as Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister”.
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Sally Ann Hart says “most people that I speak to” want “to draw a line under this”. Who has she actually spoken to outside the narrow world of politics she inhabits? Try sending an email to her and you just get a standard reply saying that she doesn’t respond to emails! In other words she is not doing the job she is paid to do. Same as Boris, who us just an immature, spoilt, upper class twit, who leaves all the work to his ministers.