Response to Nick Brown MP's Leadership Update

This is an email from Mark Winskell, a Newcastle East CLP Executive Delegate from North Jesmond Branch, to Nick Brown MP in response to Nick's recent Labour Leadership update which is pasted afterwards.

 

 

Dear Nick

I enjoyed your Labour Leadership Update and found it an informative and useful exercise in clarifying for the constituency members your views and historic support for the Party Leader.

Although I do differ with the view that there is widespread and deeply felt dissatisfaction with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, certainly there is dissatisfaction on the right of the party and large elements of the Parliamentary Labour party and indeed amongst prominent Labour Councillors. 

This dissatisfaction is both organised and entrenched and validated by a right of  centre Liberal consensus to the point that they find it almost impossible to countenance a Socialist leader of the Labour Party with a Social Democratic agenda in Britain.

That Socialist leadership and Social Democratic agenda actually has wide spread and deeply felt support amongst the membership and indeed the electorate, as is ironically evident given the Tories and their fellow travellers recent apeing of Jeremy Corbyn’s and John McDonnell's principled and Pragmatic Labour platform. 

I am heartened that you wish to hold the Labour Party Constituency together. 

The Constituency Executive of which I am a quorate member could start that process by allowing a CLP Supporting Nomination meeting to take place such as those being held in other Newcastle and North East regional CLP’s and to have that CLP meeting open to all constituency members who wish to attend. 

However I understand that such a CLP Supporting Nomination meeting within our CLP has been proscribed by the Chair and executive officers with the confusing endorsement of the Regional Directorate.   

Ultimately what would really unite our Constituency and help overcome our problems such as failed quorate attainment and membership disengagement, despite the growth in numbers, would be to do as other CLP’s and Newcastle Central CLP do in facilitating an open CLP.

The general and annual meetings would be open to all constituency members as an egalitarian expression and faith in our membership, unencumbered by prescriptive barriers and procedures that inhibit engagement and do not arbitrarily apply in other CLP’s.

Finally some recompense and support must be made to those new constituency members denied a ballot in the Labour Leadership vote by an arbitrary deadline on members enfranchisement subsequently imposed by the National Executive Committee after those members had joined in good faith.

With very best wishes,

Mark.

This was the email from Nick Brown Mp:

 

Dear Member,

 

 

I continue to receive a large number of letters about current events in our Party. I have tried to make my own views clear in previous emails, but I accept that events have now moved on since I last wrote. I apologise for the standard nature of this reply and please feel free to get back to me if there is some point you think I haven't covered. 

 

 

I want to extend a warm welcome to the Labour Party to those of you who have recently joined. I attach copies of my previous responses which I sent out as events unfurled, which I hope may be of interest. My position in summary is that I supported Yvette Cooper for leader and Angela Eagle for deputy leader last year. I accept the results of the leadership election and have tried to work constructively with the Parliamentary leadership as a backbench Labour MP. I do hold office on House of Commons Committees, representing the Labour Party. I have not resigned from any of these posts and get on with doing the job that I have been asked to do. I did not support the PLP no confidence motion at the PLP meeting on the Monday it was discussed. I do not believe we should be having this leadership contest, however this is very much a minority point of view amongst MPs.

 

 

Dissatisfaction with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is widespread and deeply felt. There are people who never gave him a chance when he was elected leader and opposed him from day one. The present row and disappointments spread well beyond this however.  

 

 

My fear is that the present leadership contest will not resolve the issue regardless of the outcome. My objective is to hold the Labour Party together at Constituency level. 

 

 

I have argued in favour of Jeremy’s right to be on the ballot paper in the leadership contest as a matter of right, because he is the incumbent. Some members have written to me saying that they joined too late to take part in the ballot. This is a National Executive Committee decision. Although I accept that all deadlines are somewhat arbitrary, I hope this won't put new members off enthusiastically participating in our party.  

 

 

I haven't nominated, or declared support for either of the candidates in the leadership contest, partly because I don't believe we should be having the contest, and should have found another way through, but also because I don't want to be a partisan supporter of one side or another when the key task is to unify the party, rather than exacerbate its divisions. I do have very strong views as to how we could constructively move forward and I am happy to discuss these with members who are interested in these issues about party structures. 

 

 

I was first elected to Parliament in 1983. Roy Jenkins, David Owen and others had broken away from the Labour Party and set up the SDP. Indeed, I defeated their candidate, Mike Thomas, who was the previous Labour MP for East Newcastle before he defected. As a relatively young man I saw at first hand the miseries that this put the Labour Party through, exacerbated by Trotskyite entryism. There must be a better way forward than going back to where we were 35 years ago.  

 

 

With very best wishes,

 

 

Nick

 

 

Rt Hon Nick Brown MP

 

 

Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne East