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MARK STEEL BANNED FROM LABOUR VOTE
"[i]The comedian and writer Mark Steel has become the latest prominent left-winger to be barred from voting in the Labour leadership election.
Steel, [b]who has volunteered to knock on doors for the party in the past[/b], said he was “fuming” at the rejection, which [b]he was told was because he does not “support their values”[/b].
The comic, who is also an Independent columnist, questioned whether it was right for Tony Blair to be allowed to vote given he had invaded Iraq for a “completely bogus” reason."
"He said the rejection notice did not explain specifically why he had been barred from voting.
“It’s a standard thing that clearly goes out to everyone. It says there are two reasons [for rejection]. One is that you don’t support the ideals and values of the Labour party. Or you are a member of a rival organisation,” Steel said.
“I can’t think what that can be, unless it’s Crystal Palace Football Club or my local snooker club in Croydon. Maybe my snooker club is fielding candidates."
“I applied as a supporter about three weeks ago. Then I started getting all the emails that people get, from Yvette Cooper and people like that, thanking me. Then I just suddenly get this, and there’s nothing I can do about it.[/i]”
I don't care as long as he keeps doing his radio 4 programme.
who has volunteered to knock on doors for the party in the past
That's news to me. And I struggle to believe it. Up until 2007 Mark Steel was a member of the SWP, it was/is strongly against SWP policy to electorally support Labour. Many years ago Mark Steel was fairly active locally in Croydon as a member of the SWP, they used to book their meetings at the local trade union centre and I often saw him. I would have noticed had he been involved in election campaigns. I doubt that more recently as the Labour has lurched to the right he has got involved.
Of course as an aging/ex-trot he has as much right as anyone else to register as a Labour supporter imo, but I don't believe the claim that he has actually ever done any election work for the Labour Party.
Steel, who has volunteered to knock on doors for the party in the past,
there is a subtle difference between that and "has knocked on doors for the party in the past" or "has campaigned for the party"...
Yes well I did wonder if "has volunteered" meant just that and they weren't claiming that he had actually done any election work.
But then I decided that was just silly as it is very clear what they are implying, ie, that Mark Steel has gone out canvassing on behalf of the Labour Party. The use of weasel words merely makes me doubt even more that he actually has.
Those words you criticise him for are not in quotation marks.
There was a photo on Twitter of him in a Labour rosette, supposedly in Brighton.
Me and Mark...my previous membership of the Greens barred me.
my previous membership of the Greens barred me.
Out of interest, is that information easily available (ie. that you were a member of The Green Party) or would the vetting people have had to weed it out with some digging?
were you merely a member or actually a candidate, official, activist..?
anagallis_arvensis - Member
Those words you criticise him for are not in quotation marks.
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST
it's either uncritical reporting of what Steele himself said or ambiguous reporting. either way - it doesn't speak to Steele actually having done any campaigning for Labour
on one hand it's not surprising that someone so known as being the member of a rival party with incompatible beliefs has been refused a day in the labour party's future
on the other hand the whole banning business is probably a waste of time. in a national vote with so many new members, a few entryist swoppies are statistically irrelevant
The information was tortured out of me...
Her: Are you, or have you ever been a member of another Political Party?
Me: Er, yeah the Greens
Her: I'm sorry, you don't share our goals and aspirations
so not much weeding out or digging needed really...
Oh right, so you were tefeloned?
(Sorry, I'd assumed you'd been barred after registering online.)
Her: Are you, or have you ever been a member of another Political Party?
Me: Er, yeah the Greens
Her: I'm sorry, you don't share our goals and aspirations
Really? As I've grown and matured my political beliefs have changed. Does past membership of another party ban you full stop from having a Damascene moment?
Her: Are you, or have you ever been a member of another Political Party?
Me: Er, yeah the Greens
Her: I'm sorry, you don't share our goals and aspirations
WTF?
Since when has there not been a significant overlap between the goals and aspirations of the Greens and Labour?
Desperate anti-Corbyn stuff.
You could even see that someone as properly left-leaning as Steel could legitimately be attracted back to the party by the prospect of a slightly more socialist leader.
Really? As I've grown and matured my political beliefs have changed. Does past membership of another party ban you full stop from having a Damascene moment?
I daresay to join the Labour party these days you have to be able to confirm your Blairite beliefs from birth.
"Since when has there not been a significant overlap between the goals and aspirations of the Greens and Labour?"
since always?
it's either uncritical reporting of what Steele himself said or ambiguous reporting. either way - it doesn't speak to Steele actually having done any campaigning for Labour
True, but thats not what it says either so getting your knickers in a twist over what it could mean if you were too stupid to read it properly is a bit daft imo. Even more daft to blame Steele when he didnt write it.
nickc: are you still a member of the Greens? when did you resign?
since always?
Most of this would chime with traditional Labour voters, wouldn't it?
Just for clarity, ernest - I note you disapprove of "Stalinists" and "Trotskyists".
What slice of leftism do you inhabit and approve of, yourself?
if you were too stupid to read it properly is a bit daft imo. Even more daft to blame Steele when he didnt write it.
No one has blamed Mark Steel of anything. Why don't you read posts properly ?
Mr Woppit - Member
Just for clarity, ernest - I note you disapprove of "Stalinists" and "Trotskyists".
What slice of leftism do you inhabit and approve of, yourself?
POSTED 8 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
POUM?
Still waiting to be vetted. Will I be barred for attending the anti-Iraq war march in 2003?
Why is it that MPs are allowed to change parties and not members/supporters? For all the Blairites saying the vote is illegitimate due to entryism, surely Corbyn has an equal claim to legitimate supporters being turned away for no other reason than being a Corbyn supporter.
but I don't believe the claim that he has actually ever done any election work for the Labour Party.
Thats not the claim, the claim is he offered to help.
The information was tortured out of me...Her: Are you, or have you ever been a member of another Political Party?
Me: Er, yeah the Greens
Her: I'm sorry, you don't share our goals and aspirationsso not much weeding out or digging needed really...
That is quite bizarre.
Oh right, so you were tefeloned?(Sorry, I'd assumed you'd been barred after registering online.)
I tried to register via the text number that came out, and was phoned by a polite young worker about a week later, she asked me why I had texted and why was I interested in joining the party, and I told that I'd left the labour party (after TB and clause 4) and joined the greens, I'd let my membership of the greens lapse about a month ago, and then the Corbyn leadership happened co-incidentally...I thought it might be a ripe time to get back in the fold (so to speak)...They won't have me back.
I feel rejected 😆
if this happened Russia, we'd mock them although we wouldn't be surprised. But it's happening here, i'm speechless.
POUM?
Eh?
I'm pretty sure anyone who wants to will be able to join the Labour party.... After the leadership election.
Banning purely for having [i]been[/i] a member of another party seems mental tbh. Especially for the Greens.
I've not been vetted, yet, I imagine it could be an interesting conversation since apparently they're doing facebook checks and that. "So apart from your scottish independence leanings and your membership of several internet cults... It seems you know Tandemjeremy?"
I'm assuming ernest doesn't want to reveal his allegiance for fear of risking the thought police of New Old New Labour casting him into the void. Where there is doubtless the wailing and gnashing of even more teeth than inside the party at the moment...
[i]Banning purely for having been a member of another party seems mental tbh. Especially for the Greens.[/i]
I was surprised, and the woman sounded a bit apologetic about the whole thing. I started to argue the point, but it's not her fault. If I'd admitted membership of the Torys I could well understand, but there you go, their ball, they can say who joins in I guess.. 😕
I saw Mark Steel in Brighton three weeks ago. I was sitting outside [url= http://www.theregencyrestaurant.co.uk/ ]The Regency Restaurant[/url] awaiting my bacon and fried egg sandwich before heading back to that London on my road bike when he strolled past.
I spotted him, smiled and said 'Hi Mark'. He smiled back and said hello.
I am not, nor have ever been, a member of any political party.
Hope that helps.
Should have been
Her: Are you, or have you ever been a member of another Political Party?
Me: Er, yeah the [s]Greens[/s] Tories
Her: [s]I'm sorry, you don't[/s]Well as you share our goals and aspirations, come right in
Banning purely for having been a member of another party seems mental tbh. Especially for the Greens.
To be honest it sounds like a poorly trained call centre temp reading from badly worded script to me.
My money's on the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist).
I doubt the strangely attractive Yvette knows about this important fact. It could make all the difference.
[quote=lemonysam said]
To be honest it sounds like a poorly trained call centre temp reading from badly worded script to me.
It'll be an intern working for nowt or someone on a zero hours contract.
😛
To be honest it sounds like a poorly trained call centre temp reading from badly worded script to me.
I think it's more likely to be a well trained temp following a script designed to turn away those who just might be wanting to join to vote for Corbyn.
My wife was rejected for being a current member of the Greens, which is probably fair enough.
She told the person on the phone that she does share the aims and objectives of the Labour party, and so does Corbyn. It's just most Labour MPs and their current policies which don't...
Mr Woppit - MemberPOUM?
Eh?
In 1935, POUM was formed as a communist opposition to the form of communism promoted by the Soviet Union, by the revolutionaries Andreu Nin and Joaquín Maurín.
So, does this mean that if a sitting MP from any other party chose to cross the floor and join the Labour benches that they would now also be automatically refused entry to the party? 😕
In 1935, POUM was formed as a
Oh, right. I'm not familiar with the minutiae of what bit of the left is a better bit of the left than other bits of etc...
I still think he's Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). The scamp.
Mr Woppit - MemberJust for clarity, ernest - I note you disapprove of "Stalinists" and "Trotskyists".
What slice of leftism do you inhabit and approve of, yourself?
Mr Woppit - MemberI'm assuming ernest doesn't want to reveal his allegiance for fear of risking the thought police of New Old New Labour casting him into the void. Where there is doubtless the wailing and gnashing of even more teeth than inside the party at the moment...
Perhaps you should assume that I have other things to do beyond sitting and waiting for you to ask silly petty questions which aren't designed to engage in intelligent debate but rather a pointless attempt by you to look clever.
But since I'm back, first of all I don't feel I need to justify or explain to you my intolerance of stalinism. On trotskyism you would have done well to read what I wrote in my one and only reference to Trotskyism on this thread :
[i] as an aging/ex-trot he has as much right as anyone else to register as a Labour supporter imo[/i]
It is clear that Mark Steel's membership most of his adult life of a Trotskyite organisation will have counted against him when applied to register as a Labour Party supporter. The Labour Party has a long standing ban on Trots dating back from the days of the Militant Tendency.
I do not approve of this ban and although I am not a Trot myself I believe they have as much right to be members of the Labour Party as anyone else, hence my comment above with regards to Mark Steel.
Finally my political views are widely known to my local Labour Party which has been informed of my registration, not least because of my past election work for Labour. Far from rejecting it they are more likely to hassle me to become a full individual party member. Which won't happen btw.
Perhaps you should assume that I have other things to do beyond sitting and waiting for you to ask silly petty questions which aren't designed to engage in intelligent debate but rather a pointless attempt by you to look clever.
Thanks for your exhaustive response to my silly petty questions!
The worker's flag is deepest red, etc.
Far from rejecting it they are more likely to hassle me to become a full individual party member. Which won't happen btw.
Why not? You seem very loyal. To, er, whichever bit of the Labour Party a person supposed to be loyal to, these days...
I donated money to the Labour party before the last election and since then they've been hounding me to join without ever asking whether I supported their aims or was a member of another party....
NB I voted Lib Dem, but it was a tactical donation just to try and keep the Tories out.
"[i]Here's me not supporting Labour's values at the last election https://t.co/mKL2X7u0So
— Mark Steel (@mrmarksteel) August 12, 2015[/i]"
[photo of him campaigning 2015]
Petition now on Change.org
The Labour Party and the Greens fundamentally disagree on the issue of economic and industrial growth: the Greens think further growth is redundant if the benefits won't be more equitably shared, the labour movement thinks more growth and more equitable distribution is needed. every other policy stems from those core beliefs and the parties can't be reconciled on that issue.
Oh, right. I'm not familiar with the minutiae of what bit of the left is a better bit of the left than other bits of etc...
you would have known that if you'd read Homage to Catalonia. but your ignorance of the best English-language book^ about one of the most important events in 20th Century Europe (the Spanish civil war) is your loss, not anyone else's.
^ also, your apparent inability to use a search engine
Oh well, that's me told off, then.
Wasn't that set in the 1930's? I was hoping for something a bit more current, to be honest.
Unless it's all just the same old dusty arguments, of course. In which case, I don't much see the point.
Wasn't that set in the 1930's?
It's non-fiction.
you would have known that if you'd read Homage to Catalonia.
I'm waiting for the film.
You asked a question with regards to Stalinism and Trotskyism, both were established before the 1930s. If you weren't interested perhaps you shouldn't have asked the question.
steel is a 25 year member of SWP who campaigned for the greens at the last election.you would have to be insane to give him a vote in the most important leadership election the party is ever likely to have
who campaigned for the greens at the last election.
He didn't campaign for the Greens at the last election. He signed, along with others such as David Attenborough and Joanna Lumley, an open letter giving personal support to Caroline Lucas.
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/24/celebrities-sign-statement-support-caroline-lucas-not-green-party ]Celebrities sign statement of support for Caroline Lucas – but not the Greens[/url]
[b][i]Sir David Attenborough, Joanna Lumley, Lily Cole and Thom Yorke are among dozens of celebrities to have called for the re-election of the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, while avoiding any explicit endorsement of the party itself.
“Regardless of our own political allegiance, we believe that our democracy can only be strengthened by maintaining such a strong and inspirational presence in parliament.”[/i][/b]
And Mark Steel's 25 year membership of the SWP is irrelevant. I know at least one totally committed Blairite MP who was once a very active member of the SWP.
If the Labour Party is only interested in support from people who have always supported them then they will not win the next general election.
I'm waiting for the movie
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Jeremy Hardy also barred from voting in leadership election
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/21/jeremy-hardy-labour-rig-leadership-election-corbyn ]http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/21/jeremy-hardy-labour-rig-leadership-election-corbyn[/url]
Meanwhile the SNP are happily accepting folk who previously supported other parties, and look what happened to them.
I think a lot of those folk would say something like 'I didn't leave Labour, Labour left me'. As a former Labour supporter, I find it very sad.
I think they should apply their rationale properly and at least exclude people who actually stood against Labour candidates in general elections:
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