What has just happened?
The chair, co-secretary, and a number of other members in Bristol West Labour have been suspended from the party and threatened with an investigation after it passed a motion criticising the treatment of former leader Jeremy Corbyn as a “politically motivated attack against the left of the Labour Party by the leadership”. [[1]][[2]]
What does this mean?
The Bristol West Labour members will face disciplinary action over the “show of defiance". [[3]] In a statement, the CLP Chair confirmed that Jennie Formby (former Labour Party General secretary) established guidance around discussing suspensions, clarifying that it was about confidentiality and protecting the inhibited operation of party processes. With this in mind, the Chair allowed the motion on the basis that it did not discuss any confidential information. The party policy to not discuss individual disciplinary cases has been in place since 2019 due to media scrutiny over the party’s internal systems. [[4]] It can be fairly assumed that this policy was adopted after the attempted sabotage by senior party officials of the 2017 election to oust Corbyn came to light. [[5]]
The BWL Chair branded the suspensions as “heavy-handed” and added: “at present, the authoritarian approach of trying to prevent any discussion isn’t helping member engagement, trust or unity." [[6]]
The so-called advice, that urges local party executives to ensure that such motions are “ruled out of order”, reflects an additional instruction given in August 2020 that they should not accept motions on a number of specified topics related to antisemitism. [[7]] The result is a party in which any members daring to challenge the Leadership on certain issues face disciplinary action. Current General Secretary David Evans warned last week that Labour “will not hesitate to take appropriate action – including against individual members – where our rules and guidance are not adhered to”. [[8]]
How does this affect the legal sector?
The question is whether this continued silencing of the left-wing of the party constitutes a contradiction of Article 10 of the European Convention Human Rights, with particular emphasis on subsection 2. [[9]] No rules regarding the nature of the content of what motions may and may not be carried in CLP meetings appear in the Labour Party Rule Book 2020, precluding the issue from solely falling within the remit of the organisation. [[10]] Members could be within their rights to take legal action against the party, just as they did four years ago over the NEC‘s decision to prohibit new members voting in forthcoming leadership elections (arguably another move by the right-wing of the party to limit Corbyn’s influence). [[11]]
Depending on the trust’s terms, money for legal aid could come from Jeremy’s Legal Fund, a GoFundMe campaign set up by supporters in July 2020. The fund was created to finance future legal costs, after journalist John Ware pursued legal action against Corbyn for condemning Labour’s settlement over its criticism of the Panorama reporter’s investigation of anti-Semitism in the party. [[12]] [[13]]
Written by Hannah Phelvin
References:
[1] Elliot Chappell, ‘Members threatened with investigation over Corbyn suspension’, (Labourlist, 12 November 2020
[2]Jon Stone, ‘Labour suspends members for passing motion criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension’, (Independent, 14 November 2020)
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Jon Stone, ‘Anti-Corbyn Labour officials worked to lose general election to oust leader, leaked dossier finds, (Independent, 13 April 2020)
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid
[8] Ibid
[9] The European Convention on Human Rights, https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf <date accessed: 15 November 2020>
[10] The Labour Party Rule Book, https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/rulebook-2020.pdf <date accessed: 15 November 2020>
[11] Rowena Mason, ‘Labour sued by members barred from leadership vote’, (The Guardian, 25 July 2016)
[12] Jeremy’s Legal Fund, https://www.gofundme.com/f/47gyy-jeremy039s-legal-fund?viewupdates=1&rcid=r01-160408668174-11908093b9b5491c&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2B1137-update-supporters-v5b <date accessed: 15 November 2020>
[13] PA Mediapoint and PressGazette ‘Journalist John Ware pursues legal action against Jeremy Corbyn after Labour settles over Panorama anti-Semitism programme smears’, (Press Gazette, 22 July 2020)
Disclaimer: This article (and any information accessed through links in this article) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.