Labour NEC Elections. Vote Ann Black!

Ann Black: the Members’ Voice.

As the Labour Ballot papers arrive I am voting for Ann Black and am deciding who else to back.

Many of us are unhappy about being called to vote for a left slate for which we – that is the overwhelming majority of the left activists – have had no say in drawing up.

No doubt like other left-wingers I will put a cross by some from the JC9. But how they were ‘selected’ remains a mystery, well it’s not a mystery, but it had nothing to do with 99% of the voters.

In these conditions while it is clear that many of the JC9 candidates are fine people it is up to us to decide who to cast our ballot for-just as it was for those who decided on the list to decide who was on it and who was not

Loyalty to ‘Jeremy’ is not enough.

Clearly a left-wing European socialist is not going to support long-standing right-wingers – a list which includes admirers of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Some may have a soft spot for Eddie Izzard, who has made a point of standing up for the pro-European left.

But his other views are not particularity left-wing.

As I say, I make one choice already, independent of the JC9: Ann Black.

I have known Black since the Original Grassroots Alliance (and Labour Reform) in 1998.

Like many I would then, and now, not agree with her views on everything.

But Ann has made it her business to stand up for ordinary members.

She has continued this while many of us left the Party.

Ann Black is a great people’s tribune: she stood up to Blair acolytes, and is now smeared for not being at a different group of people’s beck and call.

These are some of her guiding themes:

When I joined the NEC Tony Blair was the leader, followed by Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and now Jeremy Corbyn. Throughout that time my personal politics continued firmly on the left. I voted against austerity, privatisation, selective education, war in Iraq, Trident, and for public services, fair taxation, decent pensions and social security benefits, restoring funds to local government, and large-scale social housing, sometimes in a minority of three or four, now, with the popular 2017 manifesto, in the party mainstream.

While I have my own views, I consult widely and listen to what you tell me. All of us, particularly those with public profiles, owe loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn as our democratically-elected leader. However our party is a broad church, and In these polarised times it’s particularly important that every member is heard with respect, not treated as the enemy within.

Exactly: she is an independent centre-left voice who listens to the grassroots.

This is her reply to one of the best known smears against her:

The veteran activist, who lost the support of Momentum last month, said that the grassroots group had falsely accused her of robbing 125,000 members of a vote in the leadership election of 2016.

She countered that in fact Corbyn himself was to blame, after he appeared before the TV cameras instead of backing an NEC move to enfranchise thousands of members in that year’s ballot.

..

The ruling NEC infuriated Corbyn supporters that year when it voted to impose a ‘freeze date’ of January for eligibility for the ballot.

But Black said that she had proposed amending the cut-off date to June but her plan failed because the vote was tied.  Corbyn and fellow MP Jon Trickett left the meeting to give TV interviews about winning an earlier vote to put the leader automatically on the ballot paper

“If Jeremy had stayed, many thousands of additional members would have been able to vote,” Black wrote. “I may have committed other crimes, but that is not one of them.”

Huffington Post. 20.2.2018.

I talked to her properly at the Chartist AGM a few weeks ago: she is 100% approachable.

She is great.

Whatever else: Vote Ann Black!

Here are some reasons why:

Why Non-Factional Members Are Supporting Ann Black For The NEC

Luke Hurst

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Labour Party can be divided simply into the two camps that tend to dominate our internal affairs discourse. For the current NEC elections, on the left, there’s Momentum with Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) and Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA), and towards the centre, Progress and Labour First. But there is a growing number of middle-of-the-road members paying their annual subs, socialists appreciative of the leftward shift catalysed by the consecutive elections of Jeremy Corbyn yet loyal to neither slate and looking for a broad, pluralist left. In this year’s NEC elections, this group is presented with a highly appealing option in Ann Black and Open Labour.

Formerly the NEC chair and head of the disputes panel, and currently the National Policy Forum chair, Black’s non-factional bid for re-election to the NEC has been launched without the support of either key slate. This marks a change, given that Black had previously stood on the left slate before being (falsely) accused of supporting the exclusion of new members in the 2016 leadership election, and subsequently being removed.

Instead, she now stands independently on a decisively proud record of commitment to socialist policies and party democratisation. She has the respect of individuals from all parts of the party, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. She spoke truth to power throughout the New Labour years, opposing privatisation, the Iraq War and the centralisation of power; she fought for the extension of one-member-one-vote elections to different parts of our party and secured increased funding for CLPs. When some opposed Corbyn’s automatic inclusion on the 2016 leadership election ballot, Black voted for his inclusion, giving members a say.

With the political backing of only Open Labour – an impressive group that, since renewing its strategic aims, is emerging as a directional and potentially influential section on the left of the party, calling for diverse, tolerant socialism – Black stands distinguished as a formidable, experienced candidate able to represent large swathes of our membership and to build a broad, radical left where the two main factions cannot do this alone.

Although Momentum and Progress can be applauded for offering cohesive and consistent choices to some members in line with their values, this duality inevitably means that complex issues are condensed and independent thought is limited to parameters set by those leading the factions.

And what about those members who I spoke about earlier, socialists who may not be factionally engaged? We are a democratic socialist party of over 500,000 members, and many of us don’t relate entirely to a faction. There are valid criticisms of the dominant left and centrist wings of the party – and this doesn’t amount to rejection of them completely, or their contributions.

Without outspoken, independent socialists like Ann Black on the NEC, a large section of our party risks being deprived of representation. There is a reason that turnout in our internal elections is consistently so low. Debate is restricted and voting options are few. Members are expected to pledge allegiance to one of two factions, which do not represent plurality and breadth of opinion.

This can change. An organised, diverse left in the Labour Party is emerging and this is why the activity of Open Labour and activists like Ann Black is so important. As we debate our future relationship with Europe and how to rebuild Britain after eight years of Tory destruction, we should realise that our future lies in the enfranchisement of as many activists as possible – not just those who are factionally engaged. I genuinely look forward to using one of my votes to re-elect Ann Black to our NEC.

Luke Hurst is Co-Chair of Leeds Labour Students.