Labour's NEC elections are underway & should reveal where our membership stand as new rules are designed so the full spectrum of party opinion is fairly represented (albeit only by 9 of its 40 members). This is my take on the nominations published today labour.org.uk/activist-hub/g… Only 4 of the 5 slates stand a chance of representation, plus perhaps one independent. Slates may suffer from the loss of transfers if they stand too many candidates, & 24 of the 42 candidates eligible to stand have no hope of election - the threshold should be higher!

1/4 This is misleading. Gurinder's claim that panels in the last 3 months have dealt with more cases than in any of the previous 3 years is untrue. The statistics published by Jennie Formby show that in 2019 nearly 300 cases were dealt with by panels
labour.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

https://twitter.com/gsjosan/status/1297610427514445825

2/4 Recent progress is excellent. But weekly panels were proposed not by the NEC, Keir or his staff but by staff in Governance & Legal Unit, who pre-date Keir's leadership & have been driving through major improvements over the last year with extra staff added under Jennie Formby

A good historical piece by Luke Akehurst on the history of Labour General secretaries here. He's right I think that Ken Livingstone backed the right's candidate against Iain McNicol but he doesn't say it concealed a "right-wing" TU rep's vote with the left labourlist.org/2020/05/the-pr… I confess lobbied that time for Iain McNicol who promised to clean up HQ. He did remove 2 "Blairite" AGS's - his rival Chris Lennie + Alicia Kennedy - only to face revolt from party staff in an outbreak of anti-Brownite factionalism theguardian.com/politics/2012/…

Solidarity today, the start of Passover, with Jewish families across the world who would normally come together to celebrate the journey from slavery to freedom. On this night, it will feature not just 10 plagues but the one that will keep families apart for the safety of us all I hope that our common experience of COVID-19 will help foster a shared commitment to ridding the world of the 10 plagues of Hunger, War, Tyranny, Greed, Poverty, Racism, Abuse, Homophobia, Pollution, & Indifference to human suffering which always feature in My family’s Seders

I agree with Chief Rabbi Mirvis: “challenging racism is not a matter of politics, it goes well beyond that. Wherever there is evidence of it... it must be swiftly rooted out. Hateful prejudice is always wrong, whoever the perpetrator, whoever the victim” but it begs questions (1) how does Rabbi Mirvis respond to the racism of the Tory party and its leader? To talking of piccaninnies with watermelon smiles? Or of women who choose to wear burqas looking like letterboxes. Did he not say "whoever the perpetrator, whoever the victim"?

1/5 Antisemitism in Labour is a serious & complex issue which deserves fair & balanced discussion. But the contents of tonight’s Panorama exposé, some of which I’ve seen as a potential interviewee, suggest that it will fall well short of that 2/5 The party was approached not long ago with accusations. No-one has been asked about what Labour’s NEC has done to combat antisemitism. I declined to be interviewed for the programme because I had no expectation of a fair & balanced conversation

1/5 It’s right to show zero-tolerance towards expressions of antisemitism, but wrong not to recognise contrition & offer the possibility of redemption. I believe Lisa Forbes made a genuine mistake, & is clearly very sorry so I welcome her election

https://twitter.com/JewishLabour/status/1136925124773470213

2/5 It’s easy to scroll down your Facebook feed and like a video without reading the long text someone’s written about it. I don’t believe Lisa read it or sought to endorse it. But we all have to be more vigilant on social media, as antisemitic rhetoric is increasingly spreading

1/5 Laura Murray’s done much more than her detractors to tackle antisemitism in the party. I can’t think of anyone better for this role. She’s developed wide knowledge about it, deeply wants to root it out, has engaged & worked with Jewish communities bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi… 2/5 Emails leaked by ex staffer from Labour right (who himself sat on cases to damage the leadership) are selective & misleading. But Laura’s emails never argued against action on any case & it’s clear she’s a junior staffer expressing others’ views, at this ex staffer’s request

Laura Murray’s done more than anyone I know (including the disgruntled ex-staffer who’s leaking these emails) to tackle antisemitism in the party. I know for a fact this ex-staffer, from the right, frustrated cases to make the Party and leadership look bad
thetimes.co.uk/article/corbyn… This is a thread on that article in The Sunday Times.

The Times admit new material was given to the police that Labour didn’t have. The decision to charge Patricia Sheerin was based on different, more serious, material, to what Labour and LOTO reviewed.