Momentum

The NHS was the defining issue of the Labour leadership campaign because both candidates knew it had the power to get their supporters fired-up. But only Jeremy Corbyn wilfully ignores the differences between his supporters and the wider electorate. His post-election flagship policy, after all, is the removal of private sector involvement in the NHS. And with the thoughtful, dispassionate hand of shadow health secretary Diane Abbott grasping the rudder, Labour’s course appears well and truly set. Unfortunately for the dwindling part of the Labour party still keen on governing, voters – as opposed to Labour activists – don’t actually tend to care whether they are looked after by the

This week there has been a mix of excitement and dread in Labour circles over the announcement of the Momentum Kids initiative. The grassroots group are launching a children’s wing, which will allow protest-minded parents a time out to join the struggle while their children get their revolutionary juices flowing. While Momentum supporters have defended the venture from allegations of brainwashing, Mr S was intrigued to read about one of its first events. Set to take place this Sunday at the World Transformed festival, there will be a ‘Teddy Bear Mandate’ session: ‘Bring your favourite toy to the party where we will imagine the party it might join and lead, and what

Jeremy Corbyn has today announced the launch of the Labour Organising Academy, a new body designed to look at methods of turning the party’s newly engorged membership into an effective campaigning body. In the pamphlet he produced, Corbyn observes that ‘Labour is now Europe’s biggest political party’ and that the ‘party’s membership will transform how Labour campaigns’. The launch of this might feel somewhat hasty. After all, the leadership campaign won’t be concluded until the announcement at party conference in Liverpool on 24 September – but it represents a big change for Corbyn. It is a tacit acceptance of the notion that his supporters are too inward looking, too concerned with

This year’s Labour conference in Liverpool will be accompanied by the rival ‘The World Transformed’ event which will see Momentum host four days of talks. With speakers including Richard Seymour — the journalist who once said if Falklands hero Simon Weston knew anything ‘he’d still have his face’ —  it’s shaping up to be an interesting few days. Alas, in order for the event to even go ahead, Momentum claim they still need to raise £30,000 to host the event. As part of their efforts, last night they held a World Transformed fundraiser at Brixton Jamm. The event promised an ‘unforgettable night of hip hop, documentary, tropical beats and discussion’. While Mr S is informed

It’s a long way from Westminster to the banks of the Zambesi. But last week, for me, they linked up. I was lolling on my bed in the Sausage Tree Safari Camp, writing up notes for a travel article. Then a single, iridescent, rather delicate green wasp buzzed into my room and settled on my mosquito net. I folded my laptop. Looked at the wasp. And I got a sudden vision of Jeremy Corbyn and the fate of the Labour party. To explain. The reason I was able to identify the wasp so quickly — and assure myself that it was no threat — is because this wasp is one

If we didn’t know it before, Diane Abbott has made it clear that this summer’s Labour leadership contest is going to be very nasty indeed. On the day Jeremy Corbyn will officially launch his campaign, his loyal ally has taken to the airwaves to stick the knife into his challenger Owen Smith. We’ve had a taste of just how the Corbynistas are planning to attack Smith before and it seems his links to Pfizer, where he used to work, will be the main thrust of their attempts to undermine him. Abbott made that much obvious this morning. She managed to concede that Owen was a ‘great bloke and so on’,

Owen Smith has told us he’s both ‘radical’ and ‘normal’. It doesn’t take a genius to work out those characteristics aren’t compatible. Yet, Owen Smith knows he needs to try and be both if he is to defy the huge odds and win this Labour leadership race. And therein lies the problem. Smith is deftly attempting a balancing act between praising Corbyn (his ‘radical’ bit) whilst trying to offer those policies in a more electable package (the ‘normal’ bit). So can Smith manage to do both? It’s going to be a tricky ask but he tried his best just now during his Today interview. After praising Corbyn as someone who

My favourite comment about Angela Eagle came from some unnamed spiteful Corbynista MP who, with reference to her twin sister Maria, a former cabinet minister, observed that Angela was ‘the lesser of two Eagles’ and ‘not even the best politician in her own family’. Perhaps he was the bloke who chucked a brick through Mrs Eagle’s office window this week, or left the succinct, if politically incorrect, answerphone message for her: ‘fucking bitch’. Although there are two or three hundred thousand semi-house-trained infants in the Momentum movement who might well have behaved likewise, I suppose. Feelings are running a little high across the political spectrum, aren’t they? This is becoming

On the day Theresa May takes control at No.10 in a comparatively seemly transition, the Labour party is in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history. Jeremy Corbyn will be on the ballot paper in what looks set to be a messy and fractious leadership contest. He also looks likely to win: in September, he picked up 59 per cent of the votes and, amongst the party’s membership, little seems to have changed to knock that support. A quick glance at Corbyn’s Facebook page reveals a lot about the huge base of support the Labour leader can count on. A not-wildly-exciting video uploaded last night in which Corbyn

Oh dear. Today Jeremy Corbyn fuelled concerns that he isn’t interested in winning power when he failed to say that winning a general election was a priority, during an appearance on the Andrew Marr Show. Now Jon Lansman, the Momentum chief, has waded into the ‘should winning matter to a major political party?’ debate. After tweeting his followers to urge them to stand by Jeremy Corbyn in the face of the Labour coup, former Blair spinner John McTernan responded by suggesting that Corbynistas only care about their leader — rather than the party or country: To Corbynistas and most party members, democracy matters — Jon Lansman ???? (@jonlansman) July 10, 2016 While

As Labour MPs drowned their sorrows in Strangers’ Bar last night following a fractious meeting of the PLP, over in the Red Lion the pro-Corbyn contingent gathered for a pint. Mr S’s mole reports that Momentum’s Jon Lansman met with Richard Burgon, the Shadow Justice Secretary, and Seb Corbyn at the Westminster watering hole to give the duo a much-needed pep talk. ‘You’ve just got to carry on,’ Lansman was overheard urging the pair. With a vote of no confidence now passed in Corbyn’s leadership, their resolve may fade in the coming days.

While Corbyn faced an open revolt from MPs at tonight’s meeting of the PLP, over in Parliament Square the Corbyn fightback got underway as hundreds gathered for a Momentum rally in support of the Labour leader. Not content with the drama at the meeting, Richard Burgon — Labour’s former blunder-prone shadow City minister who has just been promoted to Shadow Justice Secretary —  left early to attend the rally. In his speech to the Corbynistas, he turned on his fellow MPs, accusing them of ‘behaving like bullies’ inside Parliament: https://twitter.com/katyballs/status/747493155621199873 ‘I think everyone in the Parliamentary Labour party can hear you shouting tonight. Cos I’ll tell you this, I’ll be quite open about it: some people

After the recent local elections, John McDonnell put Labour’s ‘better-than-expected’ results in part down to the efforts of Momentum activists. Alas, it seems that not everyone involved with the hard-left campaign group is so in chime with the party when it comes to Labour values. Mr S understands that Momentum’s Marlene Ellis has been suspended by the party over an open letter to Corbyn from the Momentum Black ConneXions group. Ellis — who previously made the news after she was accused of labelling Chuka Umunna as not ‘politically black‘ — co-signed the blog post which calls on Corbyn to reverse the ‘unjustified suspension of Ken Livingstone’ after the former mayor was suspended over his

In March this year, Momentum’s Marlene Ellis found herself in the news accused of describing Chuka Umunna as not ‘politically black’. The activist — who has appeared alongside Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott — denied the claims, explaining that while she was not referring to Umunna specifically, she thought it was time MPs — black and white — had more of a ‘politically black perspective’: ‘We don’t think that politicians, black and white, have enough of a politically black perspective and would like to see more MPs, black and white, putting anti-racism and black liberation more at the heart of their politics.’ However, despite her pledge that she