London Labour Party Conference 2023 - Day 1

 

From my twitter feed as a UNISON Labour Link Delegate.

At @LondonLabour annual conference. Chair of Regional board #MaggiFerncombe opens conference

Next our @labour leader @Keir_Starmer MP gives key note speech on why we will only get a #labour government by winning the trust of the #British people.

Next a panel on #CostOfLivingCrises with our own @unisontheunion @unisonglr @labourunionsuk
secretary @JoelBodmer (former chair @UnisonHAB) @kimleadbeater @RNBlake #petermandelson. Peter advises us to treat recent polls like smoking cannabis "smoke but do not inhale"

After break we now have panel on "winning the General Election - getting into power" with
@LondonLabour Pearleen Sangha @elliereeves

During lunch I attended part of fringe by @RMTunion speaker Mick Lynch, @DawnButlerBrent
#ellybaker. Good to hear of their support for @labour "New Deal for working people"

Standing ovation for barn storming speech by @lisanandy on fixing the broken housing market by building #council homes (& many other things)

After Lisa panel on "House & home - solving Britain's housing crisis" @ShamaTatler Osama Bhutta
@Shelter Anya Marton @PricedOutUK chaired by @DannyBeales @Semakaleng makes point that in #london we need at least 30k social homes pa

Motions debate: @unisonglr convenor & @LondonLabour #labourlink delegate @Yvonneg57841905 seconds #Abuse is not part of the job" @CroydonUNISON

Proposing motion on "Post-Brexit - Working in Partnership" moved by @GMB_union @newham_labour @NewhamBooker @LondonLabour

Seconding the Post-Brexit motion is @CvobUnison Branch Chair & @unisonglr #LabourLink delegate @MarcelaBenede10

"It's now cheaper to save the planet than to destroy it" @Ed_Miliband speaks on "The green sprint" debate with @Miatsf @HughGoulbourne @hennassh

Final panel "Lessons from local government" @LGA_Labour Peter Robbins @timroca85 @CllrAsma_Islam @KamRai7 @GracieMaeW Regional @LondonLabour director Pearleen Sangha making her report to Conference

And final speaker @LondonLabour London Mayor @SadiqKhan . "More council homes being built in London since 1970s" "Nothing quite like handing a key to anew home to a family" "next election is a choice between a Labour Mayor on side of Londoners & a Tory on side of this rotten Government"

The quiet & retiring Pete Willsman speaks to West Ham GC

Each month West Ham Labour Party invites a guest political speaker to our General Committee meeting. All party members are also invited to attend (non voting).

Our speaker last month was the secretary of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) Pete Willsman.

It is the 40th anniversary of the CLPD. He promoted the 3 websites that they run including Left Futures. Which he claimed was not only for "lefties" but admitted that not many contributors were from Progress!  Mind you he praised Peter Mandelson for his loyalty to the Party.

He promoted CLPD rule changes for the 2013 Labour Party conference including making political levy payers full members of the Party (they use to be), an electoral collage to elect local Labour Group leaders, the Party should have an independent ombudsman to investigate complaints and the right of members to select who are their Parliamentary candidates.

Pete predicted that after the next general election there may be a split in political parties and that Cameron Tories, Orange Book Liberals and Progress will break away and join up together. He finished his barnstorming speech by asking the Blarities currently criticising the Party to all "shut their mouths"!

Pete gave a hugely entertaining, tub thumping and colourful speech which demonstrated his lifelong passion and commitment to the Party even though I am not that sure how many in the room he persuaded to actually join up.

(Picture Pete, Chair Charlene and Ali G)

The Blair Project

I am sure that others are using this post title about Peter Mandelson’s speech to conference and its reaction to it.

This was the speech of his life (and at the end you could see he knew it). There are standing ovations and standing ovations. This one was for real.

He cheekily referred to the famous quotation by Tony Blair that he would know when his New Labour project successful when the Labour Party learned to love Peter Mandelson.

Mandelson touched all the right conference buttons. Initial feedback from back home and from folk out of the conference bubble and in living in a real world agree. Apart from the great showmanship the New New Labour apparent change of approach towards supporting and defending UK manufacturing went down very well with conference. In particular the trade unions. This is “clear red water” between the Tories which is not only popular politics but it exposes the real ideological gulf between them and us on the role of the market.

I think you have to watch the whole speech “to get it”. Check it out on YouTube

Leila Deen – Green Custard Bigot.

Tony Blair famously once joked that his New Labour mission would not be complete until the Party loved Peter Mandelson. The unbelievably arrogant, stuck up and conceited Leila Deen has done the impossible. She has made people feel sorry for Mandy!

These sort of bigots don’t care what damage they cause to their campaign by such actions. All they want is vain-glory and their 3 minutes of “fame”. Yes, Mandelson and Gordon Brown have turned it around in their favour and made jokes about it.

However, it could have been acid in that cup and all this will do apart from discrediting her cause is helping those who want to build further barriers between Politicians and ordinary people.

Jewish Londoners - Sunday 15 February

I got this via SERTUC. Not often they send stuff out about events that has been sponsored by the City of London!

No doubt it’s down to that pesky Peter Mandelson.

Should be an interesting day mind.

In City hall before Christmas there was a very good historical exhibition (now finished) of postcards about the Jewish community.