Rebel Rebel
Jeremy Corbyn was an arch Labour rebel for over 30 years, as a backbench MP, and voted over 500 times against his own party and proved to be a thorn in the flesh of every Labour leader he served under from Neil KInnock to Ed Miliband.
Yet now Jezza's Momentum supporters are demanding unswerving loyalty to Team Corbyn otherwise anyone who disagrees with them will be removed in an orchestrated campaign to suppress 'disloyalty' and criticism within Labour ranks.
If you ask me, Corbyn can't have it both ways: poachers turned gamekeepers can present an attractive option in the short-term, but the novelty is bound to wear off sooner or later.
Because it is essentially dishonest to preach one thing then do another in politics, just as in any other walk of life.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/25/momentum-loyalty-test-would-be-mps-labour-corbyn
Philip Inman and Michael Savage - The Observer
Contenders asked to sign contract to back Corbyn’s objectives and party manifesto to win group’s support
Leftwing pressure group Momentum is asking Labour parliamentary contenders to sign a contract that ties them to the “political objectives” set out in the organisation’s constitution to secure its support in upcoming selection battles, the Observer has learned.
Several contenders to be Labour candidates in marginal seats are understood to have signed the contract. The 13-point “political accord for Momentum-backed candidates” asks candidates to “work to ensure the Labour manifesto (subject to future policy development) is fully implemented once Labour are in government”.
Included in the signed contract is the commitment to “revitalise the Labour party by building on the values, energy and enthusiasm of the Jeremy for Leader campaign”. Some Labour MPs are known to be alarmed by the move, following an attempt by Labour activists to unseat the leader of Haringey council last month. Claire Kober fought off a challenge to win reselection in her ward, but it was seen as a warning that Momentum plans to support candidates that back Jeremy Corbyn at all levels of the party.
One Labour MP, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It reflects a Stalinist approach to politics that Momentum would come up with such a contract for candidates. It has worrying implications for our democracy that there could be MPs in parliament who have signed away their right to independent judgment,” he said.
A spokesman for Momentum said the accord was drafted as part of efforts to improve the party’s ethics and to get candidates to take part in a “fair, honest debate on policies” and not personal attacks or harrassment.
“It just makes the commitment to higher ethical standards more explicit,” he added. “You want to back candidates who are good people – who support the code of ethics. We don’t have a programme. We are a campaigning organisation. The accord is more a version of what every Labour member signs up to. It just spells it out a bit more.”
Momentum chair Jon Lansman wants rank-and-file members to have more say over Labour policy. Photograph: Matt Crossick/Empics Entertainment
