The Labour Party’s National Executive Committee meets today to decide whether Jeremy Corbyn, the incumbent leader, may go forward to a leadership ballot without being nominated by MPs.
Those Labour MPs who wanted to oust Corbyn were hoping they could keep him off the ballot paper in a leadership contest.
If he failed to get enough nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party, then he would not be on the ballot paper, party members would not be able to vote for him and normal service could be resumed.
Yes, party democracy would be sidelined, but, hey, who cares?
LEGAL ADVICE
Unfortunately for the plotters, the party’s own advice from barristers at Doughty Street Chambers makes clear that only Mr Corbyn’s challengers need to secure nominations from 20% of fellow MPs, not Mr Corbyn himself.
They say: ‘In a year where a contested election is triggered by a challenger under B(ii), the incumbent does not require to be nominated to appear on the ballot paper. The incumbent is therefore automatically on the ballot paper unless s/he resigns (or otherwise becomes permanently unavailable)’.
The advice goes on to point out that ‘In this case’ in clause 4.I.2.B(ii) refers back to the first sentence, ‘where there is no vacancy’, which is the current position. If Mr Corbyn were to resign only to stand again, every candidate including him would be required to secure the nomination of 12.5% of MPs, which is about 29. But if a rebel MP pops up to challenge the leader, they need 20%, or 46 of the party’s 230 MPs. Having said all that, the NEC, meeting today, can vary the rules under rule 1.A, but not to the extent, it would be argued, as to overturn them.
LABOUR PARTY RULE BOOK
You won’t read this in the mainstream media, as they prefer to entertain rather than inform, but here is the relevant section of the Labour Party Rule Book:
‘Chapter 4
‘Elections of national officers of the party and national committees
‘Clause I.
‘General principles
‘1. Internal party elections for officer posts and the membership of national committees shall be conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner, in accordance with the constitutional rules of the party and any appropriate NEC guidelines.
‘Clause II.
‘Procedural rules for elections for national officers of the party
‘1. General
‘A. The following procedures provide a rules framework which, unless varied by the consent of the NEC, shall be followed when conducting elections for party officers. The NEC will also issue procedural guidelines on nominations, timetable, codes of conduct for candidates and other matters relating to the conduct of these elections.
‘2. Election of leader and deputy leader
‘A. The leader and deputy leader shall be elected separately in accordance with rule C below, unless rule E below applies.
‘B. Nomination
‘i. In the case of a vacancy for leader or deputy leader, each nomination must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void.
‘ii. Where there is no vacancy, nominations may be sought by potential challengers each year prior to the annual session of party conference. In this case any nomination must be supported by 20 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void.’
THE CANDIDATES’ VOTING RECORDS
It is worth remembering that given that we cannot expect a Labour politician to be pro-life, pro-family or anti-sodomy, their are important differences between Jeremy Corbyn’s voting record and that of Angela Eagle..
Jeremy Corbyn voted against Sunday trading and against Maastrict. Angela Eagle didn’t. He has voted against euthanasia. She is for it. Mr Corbyn is for freedom of speech. Miss Eagle wants to shut people up who disagree with her and her lifestyle. He voted against Tony Blair’s Gambling Bill and Identity Cards . She towed the Blairite line.
Jeremy Corbyn voted for a referendum on the EU. Angela Eagle voted against one. Mr Corbyn voted against war in Iraq. Miss Eagle was for it and the Blair / Straw axis which lied to get it. The only positive note is that when the proposal to help the Syrian rebels with military action and further destabilise that country came from a Conservative leader (David Cameron) in 2013, Angela Eagle at last managed to join Jeremy Corbyn and vote against it.
In her press conference yesterday, Miss Eagle said, ‘I’m not a Blairite, I’m not a Brownite, I’m not a Corbynista.’ Then raising her voice in high drama: ‘I am my own woman.’ Applause. No, you aren’t. You voted with Tony Blair on everything. You are the establishment candidate.
PRAY FOR OUR LEADERS
2Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
Pray that the Lord Almighty will place the fear of God in Jeremy Corbyn’s heart.
I have been listening very carefully to a discussion about this on the radio, which included one of the blokes who wrote the rules.
It all seems to hang on the word “challenger” being used carelessly to mean “candidate”. The bloke claims that it was never the INTENTION to discriminate between the existing leader and other candidates, and that this would be unfair and contrary to Labour traditions.
Nonetheless, I reluctantly have to agree with Stephen on this .”Challenger” is what it says, and Corbyn is not challenging himself.
Apparently legal experts can be found to support both sides (as is so often the case !).
Apparently also, Corbyn will be happy if the NEC finds in his favour, but will go to law if they find against him.
It might be better if he pondered why he can’t find 51 MPs and MEPs to support him, and what chance he would have leading Labour in an actual election. This is a very sad time, because even those who would not want a Labour government would want a decent working Opposition, and it looks as though this is going to crumble away. leaving a Conservative almost one-party state for years to come, not even kept in check by EU safeguards.
I agree that everything should be done in decent order. Please see my comment at:
http://www.headoflegal.com/2016/07/11/can-jeremy-corbyn-be-kept-off-labours-leadership-ballot/#comment-1009788
The rules appear to be very clear, that the 20% only applies to those challenging the incumbent leader.
What is absolutely unbelievable is that they required expert legal advice from barristers to provide guidance and spent at least 6 hours discussing it. Then to cap it all ,14 of the NEC still voted to go against the rule book. Surely they will not now decide to now pursue legal action.
Corbyn will no doubt win the vote again and if he remains in charge until the next election, it will surely be a walk in the park for the Tories.
I don’t know who Peter is, but I totally agree with him, 150% as they say.
The only other possibility is that some of those who turned up unexpectedly to vote for Corbyn last time will not bother again, and/or that sufficient ordinary moderate Labour supporters will pay their £25 to vote.
I must say that this need to be able to find £25 remids me of the 40 shilling freeholder rule. There was later (in 1918) a rule involving £5, applicable to some women only.
I would be getting my £25 together if Christian Voice was not apolitical!