Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I really do wish Jeremy Corbyn's labour party the best in this election. I pray and hope that he is the next prime minister. He would in no doubt be the greatest Prime Minister of the past 50 years in my humble opinion.
It's sad that at it looks so unlikely. I'm hoping that after Manchester attacks a more sober less personal environment might be exactly the kind of position where his reasoned arguments and flawless personal history can be heard and taken seriously.
I really hope so. I believe a Labour victory is possible.
I believe that a Tory victory will be an utter disaster.
I don't agree with Corbyn on Brexit, but his clearly articulated views I can go along with. If we can be legally outside the EU but practically inside with freedom of movement and single market well that would be good.
However - for the last post on this blog. I just want to say that in spite of writing many letters, making many phone calls, I was never contacted.
It's nearly a year since the Labour party summarily judge me an undesirable member..
They took my money. They took a brief look at one of my tweets and completely misunderstood it.
I will be voting Liberal Democrat at the next election.
It would be great if the Labour party could win in my constituency. They can't. I don't want to support the Liberal Democrats, but I like Tessa Munt and I'll vote for her, and it's the system we have so until it changes I have no choice.
What did Corbyn do about the 100,000 applicant members denied membership?
Nothing.
What did the Labour party do about the fact that they made an obvious mistake in denying my membership?
Nothing.
Did I get my £25 back?
No.
Will I campaign for Labour?
No.
Will I ever donate to Labour again?
Of course not, do you think I'm completely stupid?!
Yes, it seems they do.
I wish them well.
Sadly of course, no matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
The Story So Far
I'm not a natural Labour supporter. I was a lifelong Liberal Democrat supporter until 2010. I voted Liberal Democrat in 2015 and Labour came fifth in the constituency in which I lived at the time.
I campaigned for Remain and actually found Jeremy Corbyn quite convincing. He was not the leader of the Labour remain campaign but far more visible than Alan Johnson. In fact Corbyn was the only leader that I saw making any kind of passionate case for staying in the EU. Cameron's campaign was hopeless.
I also campaigned for a yes in the AV referendum and Labour's historical opposition to this is something that I think they will come to regret very soon.
After the Brexit vote I was unbearably depressed.
Taking a dispassionate view of everything I found only Jeremy Corbyn was offering the kind of values that actually could change many of the problems in British society. Put simplest so many people said to me in 2015 if they could vote for SNP they would have done. Corbyn offers this kind of choice.
I always felt that the Tories lost the election in 1997 rather than Blair winning it, especially through their campaigning against keeping the UK out of the Social Chapter. People realised what our government was actually saying about them. That we were not individuals, but we were some kind of workforce.
I lived in many constituencies with Conservative MPs and saw them all go to the LibDems in the time I was living there. What happened to them (I supported Huhne) under Clegg was a disgrace. I never thought I could support another politician after that utter betrayal. I understand why it was done, but it was wrong. In fact my disquiet was strong before that. I don't think there ever should have been such an election. If the Liberal Democrats had been true to the values that I had always believed in, they would have given Charles Kennedy sick leave and the deputy would have remained acting leader. The actions to remove him were what destroyed the party for me. It would have been such a strong message for the party to support their leader instead of destroy him. Kennedy was a brilliant leader with a recognised health problem. Anyway that's ancient history for me and them now.
I am a company director of a very small company. I am the flexible workforce. I undertake very flexible contract work. This lack of reliable work cost me my marriage, and now I live apart from my children. I suffer the insanities of the HMCTS. I suffer the insanities of legal representation. I suffer the insanities of the financial market problems. All in very personal ways.
Anyway that's me.
Corbyn gave me enthusiasm for the Labour Party and a great sense that I could support it. I could bring the energy to it that I had used to help the LibDems win seats and hold seats.
I have no doubt that Corbyn could be elected, but what the Labour party have done since I joined is just bizarre.
I paid twice to join the Labour party. I was then told that because of a tweet which has been willfully misinterpreted that I wasn't welcome and they would keep my money. Yes I'm outraged by it.
It is alledged that I tweeted that I was a member of the LibDems and that I recommended people to join the Greens. Neither of these things are true. I replied to a tweet questioning the statistics of the LibDems membership numbers. I have never been abusive.
I'm left again feeling that I want my money back, and again that no political party can represent me.
But what is the problem with Labour. They were in a winning position. The arrogance, hubris and ego I have seen from people like Sadiq Khan, Alan Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair, Ian McNichol, Tom Watson and many others has left me in despair. It is transparent to me that they all put their political careers ahead of any sense of representing their electorate. I expect representation to be done with humility. They represent us! Every single one of these politicians were people I highly respected before these attacks on Corbyn. They probably do belong in the Liberal Democrats. Maybe if they all leave then I can support Labour again. I can't support their party. It's sad. It leaves me with nowhere to go.
I didn't get to Vote for Corbyn. I didn't get any answer as to why I was not allowed to be a member. I got a copy of a tweet that is not my tweet. It is a tweet of someone who was allowed to stay in the party. I did tweet #corbynstays but mainly ironically as a reaction to the terrible Angela Eagle launch. I didn't get my £25 back.
I did call every week for four weeks and was told someone would get back to me. They could reply to my friend Wes who wrote to them about my case to say they couldn't discuss it with him. There is no basis for their refusal of my membership.
I'd hoped to write a short summary of what's happened. It's not been short sorry.
Essentially I was rejected from being a registered supporter because of a tweet I didn't send. I wasn't abusive, but I've have been abused, taken for granted and neglected. I contacted the Labour party many times and was told someone would get back to me, but they didn't.
If it is 9 more years of Tory rule it's clear in my mind that it is not Corbyn's doing but it is the doing of the Labour party. What can we do about this problem?
I campaigned for Remain and actually found Jeremy Corbyn quite convincing. He was not the leader of the Labour remain campaign but far more visible than Alan Johnson. In fact Corbyn was the only leader that I saw making any kind of passionate case for staying in the EU. Cameron's campaign was hopeless.
I also campaigned for a yes in the AV referendum and Labour's historical opposition to this is something that I think they will come to regret very soon.
After the Brexit vote I was unbearably depressed.
Taking a dispassionate view of everything I found only Jeremy Corbyn was offering the kind of values that actually could change many of the problems in British society. Put simplest so many people said to me in 2015 if they could vote for SNP they would have done. Corbyn offers this kind of choice.
I always felt that the Tories lost the election in 1997 rather than Blair winning it, especially through their campaigning against keeping the UK out of the Social Chapter. People realised what our government was actually saying about them. That we were not individuals, but we were some kind of workforce.
I lived in many constituencies with Conservative MPs and saw them all go to the LibDems in the time I was living there. What happened to them (I supported Huhne) under Clegg was a disgrace. I never thought I could support another politician after that utter betrayal. I understand why it was done, but it was wrong. In fact my disquiet was strong before that. I don't think there ever should have been such an election. If the Liberal Democrats had been true to the values that I had always believed in, they would have given Charles Kennedy sick leave and the deputy would have remained acting leader. The actions to remove him were what destroyed the party for me. It would have been such a strong message for the party to support their leader instead of destroy him. Kennedy was a brilliant leader with a recognised health problem. Anyway that's ancient history for me and them now.
I am a company director of a very small company. I am the flexible workforce. I undertake very flexible contract work. This lack of reliable work cost me my marriage, and now I live apart from my children. I suffer the insanities of the HMCTS. I suffer the insanities of legal representation. I suffer the insanities of the financial market problems. All in very personal ways.
Anyway that's me.
Corbyn gave me enthusiasm for the Labour Party and a great sense that I could support it. I could bring the energy to it that I had used to help the LibDems win seats and hold seats.
I have no doubt that Corbyn could be elected, but what the Labour party have done since I joined is just bizarre.
I paid twice to join the Labour party. I was then told that because of a tweet which has been willfully misinterpreted that I wasn't welcome and they would keep my money. Yes I'm outraged by it.
It is alledged that I tweeted that I was a member of the LibDems and that I recommended people to join the Greens. Neither of these things are true. I replied to a tweet questioning the statistics of the LibDems membership numbers. I have never been abusive.
I'm left again feeling that I want my money back, and again that no political party can represent me.
But what is the problem with Labour. They were in a winning position. The arrogance, hubris and ego I have seen from people like Sadiq Khan, Alan Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair, Ian McNichol, Tom Watson and many others has left me in despair. It is transparent to me that they all put their political careers ahead of any sense of representing their electorate. I expect representation to be done with humility. They represent us! Every single one of these politicians were people I highly respected before these attacks on Corbyn. They probably do belong in the Liberal Democrats. Maybe if they all leave then I can support Labour again. I can't support their party. It's sad. It leaves me with nowhere to go.
I didn't get to Vote for Corbyn. I didn't get any answer as to why I was not allowed to be a member. I got a copy of a tweet that is not my tweet. It is a tweet of someone who was allowed to stay in the party. I did tweet #corbynstays but mainly ironically as a reaction to the terrible Angela Eagle launch. I didn't get my £25 back.
I did call every week for four weeks and was told someone would get back to me. They could reply to my friend Wes who wrote to them about my case to say they couldn't discuss it with him. There is no basis for their refusal of my membership.
I'd hoped to write a short summary of what's happened. It's not been short sorry.
Essentially I was rejected from being a registered supporter because of a tweet I didn't send. I wasn't abusive, but I've have been abused, taken for granted and neglected. I contacted the Labour party many times and was told someone would get back to me, but they didn't.
If it is 9 more years of Tory rule it's clear in my mind that it is not Corbyn's doing but it is the doing of the Labour party. What can we do about this problem?
Monday, 19 September 2016
Wes Got A Reply
Wes got a reply to his letter.
So far I received absolutely nothing.
I have sent email below today as suggested.
However I have to accept now it is highly unlikely I will get the opportunity to vote as promised.
"Dear Mr White,
I am afraid I cannot discuss individual cases with a third party.
I have sent your letter to our Appeals inbox.
If John wishes to contact us to appeal any decision he should write to us at appeals@labour.org.uk"
I have sent email below today as suggested.
However I have to accept now it is highly unlikely I will get the opportunity to vote as promised.
Monday, 12 September 2016
Wes' Letter In Support of Reconsideration of the Rejection of my Application
My friend Wes (who made a tweet that I replied to which apparently caused me not to be admitted to the Labour party) in response to these letter's I've received, has also sent a letter to Ian McNicol. He's shared it on his Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/notes/wes-white/letter-to-iain-mcnicol/10153310047232614 but in case you can't access this he's also agreed that it can be shared here (below).
I'd also like to add that I hope you can see that neither Wes or I are people who use offensive language or other abuse as characterised by Ian McNicol in this article reported by the Independent Labour’s general secretary releases list of reasons supporters have been suspended from the party I find this story in the press really personally insulting as it suggests to anyone who is casually informed that I may have had application rejected for abusive or threatening behaviour, whereas the truth is it is for querying a statistic. Very politely. I'm sure these messages released by him in this story are genuine, it's not hard to find people behaving badly on the Internet, but to suggest this is representative of all cases is totally misleading, I actually feel slandered by this, I actually feel like I should abuse or insult to get attention, sadly though I won't do this, as short and snappy as it could be.
I'd also like to add that I hope you can see that neither Wes or I are people who use offensive language or other abuse as characterised by Ian McNicol in this article reported by the Independent Labour’s general secretary releases list of reasons supporters have been suspended from the party I find this story in the press really personally insulting as it suggests to anyone who is casually informed that I may have had application rejected for abusive or threatening behaviour, whereas the truth is it is for querying a statistic. Very politely. I'm sure these messages released by him in this story are genuine, it's not hard to find people behaving badly on the Internet, but to suggest this is representative of all cases is totally misleading, I actually feel slandered by this, I actually feel like I should abuse or insult to get attention, sadly though I won't do this, as short and snappy as it could be.
Next Letter
I was contacted over the weekend by a member of my local labour party who was concerned to know why my membership was cancelled. The support and warmth of this contact has done a great deal to calm me down and help me focus.
She also referred me as a number of people have done to WhyCantIVote.com who supplied me with a standard letter to send. I'm not hugely interested in a Data Protection Subject Access Request as it would lead me to sending more good money after bad, and also I already have the "evidence" provided to me.
I telephoned the labour party again this morning to ask their advice. They advised me to send a letter setting out the case of what I feel is wrong and also to email this letter to them.
Here's a copy for your interest:
EDIT TO ADD: If you have difficulty reading the scans of the letter above, click on them and the whole image will open in a new window,
She also referred me as a number of people have done to WhyCantIVote.com who supplied me with a standard letter to send. I'm not hugely interested in a Data Protection Subject Access Request as it would lead me to sending more good money after bad, and also I already have the "evidence" provided to me.
I telephoned the labour party again this morning to ask their advice. They advised me to send a letter setting out the case of what I feel is wrong and also to email this letter to them.
Here's a copy for your interest:
EDIT TO ADD: If you have difficulty reading the scans of the letter above, click on them and the whole image will open in a new window,
Wednesday, 7 September 2016
The "Evidence"
Well a little while after 4 days today I received the promised "evidence".
Madness.
It's not a tweet. It's a reply to a tweet by @WesWhite
The accusation against me as I suspected is completely false.
As you can see from the "evidence" sent to me in no way does my reply state that I recommend people to join the Green Party, just that I think the membership figures for the LibDems are almost certainly wrong, and I make it clear that I left the LibDems over four years previously.
This "evidence" is really very flimsy. I can not read this in any way that says that I support either the Liberal Democrats or The Green Party. Utterly ridiculous.
I am quite certain (though they don't say so) that this is all probably much more to do with me sending one tweet more recently with the hash tag #corbynstays It seems unbelievable that apparently supporting the leader of the Labour party would be seen as a threat to the Labour party.
UPDATE TO ADD:
The irony is that my friend Wes who also joined Labout and sent this tweet was not purged.
This is the Tweet I sent a little while ago:
As you'll see if you read my Twitter feed very little of it is about politics. Mainly I use Twitter for my work with Digital & Design Agencies as an IT Consultant working with Content Management Systems. That was the audience. It was more than a little bit jokey. The Angela Eagle launch was so bad that really Corbyn should stay. That was my point. I stand by it.
I'm not an entryist, or a trotskyist, or any other kind of ist. I have always been actively involved in politics but in the areas I've lived Labour have not been a serious force. I've lived in 4 constituencies with sitting Conservative MPs where I've campaigned and seen them replaced with Liberal Democrats, but after 2010 I could no longer support them. Not because of the coalition so much as because of the arrogant and high handed approach they showed to the membership when joining the coalition. It was clear it was going to wipe the party out, and they did it anyway. I didn't choose to stop supporting the LibDems they chose to stop supporting me. I cancelled my Direct Debit in 2010 but they kept sending me my membership card. I wrote to them 4 times asking them to stop. They kept sending it every year. They finally stopped later in 2015 after this tweet was sent. My point was (admittedly not made terribly well in 140 characters) that you can't believe their membership figures, based entirely on my anecdotal evidence.
Anyway in no way did I publicly support the Green's with this tweet or declare anything other than a long past membership of the LibDems. The evidence simply does not support the decision to deny me the vote they made me pay twice for,
Livid. Utterly livid.
Madness.
It's not a tweet. It's a reply to a tweet by @WesWhite
The accusation against me as I suspected is completely false.
In your case, the reason for your application being rejected is as follows: You posted on Twitter in January 2015 an encouragement to others to join the green Party and a reference to you being a member of the Liberal Democrats. You have also since applied to be a registered supporter, but individuals, from whom an application for membership would not be accepted, cannot be accepted either as an affiliated or registered supporter.
As you can see from the "evidence" sent to me in no way does my reply state that I recommend people to join the Green Party, just that I think the membership figures for the LibDems are almost certainly wrong, and I make it clear that I left the LibDems over four years previously.
I am quite certain (though they don't say so) that this is all probably much more to do with me sending one tweet more recently with the hash tag #corbynstays It seems unbelievable that apparently supporting the leader of the Labour party would be seen as a threat to the Labour party.
UPDATE TO ADD:
The irony is that my friend Wes who also joined Labout and sent this tweet was not purged.
This is the Tweet I sent a little while ago:
— John C Scott (@johncscott) 12 July 2016
As you'll see if you read my Twitter feed very little of it is about politics. Mainly I use Twitter for my work with Digital & Design Agencies as an IT Consultant working with Content Management Systems. That was the audience. It was more than a little bit jokey. The Angela Eagle launch was so bad that really Corbyn should stay. That was my point. I stand by it.
I'm not an entryist, or a trotskyist, or any other kind of ist. I have always been actively involved in politics but in the areas I've lived Labour have not been a serious force. I've lived in 4 constituencies with sitting Conservative MPs where I've campaigned and seen them replaced with Liberal Democrats, but after 2010 I could no longer support them. Not because of the coalition so much as because of the arrogant and high handed approach they showed to the membership when joining the coalition. It was clear it was going to wipe the party out, and they did it anyway. I didn't choose to stop supporting the LibDems they chose to stop supporting me. I cancelled my Direct Debit in 2010 but they kept sending me my membership card. I wrote to them 4 times asking them to stop. They kept sending it every year. They finally stopped later in 2015 after this tweet was sent. My point was (admittedly not made terribly well in 140 characters) that you can't believe their membership figures, based entirely on my anecdotal evidence.
Anyway in no way did I publicly support the Green's with this tweet or declare anything other than a long past membership of the LibDems. The evidence simply does not support the decision to deny me the vote they made me pay twice for,
Livid. Utterly livid.
Friday, 2 September 2016
These are the tweets i'd like to send @IainMcNicol regarding #labourpurge2 right now:
look @IainMcNicol your actions have caused me four sleepless nights
i was a reasonable man before you shouted me down @IainMcNicol
you've left me no choice but to become the unreasonable person you apparently fear @IainMcNicol
i was promised the non existent evidence to support your egregious letter after four days @IainMcNicol but I have not received this
you can choose to bring the heavy hand of governence upon me @IainMcNicol but it leaves me no other choice than to become unreasonable
please @IainMcNicol do the reasonable thing and return my £25 and I promise you will hear no more from me
I would welcome any reason to tell my whole story to anyone who will listen and demonstrate that I am, as I know myself to be, a very reasonable man who has been treated in an extraordinarily unreasonable way. I've had my money stolen duplicitously by the organisation that claims to be the one to offer a man like me hope but has delivered me only despair.
I'll sleep on it, Hopefully. Any thoughts? I'm sick of thinking about this. It is just so blatantly unreasonable and unjust. I've lost a huge amount of sleep and really I need to forget about it. I don't want any part of their ridiculous political party. I do want my money back.
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