Impromptu Support for Corbyn

After local Labour branch meetings cancelled

Forty-one members of Hounslow Labour Party held an impromptu meeting to support Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday after the official Brentford and Isleworth branch meeting was cancelled with only 4 hours notice.

The decision by Labour’s National Executive Committee to suspend all Constituency Labour Party meetings for the duration of the leadership contest, as well as to disenfranchise over 100,000 Labour members who joined in recent months to support Jeremy Corbyn, is a deeply undemocratic move taken at the exact same time the party is meant to be engaging in its most democratic exercise: choosing its leader.

Brentford & Isleworth Labour Party had been due to consider a motion in support of Corbyn before the meeting was cancelled against members’ wishes. Instead, 41 local Labour members gathered in the Coach and Horses pub in Isleworth for an unofficial meeting where the motion was passed unanimously.

The motion reads:

This Branch notes that Jeremy Corbyn was recently elected by members on the first round with 59.5% of the vote. He has attracted tens of thousands to the Labour Party and has inspired a new generation to become engaged in politics.

Since then, despite predictions, Labour has won every by-election, four mayoral elections, and two-thirds of Labour voters in the referendum.  His record of commitment is impeccable, for example his votes against the war in Iraq, and against the economically damaging austerity policies.

This Branch supports Jeremy’s continuation as our democratically elected leader, and urges MPs to stop undermining him, and start attacking the Tories.

Unofficial Labour gathering (Crispin Flintoff, @fruitandvegdon)

Isleworth Labour member Salman Shaheen said: “We want to reiterate our confidence in Jeremy and the principled values he stands for. We see him as our next prime minister. He will lead us towards achieving a fairer, kinder, more equal society.”

Brentford Labour member James Rosen added: “With Labour branch meetings suspended until after the leadership contest, grassroots Labour members will continue to meet as planned to support Jeremy Corbyn. We want to see a Labour Party united around him taking the fight to the Tories as Britain’s new government plunges us into the most uncertain times we have faced in living memory.”

Labour members in other parts of the country are planning similar informal meetings.

July 15, 2016