resignation
Sky deletes its video of Falter claiming he was only trying to cross the road
Page now gives 404 result after overwhelming evidence challenging claims emerged
As Skwawkbox reported earlier today, ‘Campaign against Antisemitism’ (CAA) chief executive Gideon Falter’s claim that he had been prevented by police from crossing a road after just happening to ‘come across’ a pro-Palestine march looks to have fallen apart after a huge volume of eyewitness, photographic and video evidence emerged challenging the veracity of the claim.
Falter, whose CAA group has been shown to have taken large amounts of funding from a ‘quasi-governmental’ Israeli organisation and featured prominently in the campaign to take down then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has also been shown to have made false claims of antisemitic speech – leading to the prosecution, conviction and unanimous acquittal on appeal of a Foreign Office official. His claim about Saturday’s events fuelled calls for the banning of pro-Palestinian marches and the removal of Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley – who just happens to have previously refused the demands of right-wing, pro-Israel campaigners and politicians for the marches to be banned.
And now Sky News, which had run hard with the false claims and the ensuing narrative, has deleted its video of Falter’s staged stunt. Footage and photographs shot by bystanders strongly suggest that Falter was at the site of the march for some time before the incident – and that he was there with bodyguards and had already tried to disrupt it, a stark contrast with his narrative that he had just bumped into the march on his way home from synagogue.
While emails containing the link will still show a preview of the original content, clicking through to the link leads to a ‘404’ ‘page not found result, as the combined screenshots below show:
It will be interesting to see whether the rest of the so-called ‘mainstream’ media follow suit, or leave up the misleading video and claims despite the flood of contrary evidence.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Exclusive: Eslamdoust continues to lash out as TSSA staff pass unanimous no-confidence vote
Union general secretary keeps blaming GMB as union employees say she keeps exposing lack of understanding of union mechanics
A union in flames? TSSA staff appear to think so
Maryam Eslamdoust and the TSSA rail union she is running – into the ground in the eyes of many – continues to lash out at the GMB union for TSSA staff’s complete dissatisfaction with her management and her team – despite a unanimous motion of no-confidence passed at an ‘all-staff meeting’ last week.
Ms Eslamdoust was recommended to members, despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience, by the TSSA executive after former general secretary Manuel Cortes was sacked over sexual harassment and bullying exposed in the Kennedy Report, and was supposedly going to clean up the union after the scandal. However, the union has been rocked by fresh allegations of abuse and deep resentment against the new general secretary for the treatment of staff, particularly women.
The staff, who are members of the GMB union – union employees are usually represented by a different union in case they need to enter a dispute with their employer – and recently voted overwhelmingly for strike action in response to the abuse they say they are experiencing, held the ‘all-staff meeting’ a week ago. The following motion was passed unanimously:
TSSA Staff Motion of No Confidence in the GS, AGS, and President
Following the recent all-staff meeting on Thursday 11 April, where the AGS announced that the Trainee Organiser’s contracts would not be extended without any prior notice to the Trainee Organisers themselves, the TSSA staff unreservedly condemn this as a further example of an unacceptable and grotesque management style that has no place in a respectful and civilised
workplace.The further revelation by the AGS [assistant general secretary] that a significant sum of HS2 compensation monies has not yet been invested, losing us around £25,000 per month in interest at a conservative estimate, gives the TSSA staff considerable concern that the union is not being managed effectively to ensure its long-term survival as an independent trade union.
The TSSA staff reconfirms our commitment to the policy of remaining an independent union, and believes that with the right management, sufficient resources, meaningful progress on culture change, and an environment in which staff feel valued and respected, this remains a realistic prospect.
However, the many contradictions between stated objectives and the decisions being taken, whether in respect of resourcing priorities, progressing culture change, or managing the union’s finances, only leads us to conclude this is far from being the case.
The TSSA staff therefore instructs the GMB staff reps to convey the decision of this meeting that the staff have no confidence in the GS [general secretary], AGS, and President of the union.
The TSSA executive member for Scotland also resigned last week, saying he could no longer work with Eslamdoust or the executive supporting her.
Ms Eslamdoust attacked Skwawkbox during the general secretary election for scrutinising her and her supporters’ campaign claims that she had ‘high level trade union experience’. She also recently wrote a bizarre article for the Guardian in which she accused the GMB union of attempting to bully her so it could take over the TSSA and distract from its own renewed sexual harassment scandal, and tried to blame others for her failure to take meaningful action to implement the Kennedy Report’s recommendations, outraging staff members who have pointed out that their dispute pre-dates the new GMB revelations.
However, when asked for comment the union doubled down on its blaming of the GMB, compounding the impression of a lack of understanding or recognition that the issues are with the unhappiness of people working for the union and not with the management of the union they are instructing to coordinate the strike on their behalf. A spokesperson told Skwawkbox:
We would encourage GMB to start talking with TSSA to focus on resolving the workplace issues they say they have. It is genuinely extraordinary that GMB are so blatantly seeking to interfere in (and misrepresent) the internal administration of a sister union. TSSA EC took the decision that the last tranche of HS2 compensation would be reserved for strategic objectives to grow and strengthen our union. That is what is happening.
TSSA staff have said that their approaches to the union’s management have been ignored or rebuffed and that Eslamdoust and her team even opened talks with ACAS without bothering to inform them. The union’s latest comment will do little or nothing to change the publicly-expressed view of staff, reps and members, including a former TSSA assistant general secretary, that Ms Eslamdoust has ‘lost the plot’.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Former MP Smith quits Labour after suspension for refusing to vote for cuts
Labour under control freak Starmer has no respect or inclusivity, says former Crewe and Nantwich MP Laura Smith, who also cites Starmer’s Gaza stance as a driver for her decision
Former Crewe and Nantwich MP Laura Smith has quit the Labour party with a blistering attack on Labour’s lack of standards and inclusivity under Keir Starmer, after being suspended from the Cheshire East council Labour group for refusing to vote in support of a package of swingeing Tory cuts.
In a public statement about her decision to resign, Smith said that she:
entered mainstream politics back in 2017 after years of activism in social justice
movements after growing up in a family of trade union and socialist values. I stuffed
leaflets In the Labour Party envelopes and served tea and biscuits at the meetings of the local group as a child, and some of my earliest memories were of Saturdays spent In the car with my dad as he drove Gwyneth Dunwoody, the MP at the time around the constituency. I knew my core values from a very early age and I knew from the feeling in the pit of my stomach that my fight was always going to be equality and social justice. I experienced many things growing up that further shaped my beliefs and that feeling only grew as I became an adult.Being supported by my local Labour party and then becoming an MP representing my home towns was something that I couldn’t ever have Imagined. As someone from a challenging background and always struggling to make ends meet, it wasn’t a future that I felt was possible. But it did happen In a whirlwind of political change and hope for an alternative in the snap general election of 2017. I was elevated into a position where I felt that I could make a difference and my motivation was always the same. Those same values that I had harboured since being a little girl.
That two and half years in Parliament was an experience that I will always cherish and struggle with, in equal measures. The stark reality of our political system is one that I cannot pretend hasn’t made me more cynical, less hopeful for a real alternative and unfortunately more worried for the future. When I was elected, I hoped that I could prove to young girls and women who had been just like me that their voices could be heard, that they could make a difference and that they could be the changemakers and creators of a better world. The sad reality is that the system itself hampers the opportunity for real progress.
I would love to say that politics is a safe space for women. It isn’t. I would desperately like to say that debate and conflict is healthy and respectful. It’s not. I wish I could say that the old tropes that politics is a dirty corrupt business were untrue. But sadly it is. And that is from the top of our system all the way down to local politics.
More than anything I would like to say that the Labour Party itself sets a standard of
inclusivity and respect but that would be untruthful in my experience. It has become a place where to have a thought in your head that differs to the Labour leadership and the officials behind the scenes is an offence that can lead to suspension or even expulsion. At a local level it is a space where judgment is felt because as a full-time working mother juggling multiple caring responsibilities as well as often working Saturdays, you can’t sit in meeting after meeting or knock on doors in your rare free hours. I have heard the tutting and watched the finger wagging and listened to the comments and I think that it unfortunately remains the case that to be valued in the party you need to have lots and lots of free time. Naturally that means being either retired, not have caring responsibilities, being healthy both physically and mentally, and more often then not financially secure. Equality right? This Is before even
touching on the factional aspects that rage through the party, manifesting Itself through bullying, belittling, a culture of fear and a general lack of respect.I am not perfect. I don’t have all of the answers. But one thing I am not is a hypocrite. It is for that reason, and after much consideration, I have decided to resign my membership of the UK Labour Party, rather than appeal my recent suspension letter by the local labour group at Cheshire East Council. I was suspended for not voting In line with the whip, but as I stated at the council meeting on the 27th of February I cannot support an austerity budget that places local councillors as the punching bag tor a Tory Government determined to destroy public services. This has not been an easy decision, but it is on balance the right one for me.
The reasons that I have stated combined with the position the Labour Party leadership is taking on international policy as well as domestic issues is now completely at odds with my personal beliefs and unfortunately, I feel that an alternative voice is no longer respected within the party structures. I would like to thank the great many friends that I have within the party who I hope will continue to value and respect me as I value and respect them. I will continue to serve my ward of Crewe South as an independent socialist councillor on the political values that I have always openly and honestly shared and was elected on.
I remain dedicated to fighting for true equality and Justice for the people in this country who quite simply are not receiving anywhere near the service and quality of life that they deserve. There is a complete void of honesty, decency, ambition and leadership from those with the true power to change things. Talk is cheap and the dishonesty that I have encountered on a daily basis in politics is something that I simply could not have imagined.
Bravery is required in desperate times, and democracy can only really work when fear and desire for power is not the driving force behind people’s motivations. It is our actions that define who we are and we owe it to ourselves to be true. I will be true to the little girl I once was and not allow my voice to be erased and my opinions silenced.
Smith was re-elected last year as councillor for Crewe South and will continue to serve, but as an independent.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Liverpool Community Independents announce Gorst to stand vs Eagle in crowdfunded parliamentary election campaign
Local councillor who trounced Labour in last year’s local elections will contest Commons seat against Labour
The Liverpool Community Independents (LCI) party of left-wing former Labour members who quit the party in disgust at the local council’s cuts to services for the city’s most vulnerable, has selected local councillor Sam Gorst to stand against Labour right MP Maria Eagle in the next parliamentary election.
Gorst is the former Labour councillor who trounced Labour in the previously strong Labour Garston ward last May, along with LCI colleague Lucy Williams, despite a disgusting sewer-campaign by Labour targeting him. Both Gorst and Williams have gained even more popularity with Garstonians for leading the fight against a literal ‘time bomb’ chemical processing works the Labour-run council has rubber-stamped to be built right next to houses in Liverpool village.
The newly-configured Garston constituency will replace the existing Garston and Halewood seat in which Eagle is the incumbent.
LCI has launched a crowdfunder to raise money for the costs of its campaign. Labour is said to be rightly worried given the scale of Garston’s rejection of the Starmeroid party in the locals.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
TSSA staff fearful as new bullying complaints rock Eslamdoust
“Among the staff, there is now an atmosphere of anxiety, hypervigilance and worry. The trust in the leadership…has completely collapsed…staff are once again feeling demoralised, ignored, distrusted and exhausted…in this toxic environment” – GMB letter to new TSSA general secretary
Maryam Eslamdoust
TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust has been rocked by new allegations of bullying in the union after a letter from the GMB union – which represents TSSA staff – leaked to the media.
Eslamdoust was elected last year in what many considered an unfair election, after the TSSA executive asked union members to vote for her despite her being an outsider and two other experienced union candidates being in the frame – and despite Eslamdoust’s lack of relevant experience and a union background, which she attacked Skwawkbox for scrutinising. Eslamdoust had claimed in her campaign to be ‘an exceptional trade union professional’ with ‘high level trade union experience’ – yet her Linkedin profile indicated that she had never worked for a union or in an elected union role.
The election took place after former TSSA boss Manuel Cortes was removed over allegations of sexual harassment and bullying by him and other senior TSSA figures.
Now she has been accused, in a letter from GMB’s London organiser Andrew Harden, of presiding over a ‘toxic’ culture that has made staff fearful and led to them constantly looking over their shoulder:
Among the staff, there is now an atmosphere of anxiety, hypervigilance and worry. The trust in the leadership that was burgeoning has completely collapsed and in general, staff are once again feeling demoralised, ignored, distrusted and exhausted from the pressures and strains of working in this…toxic environment.
Harden’s letter also accuses Eslamdoust of ‘abject’ failure to put anti-bullying procedures into practice after the recommendations made by Baroness Kennedy, whose damning report toppled Cortes. The union told the press that all recommendations ‘have been completed or are being acted on’.
The letter was published in full by former assistant TSSA general secretary Steve Coe, who described the developments as ‘worrying’ and linked it to the union’s decision to disband a key women’s group:
Worrying developments at TSSA. This follows the Executive's decision to disband TSSA Women in Focus, the group that called for the reports that exposed wrongdoing and abuse of power by past senior officials. pic.twitter.com/r7k1j8zzZZ
— Steve Coe (@stevecoe1057) January 20, 2024
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Video: councillor quits Labour in tears over Gaza slaughter
Kirklees councillor Ammar Anwar resigns during council meeting as Labour mayor sits stony-faced – but party panicking behind scenes after reports of further impending resignations
Kirklees councillor Ammar Anwar resigned from the Labour party last night, delivering his tearful resignation speech to a council meeting as senior Labour figures, including the mayor, sat stony-faced.
Labour’s control of the council is now in danger. Nineteen councillors had already issued a statement rejecting Starmer’s support for Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians and Anwar’s resignation is thought to be just the first of a string of councillors quitting, triggering panic among Labour officials who are said to be meeting behind the scenes to try to stem the tide.
As Taj Ali, who published video of Anwar’s speech, pointed out, Labour has already lost control of four councils – Burnley, Oxford, Norwich and Hastings – because of the complicity of Starmer and his front-bench cohort for Israel’s genocide, forced transfer and crimes against humanity:
'My 5-year-old daughter saw images of what was going on in Gaza. She said to me, "dad, what have you done about the videos you were watching?"' pic.twitter.com/kx9edDVKPd
— Taj Ali (@Taj_Ali1) January 17, 2024
While Anwar was comforted by a colleague at the end of his speech, the last few seconds of the clip shows hard-faced Labour figures
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Exclusive: smeared ex-Lab member Siddiqi ‘planning to stand vs Streeting’
Victim of repeated smears and even a discredited prosecution is planning a bid at the next Ilford North parliamentary election, say locals
Syed Siddiqi, the former Labour member repeatedly abused, harassed and smeared by right-wing Labour figures in Ilford in north London, is planning to stand against right-winger Wes Streeting in the next Ilford North parliamentary election, according to local sources.
Siddiqi has faced constant harassment by the party right, including a failed attempt to prosecute him that ended in all charges being dropped – reminiscent of the disgraced hatchet job against neighbouring left-wing Muslim MP Apsana Begum.
The party’s hounding of Siddiqi even went as low as suspending him for more than three years after he was the victim of a foul, late-night Islamophobic tirade by a local right-winger, despite the whole incident being recorded. His abuser was quickly reinstated so that he could stand for Labour in local elections.
Siddiqi was revealed to have been targeted by Streeting’s office and others, by the leaked party report into abuse by the party right:
Labour has a long and appalling record of Islamophobia and of protecting abusive right-wingers. Local council leader Jas Athwal was selected as the party’s candidate in Ilford South, after complaints of ‘serious sexual assault’ were dismissed by a committee of Labour national executive members – against the advice of the party’s barrister. He won the selection vote when six hundred postal votes ‘turned up’ late in proceedings, while supporters of his opponent, incumbent MP Sam Tarry, were denied entry to the selection meeting. Labour general secretary David Evans dismissed the evidence as ‘irrelevant to the result.
The party has reason to fear the challenge. Last year, Lutfur Rahman ousted Labour to win the executive mayor’s position in nearby Tower Hamlets last year and voters there kicked out Labour at the last local elections in a landslide for Rahman’s new Aspire party. In neighbouring East End borough Newham, Newham Independents leader Mehmood Mirza hammered an imposed Labour candidate in May – and his colleague Sophia Naqvi then trounced Labour in November’s by-election in Newham Plaistow North.
With discontent spreading in the area and Black councillor Shanell Johnson quitting Labour in Redbridge, which covers both Ilford seats, in disgust at the local and national party’s conduct, few would be surprised to see similar developments threatening Labour’s complacency there too; particularly with an incumbent MP as dislikeable as Streeting, Starmer’s pro-privatisation health spokesman who has accepted donations from private health interests and who triggered protests outside his office – and a boycott by students – for his part in Starmer’s support for Israeli war crimes.
In 2018, Streeting also launched a ‘disgraceful’ and ‘disgusting’ tirade in the face of Diane Abbott, Britain’s first Black woman MP, leaving Abbott ‘shell-shocked’. If he stands, Syed Siddiqi can expect considerable support from outraged former Labour supporters around the country who would be delighted to see Streeting ejected.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Redbridge councillor quits Labour with blast at local and national leaders
Shannell Johnson leaves party in disgust at local conduct and threats – and national complicity in Gaza slaughter
Redbridge councillor Shannell Johnson
Labour has lost yet another councillor over the party’s Stalinism to its members and representatives of principle, its lack of meaningful action for good and its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza – and its threats to try to force her to toe the Starmeroid line.
Cllr Shannell Johnson has resigned from the party with a withering blast at local and national ‘leadership’ and will continue to serve as an independent. She wrote to right-wing Labour council leader Jas Athwal with concerns that included accusing the leadership of fostering a ‘toxic’, ‘ego-centric’ culture of ‘gaslighting’:
Dear Cllr Athwal,
I trust this message finds you in good health following the festive season.
It is with a heavy heart and a profound sense of duty that I write to inform you of my decision to resign from the Labour Party. This decision comes after much reflection, on the time spent with the Redbridge Labour Group, on the National issues I feel strongly about, and on the disconnect between the party’s declared values and its actions. Particularly within the Redbridge Labour Group, I have witnessed and been subjected to things that make it hard for me to sleep at night.
Over the past 18 months, I have observed troubling trends within Redbridge Council Labour Group. The atmosphere has grown increasingly toxic, marked by a lack of openness and a discouraging environment for critical discussion. This shift towards unquestioning compliance has hindered effective governance and oversight, leaving us ill-prepared to address key challenges. Cabinet members put in place via email directions with everyone too fearful to question the lack of a democratic process.
However, my concerns extend beyond local issues. The party’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza is deeply troubling, in the last 82 days the death toll is now more than 30,000. This stance contradicts our professed commitment to peace and justice on an international scale, raising questions about our consistency and our moral compass.
Equally concerning is the Labour leadership’s failure to fully implement the recommendations of the Forde Report. This lack of action speaks volumes about our commitment to accountability, transparency, and internal reform. It undermines the trust and credibility we seek to build, both within our ranks and with the public.
Despite Labour’s strong position in the polls, the arrogance I have encountered, particularly in the Redbridge leadership, is disconcerting. The upcoming election represents a chance for a fresh start and a renewed commitment to listening. However, the current trend of negative campaigning directly contradicts my values.
The closure of Wanstead Youth Centre and displacement of services for under-represented groups exemplifies the leadership’s short-sighted decision-making. This centre played a crucial role in our community, and its closure, coupled with the leadership’s failure to engage with concerned stakeholders, is a misstep that cannot be overlooked.
I am also haunted by a specific incident where I felt my position was threatened for simply questioning the status quo. This event is emblematic of a deeper issue, as the example set is followed closely within our officer group. Characterised by manipulation, an ego-centric leadership style, and a reluctance to engage in genuine dialogue. Another example was two direct threats in the chamber regarding a planning application, unchallenged in the moment and even encouraged, representing a concerning overstep of advisory roles.
As if these examples were not enough, being chastised for daring to raise concerns about knife crime and request its inclusion in our policy development was a defining moment for me. It is here that I choose to stand my ground, guided by my values and integrity.
My attempts to address pressing issues, such as racism and public safety, were met with delays and inadequate responses. The leadership’s dismissive approach to these critical problems left me deeply disillusioned.
The culture of silos, cliques, and gaslighting within the group contradicts our stated values of teamwork and open dialogue. I have personally felt excluded and unsafe in committee settings, undermining the very purpose of my involvement.
The financial practices within the group have further compounded my disillusionment. My reluctance to continue financially supporting an organisation that lacks transparency and dismisses legitimate inquiries has solidified my decision.
After discussing with colleagues across London, it’s clear that the problems in Redbridge are symptomatic of a broader issue within the party. However, here in Redbridge Council it’s in overdrive as this top-down leadership approach prioritises personal political ambitions over collective progress and democratic principles that should underpin our actions.
In stepping down as a Labour member, I can act independently and I aim to uphold my commitment to questioning and exercising my rights without the constraints of the current team dynamic. This decision is not easy, as there are some very nice people I have grown to like and admire. I fully understand that my decision may provoke a range of reactions, so if you have read this far, I hold no ill feelings towards anyone. Quite the opposite, I wish everyone well on their individual journeys and genuinely wish you all the best for 2024 and beyond.
The world needs love, compassion for all humanity, and care for fellow citizens. My conscience dictates that I must stand firm in my principles of peace and love. So thank you for the experiences and the lessons learned.
Athwal, who is close to the appalling right-wing local MP Wes Streeting, is Labour’s candidate in the neighbouring Ilford South seat. He was selected after complaints of ‘serious sexual assault’ were dismissed by a committee of Labour national executive members – against the advice of the party’s barrister – and won the selection vote when six hundred postal votes ‘turned up’ late in proceedings, while supporters of his opponent, incumbent MP Sam Tarry, were denied entry to the selection meeting. Labour general secretary David Evans dismissed the evidence as ‘irrelevant to the result.
Labour under Keir Starmer has a record of promoting and protecting candidates despite grave allegations – and has been repeatedly accused of anti-Black racism, including blocking Black candidates from standing, anti-Gypsy racism and Islamophobia.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Video: Newham councillor quits Labour on live TV to join independent group
Cllr Zuber Gulamussen resigns over Keir Starmer’s support for Israeli genocide and also issues withering resignation statement
Newham councillor Zuber Gulamussen has dramatically resigned his membership of the Labour party on live television – and issued a withering resignation statement to go with it, condemning the Starmer regime’s betrayal of millions of Gazans by supporting Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and his refusal to call for a ceasefire.
Speaking at a rally covered on the Islam channel, Gulamussen said he could no longer bear to be associated with Starmer’s party and was joining former Labour councillor Mehmood Mirza’s independent group:
Mirza was hounded out of Labour by the Starmer machine – then trounced a Starmer staffer in Newham’s Boleyn ward by-election in July, despite a mass Labour campaign to try to defeat him.
Gulamussen’s statement adds more detail, accusing Labour of ‘giving cover for Israel to commit heinous war crimes’ and of ‘irreparably damag[ing] its relationship with Muslim communities’:
Two Newham branch party chairs also resigned their membership in solidarity with Cllr Gulamussen. Chair of East Ham ward Tariq Hussain and Green Street East chair Parvez Sheikh announced their decision after his speech. East Ham’s long-serving secretary Syed Taqi Shah and women’s officer Sophia Naqvi have also resigned:
Starmer’s party fears that Newham will become ‘another Tower Hamlets’ – the London borough that the party lost catastrophically to the Aspire group run by Lutfur Rahman, the former – and again current – mayor ousted after a racist smear campaign by the Labour right. Those fears may well be coming true.
Labour has shredded its standing with not only Muslim communities. Millions are now appalled and marching for Gaza, seeing the Labour right for what it is.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Conservative councillor quits party over Tory support for Gaza genocide and far-right swing
Cllr Jamal Chohan’s blistering resignation letter comes as Labour co-author of a letter demanding a ceasefire is smeared by right-wing pro-Israel ‘usual suspects’
Kingston upon Thames Conservative councillor Jamal Chohan has dramatically resigned from the party over the Tory government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – and its continuing swing to far-right politics. Chohan was ordered to apologise for an email he did not write – but was the co-author of a letter, with a Kingston ex-Labour councillor, to Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer demanding their support for an immediate ceasefire in the slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The letter has now been signed by more than five hundred councillors from across the political spectrum.
Cllr Chohan, who will now sit as an independent, announced his resignation with a blistering letter to the Conservative council group and Conservative head office (CCHQ):
Dear Group Leader, Association Chairman and CCHQ
I have been given an ultimatum that I must apologise in a public statement for an email that I did not write, or otherwise I will be suspended from the Conservative Party. A deadline of 10am on Tuesday 21st November was set by you. Despite you acknowledging that I did not write the email in question, I was told to apologise anyway as a matter of ‘public perception’.
Ironically, the issue that you had with this email is that it contained a perceived threat, so you responded to that by threatening me instead. The perceived threat was that the views of each councillor on a ceasefire in Gaza would be published. This was later clarified by the author as not the intention, but this is of course being overlooked by those that simply want to detract from the overarching question. I would usually say that it is not the role of local councillors to engage in foreign affairs, but when the Conservative Councillors Association is persistently encouraging motions by us in support of only one side in the conflict rather than advocating for peace, it invites dialogue and opinions that should all be respected and considered.
I have reflected on your offer to apologise. I am writing to you in advance of this deadline to advise that I will not apologise for something that I did not do and I am not prepared to represent the Conservative Party under its current administration. Please therefore accept my resignation with immediate effect.
You have touched on technicalities about the status of my £39 per annum Party membership in a futile attempt to try and discredit me but this is clutching at straws when you have accepted my considerable donations, endorsements for candidates and notwithstanding the fact that I have actively served as elected Deputy Leader for the Party in Kingston. It simply points to disorganisation in the administration of memberships by CCHQ. Other democracies would laugh at the fact that this has even been raised as a point of contention at this stage.
The wider and more pertinent context and the motivations behind the Party’s futile attempts is that the email in question encloses an open letter advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza and encouraging peace through mediation for a two-state solution. I have co-signed this letter along with 500+ other councillors from across the UK, including many Conservative councillors. Are you going to demand apologies from all of them? We have already established that I did not write the letter with the ‘threat’, so it is clearly the pro-ceasefire stance that is offending you. Why else did MP Paul Bristow get the sack?
It should be noted that the Party Chairman has since written to councillors warning them not to sign the letter as it would be ‘divisive’. This is a clear attempt to silence advocates for peace as it contradicts the Party’s position and the public should question the underlying motives for this stance. There is no sign of compassion towards the 5000 innocent children that have died in the process and the 1.6 million people that have been displaced as a result without access to basic amenities.
Any efforts that I have made to engage on this topic within the Party have been met with total disregard. This is what has led me to engage in cross-party initiatives on this issue. Is our Party’s objective to bring peace to the World and protect innocent civilians, or to offer unequivocal support to only one side in a long-standing conflict that both sides have undeniably contributed to over the past 75 years?
The Conservative Party professes that it has always stood for personal liberty, democracy and rule of law. I regret that this is not the case in 2023. I have not been allowed the personal liberty to advocate for peace whilst remaining a Conservative, and neither has the general public when their democratic right to protest is undermined and dismissed as ‘hate marches’.
The Party has adopted policies which are extending to the far right. Whether that be aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric that has since been ruled to be illegal, to suppressing freedom of speech by denouncing legitimate protests, and plans to rewrite human rights laws to persist in a deportation strategy that lacks compassion. The Party looks very much like a sinking ship which is losing its dignity in the process. Something the Party should know all about given that it leaves refugees in the same predicament.
I cannot continue to associate with this type of politics and find that I am far too often having to apologise for representing the Conservative Party. It is not the apology that you tried to extract from me, but it is the one that the public will get.
In this day and age of character assassinations, I can anticipate the Party machinery will make some attempts to discredit me. The reality is that I have been regularly invited by the Party to interview as a potential MP candidate. It was me who was reluctant to pursue this and for good reason. I respect the Party Whip but that should not extend to silencing advocates for peace.
I will continue to serve the residents as an independent councillor and maintain my optimism for a World in which all faiths, cultures and races will live harmoniously side by side. That is modern Britain and that is the politics that we should be promoting in the Middle East. Instead, we are regressing under your Party’s stewardship.
Councillor Jamal Chohan
In a statement, the councillor said:
Whether it be aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric that has since been ruled to be illegal, to suppressing freedom of speech by denouncing legitimate protests and plans to rewrite human laws to persist in a deportation strategy that lacks compassion. The party looks very much like a sinking ship which is losing its dignity in the process.
I cannot continue to associate with this type of politics and find that far too often I am having to apologise for representing the Conservative party.
Meanwhile Cllr James Giles, who co-wrote and promoted the letter, has been the subject of a smear campaign by pro-Israel right-wingers, who have tried to suggest that he had stood down from his role on the Local Government Association (LGA). Cllr Giles has refuted the smears, which will be covered in a separate article.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.