The End of the Old Alliance

In what appears to be a co-ordinated event, the Chair of East Ham CLP, Tahir Mirza and the Chair of West Ham CLP, Carel Buxton have both resigned the membership of the Labour Party. 

We predicted earlier that there would be a spate of resignations, possibly with a view to a mayoral challenge under the Newham Socialist Labour banner. 

Old alliances are fracturing. Mirza and Buxton were key to getting Fiaz selected. This was when Fiaz was a staunch Corbynite. Alas, the winds of change have come and Fiaz correctly discerned that if she wants any future in the Labour Party, she would have to ditch Corbyn. So, she did. And now she is a staunch Starmerite. The people of Newham may have a weather vane for a mayor, but at least she has a job.

Having broken just about every promise she made to her supporters of four years ago and to the electorate some of her former backers have now jumped ship.

We are confident that others will join them.

What does this say about the current state of the Labour Party in Newham? Messers Buxton and Mirza were not isolated individuals. They had both been elected to the chairmanship (ok you pedants, but I’m not going to write ‘chairpersonship’!), of their respective CLPs. They each received a majority of the votes from the delegates of 10 ward branches and any number of affiliates. They represented the party at its highest levels locally.

Were they the problem or is it something more fundamental to the local Labour Party? Did something change roughly four years ago to alter the nature of the Labour Party in Newham? Has the rot been cleared or does it continue to fester?