LEAKED LABOUR REPORT: ANDY BURNHAM SAYS RIGHT BLOCKED MY PLANS FOR PUBLIC NHS/SOCIAL CARE

An explosive, leaked internal Labour Party report accuses senior right-wing staff in the party, of failing to act on antisemitism complaints – and alleges they were working against the party and its leadership in the hope of removing Jeremy Corbyn.

The report, which is now in public circulation, includes details of several WhatsApp group chats among senior staff and reveals their plans to boost up the right of the party and undermine the left. The chats – in which then-general secretary Iain McNicol was a participant, along with senior campaign staff and the new labour leader Keir Starmer’s preferred choice for a new general secretary (according to reports) – also revealed their utter dismay at Labour’s strong performance in the 2017 general election.

In the wake of that election, the independent blog site SKWAWKBOX revealed how right-wing staffers were confident that the party would implode at the polls, and pre-emptively deactivated the security passes of Corbyn’s team to bar them from Labour’s ‘Southside’ HQ.

The SKWAWKBOX also exclusively revealed that departing right-wingers had shredded thousands of disciplinary documents, delaying the party’s ability to deal with antisemitism complaints and allowing Establishment media to claim Labour was being too slow to act.

And the newly-leaked report says that right-wing senior staff:

were withholding information from Corbyn and his team

were diverting funds from the general election effort to a secret fund to protect right-wing MPs

hoped the Lib Dems would win key by-elections to weaken Corbyn

discussed launching leadership challenges if the 2017 local or general elections went badly for Labour

were horrified at Labour’s gain of 3.5 million votes and a large number of seats in the general election – and at the humble pie right-wing MPs were forced to eat as a result

Senior staff – including Emilie Oldknow, are said to have planned a leadership election if elections went badly in 2017.

Including on the very day the general election was called:

When Labour came within a whisker of government in the 2017 general election, gaining 3.5 million votes as a result of the ‘Corbyn surge’, the senior right-wing staff were horrified – referring to feeling sick, offering a ‘safe space’ and even counselling, and telling each other to appear ‘upbeat’ in spite of their horror. Even the general public were not spared as they were referred to by one right wing staff member as ‘bastards’.

“The people have spoken. Bastards”

Such was their disgust at Labour’s gain in popularoty that one senior staffer described voters as ‘bastards’:

Requests for comment were made to the former staffers .So far, no responses have been received. However, Iain McNicol did respond to Sky News. He did not deny that the WhatsApp chats were real or deny the content of the report, but said:

“The energy and effort that must have been invested in trawling 10,000 emails rather than challenging antisemitism in the party is deeply troubling.

This a petty attempt to divert attention away from the real issue. It is telling that the Party’s own lawyers appear to have ruled that this information was unsuitable for submission to the EHRC’s ongoing investigation.

I have repeatedly stood by the professional staff of the Labour Party who I worked with over the seven and a half year period I was General Secretary, and continue to do so”.

These are the very quick ‘lowlights’ of a report that suggests that the common perception among members – and the revelations by the SKWAWKBOX – that right-wing staff were actively hoping for defeat and even working towards it were accurate.

Andy Burnham as Shadow Health Secretary

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – formerly Shadow Health Secretary under Ed Miliband and runner-up in the 2015 leadership election – has commented publicly on revelations in a leaked Labour report that right-wing party staff opposed him as well as former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Burnham responded on Twitter when a correspondent pointed out that the report shows that right-wing party staffers thought Burnham was too left-wing:

Burnham said that he was unsurprised by the report’s revelations – and that he felt the McNicol-run ‘Party machine’ was against his plans to make the NHS a fully public service and to improve social care. He also felt discriminated against in the 2015 leader race.

Labour insiders told the SKWAWKBOX that the treatment Burnham received over his renationalisation plans was ‘bullying’ and that the right actively worked to block and undermine his plans.

Read original story on SKWAWKBOX