corbyns Brownshirts and the first stirrings of civil unrest

Hooded gang storms celebrity party near Grenfell Tower

Ben Goldsmith and his wife Jemima Jones, pictured, were among guests at a party at a club near the Grenfell Tower site that was 'shut down by extremists'

Extremists stormed a Christmas-themed celebrity party in the shadow of Grenfell Tower chanting 'Tory scum' and allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks.

The 'threatening' hooded group turned off the music, blamed the 'Tories' present for the fire, and ordered more than 100 guests including heiress Jemima Khan to observe a one-minute silence, witnesses said.

The police were called and the party was shut down two hours early. A witness described it as 'a glimpse of Corbyn's Britain'.

The incident happened after a peaceful silent march on Thursday night to mark six months since the Grenfell fire that killed 71.

It passed the Maxilla Social Club, frequented by the local community but available for private hire, in Notting Hill, West London, where the 'low-key' party was happening.

Financier and environmentalist Ben Goldsmith, brother to Miss Khan and to Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, said a 25-strong mob of aggressive Grenfell hangers-on became aware wealthy celebrities were inside, and decided to look for trouble. He claimed they were anti-Semitic.

Mr Goldsmith, 37, said in a tweet: 'Just had a glimpse of Corbyn's Britain. A birthday party for my sister-in-law in Notting Hill invaded and shut down by a vicious bottle-throwing hard Leftist crowd (from the Grenfell march), because they could. The nasty, violent, self-righteous hard Left has hijacked the Grenfell tragedy and its victims for political ends.'

The club, in the arches of the Westway flyover carrying the A40, has become well known for staging events for Grenfell victims and was a centre for food and clothing donations in the aftermath of the fire.

A club spokesman confirmed 'idiot' outsiders had latched on to the peaceful remembrance of the fire by locals, and had caused an unpleasant incident at the party, which had been attended by American socialite Paris Hilton, although she had left before trouble began.

Paris Hilton, pictured, was also at the party but left before the trouble began

Police confirmed they were called but said no crimes were alleged and no arrests were made.

Mr Goldsmith told the Daily Mail: 'It was quite a low-key event, in a working men's club with people drinking beer, not champagne.

'At about 11.30pm a group of around 25 hard-Left anarchist-type Grenfell protesters with 'the Tories have blood on their hands' and '**** the Tories' placards spotted a handful of people smoking outside the party and started hurling first abuse and then eggs and bottles.

'Anyone outside disappeared inside pretty quickly, and the owner/manager of the club tried unsuccessfully to prevent the protesters from barging in after them.

'They got up on to the little stage, threw out the guy doing the music, and started shouting and yelling that the Grenfell fire was the fault of the people in the room and that we were 'Tory Rothschild scum'.'

The party took place at the Maxilla Social Club, pictured, and was stormed by an 'aggressive gang of 25 hooded people'

Mr Goldsmith's grandfather was Jewish, and he famously split from ex-wife and heiress Kate Emma Rothschild in 2012 after her affair with rapper Jay Electronica. He accused the protesters of anti-Semitism, saying: 'When they referred to Rothschild, I guess it was a euphemism for Jewish.'

One guest said he had heard one of the intruders say: 'This is disrespectful, a party here, I hear there are Jews and wealthy people inside.'

The spokesman for the club stressed that the intruders were not from the area, saying: 'They were people looking for trouble. I'm born and bred round here, and I know they weren't locals.'

Christmas decorations bought for the party have been left behind to be used at a Grenfell Christmas dinner at the club next week.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5185181/Hooded-gang-storms-celebrity-party-near-Grenfell-Tower.html

Yawn.

Angry Andy wrote:Yawn.

Wow, you think antisemitism is a yawn?

Fears grow over Momentum fanatics taking control of Labour

Cut Tony Kennedy and he’d bleed Labour. A working-class boy from Birmingham who joined the party as a 20-something trade unionist, he’s stayed loyal through good times and bad, pounding pavements, licking envelopes and manning campaign stalls during nine general elections and countless local ones.

He became a councillor in 1993 and has since dedicated himself to improving the lot of his city’s poorest residents, setting up tenants’ groups on estates and securing vast regeneration grants, worth more than £120 million, for the underprivileged neighbourhoods of Sparkbrook and Aston.

Now 61, after three separate spells at the Town Hall, Kennedy — who has two children and three grandchildren — is one of Birmingham’s four assistant council leaders. But not for long. For a few days ago, the party he’s loyally served for almost four decades decided he would not be allowed to stand for re-election next year.

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Supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn shout and clap during Momentum's 'Keep Corbyn' rally outside the Houses of Parliament on June 27, 2016

Instead, members in the Balsall Heath ward voted for him to be replaced on the ballot sheet by one Zhor Malik, a council worker in the city’s sports department. Doubtless he believes he can do a good job, but Malik has no obvious political pedigree or experience. His views are thought to be considerably more Left-wing than Kennedy’s. That meant he was endorsed by a critical voter block: supporters of a powerful pro-Jeremy Corbyn pressure group called Momentum.

This controversial organisation boasts 30,000-odd members, who style themselves as a sort of neo-Marxist ‘praetorian guard’ of Labour activists.

Having played a huge role in helping Labour’s recent general election campaign — so huge that the Electoral Commission has launched an investigation into (vigorously disputed) suggestions it broke finance rules — Momentum is now mounting a nationwide campaign to replace the party’s moderate election candidates with fervent Corbynistas.

It has emerged — in a symbolic development — that even Tony Blair’s old parliamentary seat in County Durham has fallen. The Mail has learned that 11 of the 12 long-serving members of Sedgefield’s Constituency Labour Party were recently ousted and replaced with far-Left activists.

There are fears the group could attempt to deselect sitting MP Phil Wilson, a critic of Jeremy Corbyn.

Before the local party vote, Momentum urged activists: ‘If you want to see a return to Socialist principles, it is imperative that you attend and VOTE for our candidates. Hope to see you there Comrades.’

Last night, John Burton, who was Mr Blair’s election agent, said: ‘There was a concentrated effort to get rid of everyone. Everyone was changed — the chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, auditors — the whole lot.

‘They are strong Corbynites. The changes they’ve tried to bring about are pretty disastrous. I’ve heard rumours that there’s a danger of de-selections. Working MPs are in danger of losing their seat.’

There are fears the group could attempt to deselect sitting MP Phil Wilson, a critic of Jeremy Corbyn

Rita Taylor, 68, who was secretary of the constituency party for 30 years, said: ‘I suspect Momentum would see taking over Sedgefield as a coup because Tony Blair came from here.

‘Momentum managed to get sufficient people to come to the AGM, about 90 people. Clearly they were well-organised.’

Brian Ferguson, 73, a Labour member in Sedgefield for 45 years — whose wife Maureen, 82, was ousted as women’s officer — said: ‘This is the most extreme change we’ve had in the constituency since I joined.

‘The Momentum lot held meetings at the Unite union office in Middlesbrough. They discussed how to kick out all of the Blairites and get control.’

Elsewhere, as this investigation shows, Momentum has already won several signal victories. Across the country, more are expected in the coming weeks, in a purge that may dramatically change the face of several Labour authorities.

Little wonder that, in Westminster, MPs now live in fear of being similarly targeted, amid news that Momentum will seek to deselect any of them who refuse to sign an Orwellian, 13-point contract promising to support the ‘aims and values’ of Jeremy Corbyn.

For as recent events have shown, Labour deselection campaigns tend to be very ugly. Take, for example, the ‘putsch’ to get rid of Tony Kennedy.

First, came what friends describe as a ‘deeply distressing’ campaign of online abuse, by persons unknown, aimed at tarnishing his reputation. It lasted several months and saw, among other things, the creation of an anonymous website called ‘Tony Kennedy: master of deception, lies and corruption’, which described him variously as ‘the perfect moronic specimen’, an ‘irritating’ pathological liar, and ‘a complete t*t’.

The second step took place last month when Momentum supporters flooded into his selection meeting after apparently being told via social media to vote for Zhor Malik.

Supporters of Kennedy believe he was targeted by the far-Left for holding centrist views (he was generally supportive of the Blair government) and career choices involving the private sector: after years working in the NHS, he became a self-employed internet entrepreneur. Whatever the motive, deselection has left him hugely upset.

‘The argy-bargy of Labour politics is now filthy,’ is how one friend puts it. ‘Some of these people do not know what boundaries they should operate in. Tony is distraught.’

Kennedy isn’t the only Birmingham councillor to have been unceremoniously booted out.

At least three other long-serving colleagues — Habib Rehman, a school governor who chairs the Town Hall’s trusts and charities committee; Barry Bowles, a veteran Labour activist who has posted tweets critical of Corbyn; and Kerry Jenkins, a one-time cabinet appointee on the Labour council — were also deselected recently.

Each met an almost identical fate: turning up at a local selection meeting to see scores of people they barely recognised, most of whom had only recently joined Labour and appeared to be fervent Corbynistas.

These new recruits were largely white and middle class, reflecting the fact that many Momentum activists are surprisingly affluent (the movement, whose founder Jon Lansman was educated at public school and lives in a luxury flat by the Thames, is strongest in wealthy cities such as London, Oxford, Brighton, Cambridge and Bristol).

Momentum candidates are replacing more centrist candidates across Britain

Similar scenes are being played out in Labour strongholds across Britain in what has been widely dubbed a Momentum ‘purge’.

‘People with decades of experience in local government are being replaced by, frankly, political zealots who have never run anything of substance,’ says one deselected councillor.

‘In certain cities, they are likely to get their hands on large amounts of public money. We should all be terrified.’

Some of Labour’s post-purge raft of candidates are certainly a rum lot. In Birmingham, they include Safia Noor, a law student forced to apologise recently when it emerged she’d used Facebook to criticise British terror policy and claim ‘there is no ISIS’.

In Sheffield, a recent victim of this trend is Kieran Harpham, a miner’s son, who was reportedly deselected for being ‘too working class’ for metropolitan Corbynistas, who now control the balance of power in his local party. He was replaced by Janet Ridler, 58, a historian from Dore, the city’s wealthiest suburb. Local party grandee Lord Blunkett proclaimed himself ‘seriously distressed’ at the removal of Harpham, blaming ‘the Momentum drive for deselections’.

In Southwark, South London, similar factors contributed to the purging of Samantha Jury-Dada, a black, working-class lesbian who had worked for a couple of centrist MPs. She was replaced by Jack Buck, who is white and, like many of Momentum’s powerful cohort of middle-class ‘millennials’, sports a fashionable beard.

Then there is Manchester’s first gay Lord Mayor, Carl Austin-Behan, who despite boasting impeccable politically correct credentials, has committed a crime against Marxism: founding a successful cleaning company which employs locals to service apartment blocks across the city. He, too, was decapitated by Momentum supporters.

To students of socialist history, these cases represent classic examples of ‘entryism’ — highly organised groups (often with extreme views) joining mainstream organisations before seeking to take control, subvert policies and expand their influence.

It was last widespread in the Eighties, when Militant took control of Labour’s operations in Liverpool, and Ken Livingstone (ably assisted by current Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell) turned the Greater London Council into a stronghold of the so-called ‘Loony Left’.

The damage that was done at the time helped make Labour unelectable for years afterwards. Which perhaps explains why party elder Roy Hattersley has put his head above the parapet, urging members to ‘challenge the subversion’ of Momentum.

‘Labour cannot win while it is associated with extremism,’ he wrote. ‘If the extremists begin to deselect moderate MPs, others — who are, or believe themselves to be, under threat — will split the party and keep Labour out of office for a generation.’

This hasn’t stopped Momentum targeting moderate Labour MPs. Though current rules make it relatively difficult to deselect a sitting parliamentarian (such decisions are taken by local branches and trade unions), Hattersley said he’d spoken to six Labour MPs who reckon they — nonetheless — face the high jump.

Also standing up to Momentum was Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner, who criticised its pro-Corbyn ‘contract’ for MPs as ‘not a way forward’, and said ‘factionalism in the Labour Party will damage us and remove us from getting near power’.

She was remorselessly and viciously attacked on social media for her pains.

To blame for Momentum’s relative recent success is a combination of basic electoral maths and Ed Miliband’s disastrous decision, in 2014, to allow leadership elections to be decided by a ‘one member one vote’ system in which anyone paying £3 a year could have a say.

This has seen around 350,000 new members join Labour since 2015, more than doubling its membership to roughly 550,000.

Almost all the newcomers are supporters of Corbyn. And their faction therefore boasts the numbers to dominate local and national party ballots.

One important result of this is that three Momentum-backed candidates are expected soon to win election to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee.

This will produce a crucial shift in the balance of the body — which has throughout modern history, been balanced between moderates and Left-wingers — in favour of the hard-Left.

One of the three incoming NEC members is likely to be Jon Lansman, the wealthy founder of Momentum, who is regarded as an expert in entryism having spent much of the Eighties seeking to help militant organisations infiltrate the party. He has just publicly signed a petition calling for every Labour selection ballot in London to be re-run in advance of next year’s council elections, arguing that a host of Left-wing candidates had been unjustly prevented from standing.

Re-running such races would, of course, allow the hard-Left to contest hundreds of nominations.

To understand the hostilities that would be unleashed, one need only witness recent events in Haringey, North London, where at least 17 serving councillors have been hounded out recently.

The borough, where Jeremy Corbyn cut his teeth as a local councillor in the Seventies, is a Momentum stronghold where relations between centrists and the far Left have become bitterly strained over a controversial housing redevelopment involving a public and private sector partnership.

An ugly campaign against the scheme, partly orchestrated by former members of the militant Socialist Workers Party, has seen local party meetings marred by angry demonstrations, and serving councillors subjected to vile abuse on social media.

Almost all moderate councillors have now been forced out or marginalised.

In resignation letters, many have lined up to criticise the ‘aggressive purge’. One, Tim Gallagher, a veteran Labour activist born in the borough, said the local party was now ‘inflamed with division, distrust, and what at times feels like real hatred’. Another, Barbara Blake, chair of the council’s powerful corporate committee, added that ‘the ruthless attacks on every councillor not officially backed by Momentum is unforgivable, and in my view brings shame on our great movement’.

A third, Ali Demirci, described the atmosphere as ‘toxic and uncomradely’. A recent council meeting which passed a motion to crack down on anti-Semitism was interrupted by a cabal of Momentum activists opposed to the move because they think it will stifle legitimate criticism of Israel.

They occupied the public gallery and shouted down any speaker with whom they disagreed.

‘Labour in Haringey is now completely dysfunctional,’ says one outgoing councillor. ‘Meetings, where we used to get actual work done, [are now] endless bickering over points of order, and spurious complaints about what people have been saying about each other on social media.

‘It’s become like student politics, only the people involved are old enough to know better. And similar things are happening in plenty of other parts of London, too.’

Regardless of what eventually plays out at next year’s local elections, Momentum perhaps has its eye on an even bigger prize. For the NEC is currently overseeing a ‘democracy review’ which may alter procedures via which Labour chooses parliamentary candidates.

Left-wingers (who of course will soon control the NEC) have long wanted to make it easier to dismiss sitting MPs and replace them with hard-Left candidates.

Crucially, rule changes that will ease this process will be voted on at next year’s Labour conference, where Momentum supporters are expected to turn out in droves.

Of course, not every purged Labour MP would go quietly. A hefty proportion might stand as independents, splitting the party’s votes and potentially costing it key seats.

Still more would be replaced by far-Left candidates who would struggle to attract the support of mainstream voters.

Yet whatever eventually transpires, the purge under way in councils across Britain makes one thing inevitable: even if the extreme tactics of the Momentum shock troops kill off Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of being elected Prime Minister, and even if (as many expect) Corbyn is no longer leader by the time a General Election takes place, this Militant group is already changing the Labour Party in a way that will take years to unravel.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5185189/Fears-grow-Momentum-fanatics-taking-control-Labour.html

Angry Andy wrote:Yawn.

labour must like it in the wilderness

i certainly like labour in the wilderness

Didge wrote:

Angry Andy wrote:Yawn.

Wow, you think antisemitism is a yawn?

No. I think Stench is.
Dont forget , his ancestors slaughtered millions of jews.

smelly-bandit wrote:

Angry Andy wrote:Yawn.

labour must like it in the wilderness

i certainly like labour in the wilderness

Many would like you in the wilderness.
Preferably Death Valley.

Angry Andy wrote:

Didge wrote:
Wow, you think antisemitism is a yawn?

No. I think Stench is.
Dont forget , his ancestors slaughtered millions of jews.

Really?

The last I saw, his ancestors fought for the British Empire, as many South Africans did.

Now, I have no idea if true, if the antisemtic comments made were true. Where also we know many Momentum supporters hate Jews. Where you seem to think this is about smelly and not hate or antisemitism

Seriously, do you even understand what Stalin did to many Jews? You brainless waste of oxygen.

One thing smelly is not, is a hater of Jews or a Nazi. He is a racist waste of space and yet you defend or at least ignore far left antisemitism, no better than Nazi's.

Seriously. you make yourself comparable to smelly here and those who hate Jews.

Angry Andy wrote:

smelly-bandit wrote:

labour must like it in the wilderness

i certainly like labour in the wilderness

Many would like you in the wilderness.
Preferably  Death Valley.

well too bad, because here i am pissing in your face

get used to it

and while you're at it , get used to labour being unelectable

the £3 labour membership was the best thing they ever did