Disgraceful Accusations have no Place within the Labour Party or its Affiliates

On Saturday I drove up to Leeds from Manchester to attend Disability Labour's (DL) AGM. The day began badly with a leaden sky pouring its cold wetness upon us as we traveled to Leeds. We arrived at the Queens Hotel wet, thirsty and hungry.

For the past year a distinct fracture had appeared within DL. One particular post to DL's Facebook accused Marsha de Cordova of backing an Executive decision that donated £4,000 to the Fabian Society; stating that Marsha should be ashamed of herself.

When I pointed out the flagrant unfairness of blaming one Executive member over the group I was viciously attacked. The irony of this accusation was that due to her fighting for a parliamentary seat Marsha was unable to attend any of the DL Executive meetings. This fact was ignored by those whose only interest was attacking others.

On Saturday there were Motions of No Confidence in the Chair of DL. The Chair had announced that he was not re-standing for the position; indeed, he was not standing for any positions within DL. Given this I approached the person who was moving the Motion and asked if he would withdraw the Motion. The Motion would cause division and rancour within our numbers.

As was his prerogative, he refused. Then, as I predicted the meeting became very fractious.

OK, people are entitled to have differences. It was obvious that a majority of the people present were unhappy with the outgoing Executive. Of course people have the right to voice their criticism when they feel aggrieved. However, the way some of the DL members acted on Saturday displayed a worrying development within our movement.  

Knowing that a particular slate was going to take the DL Executive was OK with me. When people feel the need to change an organisation bringing together like-minded people to win the day is a legitimate way to operate. However, bullying and shouting people down is not the Comradely way to act.

In my view the meeting became toxic when a delegate claimed: “The Executive of Disability Labour is responsible for the deaths of thousands of disabled people”. This was a disgraceful accusation and I called on the Chair to demand the withdrawal of the remark. My request was met with inaction. At this point I decided I could not remain in a meeting that allowed such vicious points of view to prevail.

I wish Disability Labour great success for the future. Indeed, as a member of Disability Labour I will play my part in progressing progressive policy for disabled people. However, DL must censure outrageous and comradely language and behaviour with its ranks.