David Williams
David Williams (political activist) | |
---|---|
Pictured before being blinded in 2021 | |
Born | 1956 |
David Williams is the former chair of Uxbridge and South Ruislip Constituency Labour Party (CLP) who resigned his Labour Party membership on 21 July 2023, following the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.:
- "I have resigned as chair of Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP.
- "I am also resigning my membership of the Labour Party.
- "Politics needs to have principles or we end up with people like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss running the country.
- "Jeremy Corbyn gave a huge boost to the Labour Party."[1]
Contents
Revealing BBC interview
On 21 July 2023, James Foster tweeted:
- "A *very* revealing interview here.
- "Note how the interviewer brings up antisemitism when @MrDaveyWilliams raises the internal sabotage of 2017.
- "And then, when he pushes back against that, she shuts down the interview.
- "They can’t handle the truth.[2]
In the interview with BBC journalist Samantha Simmonds former Labour constituency party chair David Williams attempted to contrast Keir Starmer’s dishonesty, mass assault on member democracy and lack of policies to help ordinary people with the democratic integrity and policy platform of former leader Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Simmonds cut in to insist that Corbyn had ‘enabled antisemitism’ and cut off Williams when he pointed out the falsehood of that claim.[3] Many reacted with outrage, challenging Simmonds’s insistence on the antisemitism claim, when it has been thoroughly discredited by leaked documents, documentaries, an array of articles – and even by Labour’s own (reluctantly-commissioned) Forde Report – as a smear by right-wing ‘Labour’ terrified of losing their privilege, and pro-Israel groups determined to oust a Labour leader with a track record of opposing Israeli oppression and apartheid, who had said he would recognise Palestinian statehood if he became Prime Minister.[4]
Blinded in 2021
David Williams is now permanently blind in one eye after being viciously attacked at his home in Uxbridge by his former son-in-law in April 2021.
In a victim impact statement read aloud at the Old Bailey trial of his attacker, David Williams said that he now suffers from anxiety and nightmares, and has lost interest and motivation in his hobbies. He said that his attacker had “deliberately and methodically” put his fingers into his eyes and that he no longer has 3D vision due to the damage caused to his right eye.
“I never used to have nightmares before the attack but since April 13, I have nightmares once a week. These feelings of terror continue when I wake up,” he said.
Describing himself as politically active, he said: “My days of door knocking and meeting people on the doorsteps are now behind me”, and told the court that he had not driven since the incident. A keen photographer, David Williams has also not picked up a camera and continues to have difficulty doing basic activities such as putting a pan on the hob.
The attacker, who had originally been charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to detention in a mental hospital.[5]
Candidate in 1997 GE
The same David Williams was the Labour candidate for Uxbridge at the May 1997 General Election, when he reduced a 12,000 Conservative majority in the seat to just 724 votes.
Tory MP Sir Michael Shersby died just a week after the General Election, causing a by-election to take place in July 1997.
Deselected in 1997 by-election
However, left winger David Williams was not well regarded by the New Labour government and failed even to make the shortlist for selection as the Labour candidate in the by-election. This led to at least 30 local Labour activists refusing to work for the by-election campaign in protest at David Williams' rejection as a candidate.
John Randall, the Tory candidate who was elected at the June 1997 Uxbridge by-election, said:
- "Mr Blair now has no choice but to explain to the people of Uxbridge why he ignored the views of a local Labour branch and instead imposed on us a candidate (Andy Slaughter) who has no connection with the area whatsoever."[6]
Labour is hopeless
On 24 July 2023, David Williams tweeted:
- "I've read, this morning, that Labour is no longer committed to the triple lock on pensions.
- "If an organisation cannot offer hope, then it is hopeless."[7]
References
- ↑ "Jeremy Corbyn gave a huge boost to the Labour Party"
- ↑ "The BBC can't handle the truth"
- ↑ "Samantha Simmonds started her love affair with television by appearing on Blind Date"
- ↑ "BBC reporter who cut off ex-chair who challenged ‘Labour antisemitism’ smear was pro-Israel activist"
- ↑ "Man left ex-father-in-law blind after gouging his eyes out and tried to strangle him with child's skipping rope in Uxbridge home"
- ↑ "Labour Activist Defects in Uxbridge"
- ↑ "Labour is hopeless"