Momentum

Momentum
Founder	Jon Lansman
Type	Left-wing
Slogan	A new kind of politics
A political grassroots movement which was supportive of Jeremy Corbyn

Momentum is a political grassroots movement which is supportive of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.

It was founded on 8 October 2015 by Jon Lansman, four weeks after Corbyn's successful campaign for the Labour Party leadership.

In October 2017, Momentum revealed that it now has 31,000 members, 170 local groups and over 200,000 supporters across the UK.

Formal link to Labour

In February 2016, Momentum agreed to set up a paid formal membership structure, which would require that those wanting to join must support the values and aims of the Labour Party.

Joining Momentum

Patrick Haseldine invited to join Momentum

On 10 October 2017, Patrick Haseldine addressed the following email to membership@peoplesmomentum.com on the subject "Joining Momentum":

Dear Membership @ Momentum,

You sent me this email today and invited me to become a member of Momentum:

"Dear Patrick, Just two years ago we came together after Jeremy's first leadership election. Eager to harness the political energy and build a social movement that could transform Britain, we set up Momentum. Over those two years, our movement has grown to more than 31,000 members, 170 local groups and over 200,000 supporters across the country."

As you can see from the emails below and their attachments, the problem about my joining Momentum is that Labour's General Secretary Iain McNicol gave me a five-year suspension in April 2017 for allegedly supporting George Galloway over the official Labour candidate Afzal Khan in the 2017 Manchester Gorton by-election.

The fact that the by-election scheduled for 4 May 2017 was overtaken by the June General Election and was cancelled seems to have escaped (the anti-Corbyn) McNicol.

Could you please ask Momentum's Chair Jon Lansman to intercede with Labour's NEC on my behalf (Labour Party Membership Number A230551) and get me reinstated so that I can join Momentum.

I am copying this email to my friend the Chair of Clacton CLP George Taylor.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine

Labour candidate in the 2017 Frinton by-election

Expulsion from Labour

Iain McNicol hands out a 5-year expulsion

From : legal_queries@labour.org.uk

Date : 13/04/2017 - 08:58 (GMTDT)

To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

cc : iain_mcnicol@labour.org.uk

Subject : RE: Information regarding your Labour Party membership status

Dear Mr Haseldine,

Thank you for your email confirming that Facebook account referenced on pages 2-10 of our letter of the 10th of April is yours, thereby confirming the validity of the evidence used.

As our letter stated, you actively promoted campaign posts from George Galloway on a number of public social media forums. This is demonstrable support for a candidate standing against an official Labour candidate. In doing so, you made yourself ineligible for membership of the Labour Party in line with the rules set out in chapter 2.I.4.

The earliest time that the Labour Party will consider your application for membership is the 10th April 2022. We will not be responding further on this matter.

Regards

Sam Matthews

Head of Disputes

Governance and Legal Unit

The Labour Party

Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT

Awaiting Iain McNicol's abject apology

From : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

Date : 10/04/2017 - 22:41 (GMTDT)

To : legal_queries@labour.org.uk

Cc : iain_mcnicol@labour.org.uk, clactonlabourparty@gmail.com, eastern@labour.org.uk, sam_matthews@labour.org.uk

Subject : Re: Information regarding your Labour Party membership status

Dear Sam Matthews,

Governance & Legal Unit,

Labour Party

Thank you for today's email saying that I'm expelled from the Labour Party because you reckon I've been actively promoting George Galloway, through multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter, who is standing against an official Labour Party candidate, and which is incompatible with membership of the Labour Party.

My posts on Twitter and Facebook up to 21 March 2017 were simply reporting the fact that George Galloway was planning to stand against the NEC-imposed all-Asian shortlist at Manchester Gorton. It was not until 22 March 2017 that Afzal Khan MEP was selected as the official Labour candidate.

The Good George, Bad Jess and Ugly Tom

Incidentally, could you please explain why Keith Vaz MP is still on Labour's National Executive Committee and is still a Labour MP after all that disgusting activity with rentboys?

My Facebook posts and Tweets on 26 March 2017 "The Good (George Galloway), The Bad (Jess Phillips MP) and The Ugly (Tom Watson MP)" were a carefully constructed critique and straightforward observation, and should not be construed as any sort of criticism of the official Labour candidate Afzal Khan.

I now await Iain McNicol's abject apology for this latest slur on my character, and for his completely unjustified suspension of my Labour Party membership two months ago.

Yours comradely (but getting a bit annoyed),

Patrick Haseldine

Labour candidate in the 2017 Frinton by-election

Letter of complaint

From : legal_queries@labour.org.uk

Date : 10/04/2017 - 11:59 (GMTDT)

To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

Subject : IMPORTANT: Information regarding your Labour Party membership status

Dear Mr Haseldine,

Please find attached a letter regarding your Labour Party membership status.

A copy of this has also been posted to you.

Regards,

Governance and Legal Unit

The Labour Party

Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT

Sent by email from the Labour Party, promoted by Iain McNicol on behalf of The Labour Party, both at Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT Website: www.labour.org.uk to join or renew call 0345 092 2299.

Advice from Lansman

From : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

Date : 13/10/2017 - 11:37 (GMTDT)

To : jon.lansman@peoplesmomentum.com

Cc : chair@clactonlabour.com

Subject : Re: Joining Momentum

Dear Jon,

Thank you for taking the time to look at the evidence used by Iain McNicol's cyber police for expelling me from the Labour Party last April, and for the advice on how I should proceed.

Upon reflection and rather than taking any hasty action, I think I'll wait until you've got your feet firmly under the table at the National Executive Committee.

Hoping to be in touch shortly,

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine

From : jon.lansman@peoplesmomentum.com

Date : 12/10/2017 - 14:35 (GMTDT)

To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

Cc : chair@clactonlabour.com

Subject : Re: Joining Momentum

Dear Patrick

Firstly, I am currently not a member of the NEC (nor even yet a candidate to be so in spite of reports to that effect though I have applied to be so) so I cannot intervene on your behalf with the NEC or Iain McNicol.

Our membership rules are being applied correctly - you do have to be a party member to be eligible to be a Momentum member though normally most Momentum groups will allow you to participate in all activities and all or most meetings without being a member.

However I certainly think you have been treated unfairly by the party. Auto exclusion is not reasonable in any circumstances in my view but is certainly not reasonable where a judgement has to be made about whether your actions constituted campaigning for a candidate standing against the Labour Party. In my view it is possible to argue that they do not (though it wasn’t easy to make out what you did with the Vote George Galloway picture). You should therefore take up the issue either with Ann Black or though a lawyer. I am hoping that we can at some point in the future provide a free legal advice service using legally qualified volunteers to people so excluded from the party but we are not there yet.

Jon Lansman

Chair, National Coordinating Group

Momentum

95/6 Whitechapel High St, London E1

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The witchfinders are now ready to burn Corbyn	Blog post	28 February 2019	Jonathan Cook	Jeremy Corbyn’s allies are being picked off one by one, from grassroots activists like Jackie Walker and Marc Wadsworth to higher-placed supporters like Chris Williamson and Seumas Milne. Soon Corbyn will stand alone, exposed before the inquisition that has been prepared for him.

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