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Labour NEC wins bid against allowing new members a leadership vote
Labour’s ruling body has won its bid to overturn a high court decision allowing new party members to vote in the forthcoming leadership election, a ruling that could bar thousands of pro-Corbyn supporters from voting in the ballot.
The ruling by three court of appeal judges, Lord Justice Beatson, Lady Justice Macur and Lord Justice Sales, will mean 130,000 new members who joined less than six months ago will now not be able to vote in the forthcoming poll between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith for the Labour leadership.
The party’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, acting on behalf of the party as a whole, challenged the earlier ruling which found in favour of a challenge brought by five new Labour members, who would otherwise not be allowed to vote in the election. McNicol argued the party’s national executive committee had the power to define eligibility to vote in the Labour leadership election.
Announcing the decision on Friday, Beatson said: “On the correct interpretation of the party rules, the national executive committee has the power to set the criteria for members to be eligible to vote in the leadership election in the way that it did.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/12/labour-wins-appeal-against-ruling-allowing-new-members-a-leadership-vote
The ruling by three court of appeal judges, Lord Justice Beatson, Lady Justice Macur and Lord Justice Sales, will mean 130,000 new members who joined less than six months ago will now not be able to vote in the forthcoming poll between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith for the Labour leadership.
The party’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, acting on behalf of the party as a whole, challenged the earlier ruling which found in favour of a challenge brought by five new Labour members, who would otherwise not be allowed to vote in the election. McNicol argued the party’s national executive committee had the power to define eligibility to vote in the Labour leadership election.
Announcing the decision on Friday, Beatson said: “On the correct interpretation of the party rules, the national executive committee has the power to set the criteria for members to be eligible to vote in the leadership election in the way that it did.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/12/labour-wins-appeal-against-ruling-allowing-new-members-a-leadership-vote
Whether a further appeal even higher is possible, I'm not sure.
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
that they would "be eligible to vote in leadership elections". 130,000 people who are now disenfranchised saw this when they signed up online:
The whole thing's stupid beyond words. Corbyn will win the leadership election, these shenanigans are just a desperate attempt to reduce his margin of victory. Meanwhile, the dominant faction of the PLP has declared war on a substantial proportion of its own members. That'll go down well.
As will this:
Labour Appeal: Fury as High Court Judge Philip Sales’ intimate links to Tony Blair revealed
In what is a consolation victory for the Labour Party’s establishment in the Court of Appeal, it has been revealed by WikiLeaks that there may be more to the decision than meets the eye.
After Sir Philip Sales QC overruled the previous High Court decision to allow the 130,000 disenfranchised Labour Party members to vote in the up and coming leadership election – notorious whistle-blower Wikileaks revealed that Sales had been a Blair insider for years, having been recruited as Junior Counsel to the Crown in 1997.
...
The literature cited by WikiLeaks confirms that immediately after Labour’s victory in the 1997 general election, Sales was recruited by Tony Blair. Interestingly, it also reveals that Sales used to be a practising barrister at law chambers 11KBW, of which Tony Blair was a founder member. At the time of the appointment, there was uproar over Sales’ appointment and plunged Blair into a cronyism row.
...
Since his appointment in 1997, Sir Philip Sales managed to rack up a hefty bill to the taxpayer as the highest earning lawyer in the entire government. Moreover, as a key part of Blair’s legal team, he also defended the Government’s decision against holding a public inquiry into the Iraq War in the High Court in 2005.
http://evolvepolitics.com/labour-appeal-fury-as-high-court-judge-philip-sales-intimate-links-to-tony-blair-revealed/
In what is a consolation victory for the Labour Party’s establishment in the Court of Appeal, it has been revealed by WikiLeaks that there may be more to the decision than meets the eye.
After Sir Philip Sales QC overruled the previous High Court decision to allow the 130,000 disenfranchised Labour Party members to vote in the up and coming leadership election – notorious whistle-blower Wikileaks revealed that Sales had been a Blair insider for years, having been recruited as Junior Counsel to the Crown in 1997.
...
The literature cited by WikiLeaks confirms that immediately after Labour’s victory in the 1997 general election, Sales was recruited by Tony Blair. Interestingly, it also reveals that Sales used to be a practising barrister at law chambers 11KBW, of which Tony Blair was a founder member. At the time of the appointment, there was uproar over Sales’ appointment and plunged Blair into a cronyism row.
...
Since his appointment in 1997, Sir Philip Sales managed to rack up a hefty bill to the taxpayer as the highest earning lawyer in the entire government. Moreover, as a key part of Blair’s legal team, he also defended the Government’s decision against holding a public inquiry into the Iraq War in the High Court in 2005.
http://evolvepolitics.com/labour-appeal-fury-as-high-court-judge-philip-sales-intimate-links-to-tony-blair-revealed/
