News from the Campaign Group is that in spite of the animosity between the McDonnell and Meacher camps, there is now some semblance of coordination - though claim and counter-claim continue.
In an attempt to bring some order to fractious nature of proceedings, Alan Simpson apparently proposed a plan which would see the Campaign Group candidate with the least number of nominations transferring their support to the preferred candidate, so that at least one of them would have the chance of challenging Gordon. The candidate who withdrew would then stand for Deputy Leader.
Michael Meacher has been telling supporters that he backs the ‘Simpson Plan’, and that John McDonnell does not. McDonnell has countered that saying that he does support the Plan, and that it was the idea of his supporters in the first place!
Either way, it seems like a fragile agreement has emerged, although McDonnell has made it clear he has no interest in running for Deputy. All or nothing, or simply keen to rule but not to serve?
Anyway, this is all supposed to be decided before Tony makes the announcement of his departure, so it will provide an entertaining side-show before the main event.
redtamarin[at]gmail.com
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“The candidate who withdrew would then stand for Deputy Leader”
It looks as a pretty silly plan (the running for Deputy now)…if Blair goes just after the locals, MM or McD would have, erm, barely 2 weeks to start a deputy bid…which is certainly doomed to fail (it would have already been difficult even if they had started it months ago, but now 2 weeks vs months of campaigning from others….no chance…for ex some McD backers are committed to other Deputy contenders (Riordan for Harriet H, Etherington, Claoham and Campbell to Hain), so they would not back MM if it’s MM who has less support than McD…the hard Left has not enough numbers in the PLP and people on the soft Left would back the likes of Cruddas and co as more realistically candidates for a good performance in the deputy contest
Andrea said this on April 18th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
“In an attempt to bring some order to fractious nature of proceedings, Alan Simpson apparently proposed a plan which would see the Campaign Group candidate with the least number of nominations”
btw, Meacher is not a member of the Campaign Group
Andrea said this on April 18th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Hey Tamarin!
John gave the reasons why he is not willing to stand as Meacher’s deputy here: http://www.john4leader.org.uk/2007/02/media-coverage-like-london-buses.html
John’s campaign has far greater grassroots support (do a comparison of John and Meacher’s endorsements pages on their websites) - and, yes, parliamentary support. This should all become clear soon…
Meanwhile, we’ll be adding some interesting endorsements to the website tonight - so make sure you check them out!
www.john4leader.org.uk
Owen said this on April 18th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Just updated the endorsements page - Diane Abbott, Bob Wareing and The Mirror (sort of) are the latest additions:
www.john4leader.org.uk/endorsements.html
Owen said this on April 18th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Interesting to see that Peter Tatchell has endorsed John McDonnell.
According to this report, Peter Tatchell hopes to stand as the Green Party parliamentary candidate in Oxford East:
He therefore aims to defeat the sitting Labour MP, Andrew Smith.
Owen Jones does much work for McDonnell. He is proud of the latest endorsements. He was also a member of Oxford University and so I’d hope he knows some things about the political situation here.
If he ever went out campaigning with the Labour Club, he would know that Andrew Smith lives in an old council house in the Blackbird Leys housing estate, one of the most deprived areas in the country.
While I don’t expect Owen to agree with all of Smith’s politics, I’d hope he recognises that he is a good constituency MP and a solid Labour man.
Does he not therefore feel dirty about the McDonnell campaign being endorsed by Thatchell? Surely the primary focus of the John4leader efforts should be to win the support of Labourites - not advertising support from people from other parties who want to undermine hardworking Labour MPs.
Shame on you.
Saw this on another blog, bashes McDonnell campaign, thought you'd like it said this on April 19th, 2007 at 9:49 pm