Forum Topic

Labour's paymasters will call the tune

With the collapse of its membership and organisation nationwide, the  Labour Party is now much more heavily dependent on funding from the trade unions than for many years.The trade unions have sent a staggering £88.5million to the Labour Party HQ in the last eight years.This amounts to 63 per cent of all funding the Labour Party has received since official records of donations began in 2001.UNITE - the trade union that is calling the irresponsible strike which will cost BA many millions of pounds - is likely to spend up to £5m on their own campaign before the General Election starts. UNITE has already donated over £10 million to the Labour Party in recent years- 25% of Labour Party funding.A secret marginal seats operation being run by UNITE is far bigger than the Conservatives' own very open and public marginal seats campaign. In addition to donating money, the union is using its staff and its massive database of members in a bid to persuade dithering former Labour voters they must get out and vote during the General Election.The operation is being masterminded by Charlie Whelan, UNITE’s Political Director and a close friend of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.Because the campaign is being run by UNITE, rather than the Labour Party, it does not have to come from the Labour Party’s dwindling General Election campaign money and it does not count as election expenditure.And of course all of this support will come with a very expensive price tag attached.  UNITE and the other trade unions have a powerful say in who the Labour Party selects as MP's and will dictate Government policy just as they did under the Wilson and Callaghan governments on the seventies.As they say in Scotland : "He who pays the piper will call the tune ".

David Giles ● 5894d34 Comments

"No. I left before either Party could stab me in the back."And your cerebelum...did either Party have time to tamper with that?

Tony Wood ● 5890d

Steve,No. I left before either Party could stab me in the back.

David Giles ● 5890d

"I am a formner member both of the Irish Labour Party and the British Labour Party."I take it you were stabbed in the back by the Labour Party like the rest of us then?

Steve Taylor ● 5890d

UNITE has given nearly £30 million to the Labour Party in the last ten years. The exact figure is £29,541,155 - given by UNITE and the two unions from which it was formed- the Transport and General Workers and Amicus- since 2011. And these unions have in turn received £17,778,967 million from us, the taxpayers,  in return since 1998.UNITE and the two unions from which it was formed- the Transport and General Workers and Amicus- has received our money under the little known "Unuion Modernisation Fund" and the "Union Learning Fund".The Prime Minister and over 100 Labour MP's are members of UNITE.The £17,778,967 from us the taxpayers has in turn enabled greatly assisted the unions concerned to give huge amounts of money to the Labour Party, year after year.We the taxpayers are in fact paying to keep the Labour Party going through money paid to the Labour Party by the unions; a large part of this money has been paid to the unions by the Government using funds collected by the Government from us through taxes. What a scam !I wonder did the Keens get any of this money ?

David Giles ● 5890d

SueI  can assure you that I have no links to the landed gentry. Both of my grandfathers were small farmers in the West of Ireland.My mother, like Ann Keen, was a nurse and a trade union member. I am a formner member both of the Irish Labour Party and the British Labour Party.I came to this country like many Irishmen before with £20 in my pocket, a suitcase and a floor in a friend's house to sleep on.It's far from the landed gentry I was raised.

David Giles ● 5890d

A lot of words used in which to say not very much Robin.Are you a member of the Labour Party?

Phil Andrews ● 5891d

Phil,You really shouldn't complain. After all, you gave me a list - and I gave you my response.I'm not at all surprised that you will not give me a line by line refutation of each of my "misconceptions", because as both you and I know they are 100% correct.Are you now going to deny setting up the Independent Isleworth Tenants Association after you and your NF cronies failed in your attempts to take control of the official one?On another matter, you are being untruthful when you say that by my "own admission" I am "afraid" to venture into Isleworth. Please point to an occasion when I have made such a statement. Of course, the really telling thing here is the repeat of the underlying threat in what you are saying: namely that I may have something to fear by doing so. Do you really think that you and and your bully boy chums would succeed in intimidating me from going where I want? You're wrong, but the fact that you think you're right is yet another example of your continuing NF-type mentality whereby you think you can get what you want through threats and intimidation.For your information, I have had cause to visit various parts of Isleworth in the last few months, including Worple Road (and surrounding streets), Worton Road, the Worton estate and Weavers Close. Surprised? And guess what, Phil. I will continue to do so as and when I choose, and without your permission.Further more, precisely how would you know whether I've attended community events in Isleworth? You don't have a clue.This thread is another example of how you have started out making erroneous statements, and then, when presented with some unwelcome facts, have responded by falling back on your usual tactic of issuing an underhand threat.Finally, you ask me two questions, one being whether I am a member of the Labour Party. Why should I answer, given the contemptuous way in which you have just dismissed a whole series of valid and factual remarks that I have presented you with? I think I'll keep you guessing on the Labour Party question.To your other question, namely are there are any other towns or villages in which I have "an unhealthy interest". No, Phil, there aren't. Because only in Hounslow does a particularly unhealthy (and unsavoury) situation exist, in which a former far right thug is able to put into practice much of the ideology of his NF past by helping a minority Conservative administration to smash up the services (such as HLS) that minority and other vulnerable groups rely upon.Add to this the stripping of powers from the Heston and Cranford Area Committee, and the almost missionary zeal with which the SDC has gone about digging up old planning cases so as to force residents to knock down extentions, and a cynic might conclude that you've achieved far more of your former NF agenda by going into coalition with the Tories than you ever could by remaining in the NF.This is just my opinion, of course.

Robin Taylor ● 5892d

"Mogden. - Yes, your favourite political football. Labour councillors during the 1980s and 1990s did their best on this issue,"and they failed so miserably it is laughable. God help us if that was the best they could do. Actually, God did help us by having an immigrant new to the area, and so disgusted at the apathy of Labour, contact her local MP (Ann Keen)  and her local Cllr (Phil Andrews), to try resolve the problem. The rest is history; Keen ignored her and Andrews took action. End of...

Steve Taylor ● 5892d

Point taken, but in this day and age there will sadly always only be a minority who wish to get involved.  All the more reason then, in my view, why those who do feel they have something to offer should be encouraged and not obstructed.

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

Don't apologise for the length Robin, it is the content that is the problem.  No history of the Isleworth community scene would be complete without Robin of Southall's own version of events, would it?Just think about it.  A man who lives several miles away, who by his own admission is afraid to venture into Isleworth for fear of being molested by marauding gangs of ICG thugs (and who therefore leaves his friend Sue to face them on his own), who has never attended a community meeting in Isleworth and who makes lame excuses when invited to do so, telling me and other residents what has REALLY happened in our own backyard over the last twenty years or so.And without, it would seem, a flicker of embarrassment nor a modicum of conspicuousness.  Tell me Robin, are there any other towns or villages around the globe in which you don't live yet take such a weird and unhealthy interest, and whose inhabitants you presume to lecture and put your own peculiar interpretation to about what goes on around them?I'll tell you what Robin, on this occasion I'm not going to indulge your ego by giving you a line by line refutation of each misconception of historical events in somebody else's town that you have given us.I am just going to ask you one, very simple question.Are you a member of the Labour Party?It's a simple one as questions go, and please take your time to answer Robin.Are you a member of the Labour Party?

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

Well before you get too excited think about all the people who don't bother to vote, what was the turnout? - Far less than 50% I believe, so whatever way you cut it it's hardly a ringing endorsement, as is the case with most elections.

Vanessa Smith ● 5892d

Phil,Let's deal with some of the reasons you give for your hatred of the Labour Party:-Ivybridge. - Yes, Labour offended you on this issue because they removed one of your National Front colleagues from the committee of the New Ivybridge Tenants Association (leading you to set up the rival "Independent Ivybridge Tenants' Association" in the late 1980s). No apology required from Labour on that one. You were also required to vacate the Chair when you tried to control last year's URA meeting (by popular demand, I might add, and nothing to do with the Labour Party).Isleworth Community Safety Forum. - Yes, this is the one which began issuing strange policy edicts (like the one about how we need to bring back corporal punishment and conscription in order to curtail rising crime) shortly after you and the ICG took it over in the early naughties. So worried was PC Plod that he refused to deal with the organisation, saying it had become "too political".Hounslow Homes. - I don't know the full details about this one, but let me guess ... it's something else which you've tried to influence/control (delete according to interpretation) and where you had no co-operation from the Labour Party in this regard? Thought so.Mogden. - Yes, your favourite political football. Labour councillors during the 1980s and 1990s did their best on this issue, you then co-founded the Mogden Residents Action Group (of which you are still a committee member) and immediately used it to launch a public attack on the ward's sitting Labour councillors. Both Labour & Tories now support expansion - so why only hate Labour on this issue?Unscrupulous campaigning. - But your post is an example of this, surely? Earlier, you stated that I am not a member of the Labour Party, yet now you erroneously claim that I am Labour's "spokespeople(sic)" on this forum. You have also previously accused me of being Ann Keen's spokesperson and, in relation to Mogden, you ascribed to me words which were the exact opposite of the ones I had in fact used. Further more, was it not a tad unscrupulous of you to actively support squatters who had taken over the home of one of your political opponents?Firebomb. - I believe you have previously accused me of being behind this. Quite a shocking slur, especially as I was down in south London at the time it took place.You will notice that my list gives two examples of you setting up "community organisations" to further your own influence. There are, of course, many other examples of you doing this (e.g. "Ivytag" in the early naughties - set up as another rival to "NITA"; and the angling club under which you booked meetings at public halls in the 1980s only for the bookings to be cancelled at the last minute so that the NF could use the time slot). This, together with your related strategy of trying to influence or take over those residents' groups which are already in existence, is entirely in keeping with what you outlined in the 1980s in your National Front article "New Structures For Winning Recruits", which stated that NF members "must be encouraged to join or set up Tenants or Residents Associations" for the purpose of "sinking local roots".Opinions vary as to what extent you have genuinely changed your views on race, but your continuing obsession with trying to control and infiltrate indicates that you still possess much of the mentality which you did in your NF days.(Apologies for length).

Robin Taylor ● 5892d

Vanessa We will doubtless always disagree about many of these issues and I respect your views even where I don't share them.However my recollection is that when it came to the crunch about 1260 residents of the ward I now represent shared my "fanciful" view of events, whilst about 700-odd didn't.

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

Robin,Judging from the reply to this post the ICG supremo is living in his fanciful past yet again. He is perfectly entitled to disagree with what was done when there were Labour Councillors, but some would also say it wasn't all bad and in some cases some of what he mentions were even long overdue improvements. What he does do is make mountains out of relatively small molehills which then become a cause celebre. My dear late friend and former colleague Pete Smith always told me he thought that pragmatism was the overriding quality anyone involved in politics needed. You have to be realistic and pick your fights and take on board whether or not it would cost more in the long run to tilt at windmills rather than talk and try and get the best result and value for money for your consituents.

Vanessa Smith ● 5892d

On the contrary Robin my dislike of local Labour and that of my colleagues can be explained in relatively few words.  Try these:Worton GreenGecoIvybridgeWorple Area Residents' AssociationIsleworth Community Safety ForumWoodlands BarriersHounslow HomesOpposition to Project Empower£550k funding on community projects "a waste of money"MogdenUnscrupulous campaigning"Firebomb"There's most likely a few I've missed but you'll get the drift.Oh, and the fact that it has managed to produce the likes of you as a spokespeople in its final days, suggesting a determinedly defiant reluctance to learn lessons that it needs to learn if it is ever to be reborn as a local political force.

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

GeorgeWith respect I think you've missed the subtext here.  I think you'll find me knocking on doors all the year round, not just when there is an election.  Sharon is the Labour candidate's (Sue's) neighbour - possibly even the Labour candidate herself using her log-in details.  In either event she seems to share Sue's view that telling people on the doorstep that I am a closet Tory (after having told them last time around that I was a closet fascist) is going to be New Labour's secret weapon at the coming local elections.  Mine may be weasel words and politically ill-advised to boot, but I am only human and the temptation to mock such insular stupidity is just too much for a humble man like me to resist.

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

Sharon,It's not so much that Phil Andrews is pro-Conservative, it's more that he is (and always has been) vitriolically anti-Labour.Fwiw, my own belief is that he sees the Labour Party as the party of multi-racial Britain (or, as he once described it, "an Americanised, bastardised multi-racial sewer").But why is his hatred of Ann Keen so particularly intense? IMHO, it's because she not only marched through Hounslow High Street brandishing a "Ban the BNP" placard when local far right acitivity was at its height, but she also articulated her concerns about his inclusion in the council cabinet and requested an enquiry into his NF past.Those on this forum who hero worship him will no doubt vehemently disagree with this analysis, but they cannot explain why it is that he has the same impassioned hatred of the Labour Party today as he had in his NF days.

Robin Taylor ● 5892d

Weasel words.Any decent politician will be out on the stump whether the opposition is decent or indecent.

George Knox ● 5892d

Perhaps if I had some decent opposition I'd be forced to spend more time out there on the stump?

Phil Andrews ● 5892d

I think you might well be right about the Phil Andrews Community Hall! I still don't get how he finds the time to spend all day on the forums. Being a councillor cannot involve much in the way of graft if he's anything to go by. My other issue is why he always leaps to the defence of the Conservatives. Why doesn't he just join them?

Sharon Smith ● 5892d

A quick read of the "Forth year with no increase" article on the front page demonstrates admirably how these "political" animals work. Here it seems, we have a eunuch Conservative party,desperate to get a policy through and really needing the ICG votes,and an ICG desperate to get more cash to splash in "their" manor...it'll look good with their potential voters,and probably be called the Phil Andrews Community Hall or somesuch. The whole sorry episode looking to me like a blackmail/bribe negotiation,for the benefit of the public of course,and quite an emetic if true.

Tony Wood ● 5893d

I think as long as Ann didn't have to put her vote where her mouth was she was quite happy to oppose the third runway.

Tim Henderson ● 5893d

So you should be Sue.  But are their rank and file, grass roots members proud of their links with you?

Phil Andrews ● 5893d

We're proud of our links with the trade unions just like you're proud of your links to the landed gentry

Councillor Sue Sampson ● 5893d

I have a number of friends who work for BA. Tory Willie was offered a package but threw his toys out of the pram when Unite named the strike dates, whic they had to do by a certain point or the vote would lapse.

Neil Chippendale ● 5893d

Like Lord Ashcroft you mean - oh! I get it now.

Vanessa Smith ● 5893d

No chance whatsoever of Annie denouncing the strike whilst she is firmly in the pocket of UNITE which also explains her reluctance to oppose the planned third runway

Paul Fisher ● 5893d

The massive UNITE trade union is threatening to destroy British Airways and the jobs of tens of thousands of people in this country; many of these people live in Brentford and Iseworth and in the neighbouring constituency of Feltham and Heston.When will Ann  Keen MP follow the lead of the Secretary of State for Transport, Andrew Adonis, and denounce this mindless strike  and the union that is organising it ?

David Giles ● 5893d

It was a predictable response even by your standards Robin but nobody who actually lives in Isleworth or who is familiar with the things that have happened here over the past two decades or so will be impressed by your role reversal tactic.What I find interesting though is that your post would seem to acknowledge that infiltration and social control of community organisations is not a good thing.  Which surely makes the actions and strategies of your colleagues here all the more reprehensible?

Phil Andrews ● 5893d

"The unions could use their patronage as a lever to improve working conditions for their members if they were not led by such treacherous and self-seeking individuals.  They are an utter disgrace."LOL! This from the bloke who handed power to Hounslow's Tories so they could throw 400 workers on the dole and slash £2.3m from the education budget."New Labour's obedient daleks stifle dissent and even the most constructive criticism by infiltration and organisational control."Isn't infiltration and organisational control a practice you propounded in your National Front article "New Structures For Winning Recruits", and hasn't that been the whole basis of the ICG's strategy? (For example, your attempts over the last quarter of a century to control various tenants associations on the Ivybridge estate for your own purposes?).

Robin Taylor ● 5893d

Good post Mick.  My objection to the unions funding the Labour Party is that they are getting nothing in return.  The unions represent millions of British people who keep this country running and their leaders are New Labour placemen, timeservers and honour-seekers who channel their members' hard-earned cash into an organisation which no interest in them other than to use them as a milch cow and voting fodder.The unions could use their patronage as a lever to improve working conditions for their members if they were not led by such treacherous and self-seeking individuals.  They are an utter disgrace.Speaking in a local context, if voters want to see how our community organisations will be managed in the event of a return to a New Labour administration they need look no further than to Britain's trade unions.  New Labour's obedient daleks stifle dissent and even the most constructive criticism by infiltration and organisational control.  It's what they do.

Phil Andrews ● 5893d

It's quite ironic really, because under New Labour, Trades Unions have never had so little influence. To be honest, I can't understand why they still bother to fund a "Labour" Party which has become pretty much indistinguishable from the Tories.Both parties are totally in thrall to corporate big business - Tweedledum and Tweedledummer.

Mick Brent ● 5893d

And who funds your lot. Big business. So what! Always has been always will be.Re BA I have friends who work for BA as CSD's, just listen to a member of the cabin crew instead of Tory Willie. They are being threatend etc. It's like the return to the bad days of the Iron Lady and her hatred of the union movement. Unite offered a deal and Tory Willie refused to accept it because they still named the dates of the prospective strike. Unite had to do that to conform to industrial law. 

Neil Chippendale ● 5894d

Thanks for pointing that out,I shall votre Conservative this year.

Tony Wood ● 5894d