The Birmingham by-election was boring for both the Tories and Labour, on election night and the run-up. The only minor excitement leading up to last night was the prospect of the online commie left being humiliated again. This time their pet project was Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate Dave Nellist – a former militant Labour MP expelled in 1991. He was backed by both Chris Williamson and Thelma Walker, who co-conspirators might remember stood for the Northern Independence Party in Hartlepool.
Thelma predicted Nellist “could be the start of real change”; Williamson went to Erdington to campaign for Nellist, “the ONLY socialist on the ballot paper”. Williamson’s tweet got 370 likes. Nellist got 360 votes…
Nellist lost his deposit, the hard left is humiliated and have once again proved their ability to get retweets in certain pockets of Twitter are all they have left…
While the Tories finally selected their Hartlepool candidate on Friday night, the weekend selections by smaller parties were much more interesting. The separatist Northern Independence Party have announced former Corbynite MP Thelma Walker – in parliament from 2017 to 2019 and who quit Labour last year over Starmer’s suspension of Corbyn – will be their candidate. During her brief political career she was McDonnell’s PPS, and backed ‘second referendum’ and ‘customs union’ during parliament’s indicative votes. Just the sort of person to whom Hartlepool is sure to warm…
The not-to-be-confused regionalist Northern Party has also quietly selected a former Labour MP: Hilton Dawson, member of parliament for Lancaster & Wyre from 1997 to 2005. While Dawson wasn’t voted out in 2005, his party’s platform is primarily trying to resurrect Prescott’s regional assemblies; plans which were scrapped after the North East comprehensively voted them down in 2004 (in what was Dominic Cummings’ first referendum success). Given Labour selecting former Labour MP Paul Williams too, Hartlepool is shaping up to be a parade of left-wing MPs the region’s already rejected…
As Guido revealed last week, John McDonnell has been supporting Momentum’s illegal occupations of banks, particularly praising their campaign against Barclays on an organising call. His campaign against Barclays doesn’t seem to be supported by his own Parliamentary Private Secretary, Thelma Walker MP. She has taken a large donation from Barclays to run a conference in her constituency. It’s the only donation she has registered since she became an MP. How does Walker’s boss feel about her taking cash from the banking giant he’s calling for direct action against?
