Labour-linked campaign group Hope Not Hate hosted a love-in panel event at Party Conference this afternoon. While discussing how Labour in government can “heal division”, MP Gareth Snell led the panel in emphasising that “language is important” when discussing cultural issues, and even managed to complain that Twitter is a “cesspit” under Elon. Co-conspirators may raise an eyebrow considering Snell’s own language on the platform…

Those are some choice words from an MP whose long Twitter history includes describing women as “bitchy,” “sour faced,” “stupid,” and “f***ing annoying.” The repository of fruity comments goes on and on…

Sadly Gareth forgot to mention any of his past comments while pontificating on responsible language and stating that the Reform Party is “dangerous.” Snell even reminisced about dealing with offensive comments on the doorstep during his 2017 Stoke by-election. The fact he had to apologise twice in one day during that campaign for, among other things, saying a woman needed “a good slap” didn’t make its way into his reflections. Never fear, Guido’s here…

Leftist campaign group Hope Not Hate has been busy talking about anything except the new Labour government. All since its strenuous efforts campaigning against Labour’s opponents in the election…

Since Guido revealed Hope Not Hate’s close Labour links – including campaigning specifically against Susan Hall during the mayoral election – it has embedded itself further into government. Two of the six trustees of its charitable foundation have now made their way into Parliament as Labour MPs. It doesn’t stop there…

• Government Whip Anna Turley is both a director and a member of its board of trustees. Covering all bases…
• Labour MP Sarah Owen is vice-chairman of the group’s Parliamentary Group. Made up only of Labour MPs…
• Another of the campaigning organisation’s directors also happens to be prominent Labour MP and TUC communications director Antonia Bance.
• Chairman of its trustee board is newly elected Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan.

Guido hopes this coincidence won’t cloud the charity’s strongly-held non-partisan principles…

Co-conspirators have supplied Guido with exclusive recordings from Hope Not Hate’s ground campaign up in Rochdale. There are some revelations…

The Hope Not Hate lead organiser admits that he is also a Labour campaigner and is pushing to get a “good, solid majority” for Labour candidate Paul Waugh in Rochdale via the Hope Not Hate campaign. The organiser says that the group is targeting anyone likely to vote against George Galloway to convince them to vote for anyone else:

“We’re just trying to get anyone who’s not likely to vote Galloway. We want to make sure they vote.”

The charity, which has received taxpayer funds, previously getting cash from taxpayer-supported Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) and City Hall, has deep and wide links to the Labour Party. As Guido revealed during HNH’s coincidental anti-Susan Hall campaign…

Hope Not Hate’s ground campaigners also go into some detail about the MRP polling which they bought for the constituency, which allows them to accurately target voters who they can mobilise. They say it’s “not very cheap“. The last time Guido checked, MRP constituency polling cost around £20,000. Even if they got a discount, it’s unlikely they dragged the cost below the £700 spending limit. In which case Hope Not Hate would be falling foul of clear Electoral Commission rules…

UPDATE: Guido is told the voice heard in the recording is an activist, not the official “lead organiser”.

Managing director of Hope Not Hate Nick Lowles celebrated his great London victory over the weekend:

These are amazing stats. Before @hopenothate dropped its Susan Hall dossier, she was polling at 36%. After we exposed her extremist views she dropped to 25% and never recovered. Proves the work of @hopenothate is effective and important https://t.co/XXOPZfwXaC

— Nick Lowles (@lowles_nick) May 5, 2024

As far as Guido remembers, Susan Hall got 32.7% of the vote in the only poll that mattered – the final one. Nick is Jolyoning the result…

That celebration, along with the post on their website “We did it! How HOPE not hate stopped Susan Hall becoming the Mayor of London“, sounds awfully like Hope Not Hate breached a well-known rule for registered charities:

“Whether or not charities choose to undertake political activity, they must never support or oppose a particular political party or endorse a particular political candidate.“

There are many defences in Charity Commission rules that Hope Not Hate can use. For one, its private arm, Hope Not Hate Limited, is not so restricted by the rules. Though it is still overt political campaigning from an organisation that brands itself otherwise. Guido has already taken a look at the personnel running Hope Not Hate – they all happen to have tight links to the Labour Party. Any normal charity can’t launch specific campaigns against political candidates. Why can the socialists?

As the mayoral elections crank into gear, Sadiq Khan only got seven out of the 46 London Labour MPs to turn up to his launch yesterday. That’s not to say that Khan can’t be supported from other, non-party avenues. Radical left-wing charity Hope Not Hate has previously spent its time campaigning against Brexit and has just released a report calling Tories “Islamophobic”, is delivering less-than-subtle campaign messages with its leaflets. The charity has received taxpayer funds, previously getting cash from taxpayer-supported Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) and City Hall itself…

Guido has taken a look. The trustees of Hope not Hate’s charitable foundation have what you could call “close links” to Labour.

• Gurinder Singh Josan: A member of Labour’s National Executive Committee. Former Labour councillor. Member of ‘Sikhs4Labour’.
• Anna Turley: A Labour MP from 2015 to 2019. Currently the Labour Parliamentary candidate for Redcar. Has said she was “so proud” of Sadiq Khan and said she spent most of her weekends for seven years supporting Sadiq Khan.
• Simon Tuttle: A donor to Labour, having supplied £10,000 total to local Labour parties and £20,000 to Lisa Nandy.
• Qari Asim: A stated fan of Sadiq Khan and regular attendee at his events as well as other Labour politicians. Removed as a government adviser after calling for a film about Muhammad’s daughter to be banned.
• Peter Adams: Vocal social media critic of Tories, claiming Kwasi Kwarteng doesn’t understand “morality” and that the Tory government was “destroying hundreds of thousands of lives“. Supports Labour MPs on Twitter.
• Ros Wynne-Jones: Attendee of Jezza’s speeches and anti-capitalist marches. Longtime “friend” of Labour frontbenchers.
• As a bonus, Hope not Hate’s Director of Campaigns and Communications, Georgie Laming, is also a former Labour councillor.

Hope not Hate urges voters to stop Hall, who has “anti-Muslim” beliefs as well as “views on Black Londoners“. To have a charity which has received taxpayer funding and which is governed by Labour personnel pushing out this electioneering guff really pushes the envelope. Maybe Jolyon Maugham wants to look into it?

Emily Maitlis and her outlet The News Agents were celebrating left-wing Hope Not Hate’s “exclusive” discovery of “conspiratorial” tweets from GB News owner Sir Paul Marshall yesterday. Marshall’s offending tweets have now been deleted…

It turns out Maitlis too has in fact been deleting conspiratorial tweets of her own lately. Something about pots and kettles comes to mind…

Maitlis has been lawyered by Wootton over the now-gone tweets. Letters are also being fired out to Byline Times for the original reporting and Carol Vorderman for her extensive tweeting at the time. Wootton’s going after everyone…