Campaign news

No witch-hunts in Labour. Reinstate Keith!

13th August 2012

Essex LRC member and Clacton CLP secretary Keith Henderson has been suspended from the Labour Party. The suspension is pending an investigation into allegations about which Keith has not been informed, from persons anonymous.

The suspension comes as Keith was recently put on the approved candidates shortlist for the 2013 Essex County Council elections.

LRC chair John McDonnell MP has written to Labour Party general secretary Iain McNicol to protest Keith’s treatment and calling for his reinstatement – with any complaints dealt through mediation.

In the letter, John said:

“Strong concerns have been expressed that in the past the officialdom of the party has used various bureaucratic measures including spurious investigations and suspensions to prevent members on the Left of the party from securing elected office.

“Just at a time when the party’s standing in the country is rising and we are commencing the detailed preparations for the campaign that hopefully will return us to office, the last thing that anyone would want is a display of internal divisions in a constituency that Labour could win both in local and parliamentary elections”

Many members of the local constituency party believe that launching an inquiry and suspending Keith on unfounded allegations is an attempt to prevent him standing in the county council elections in order to replace him.

LRC members are urged to express their support for Keith by writing to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Labour’s General Secretary, and to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to urge Keith’s reinstatement and that this dispute should be resolved by mediation or a fully independent and fair inquiry.