Labour

Labour’s attempt to find successor to Diane Abbott ‘under way’

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/15/diane-abbott-suspension-labour-mp-successor

Diane Abbott is the the longest-serving female MP but lost the Labour whip in 2023 and again in July this year for her comments on racism. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA Archive

Exclusive: Contenders teed up for future contest, which MP says seems ‘to pre-empt results of investigation’

Moves to find a successor to Diane Abbott in the parliamentary seat she has represented since 1987 are under way, prompting concern that her fate has been decided before an investigation into her latest suspension has concluded.

Figures on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) have spoken to potential contenders, teeing them up for a future contest in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and giving them informal advice on how to prepare, according to a party source.

Abbott was suspended from the party in July for repeating that Jewish people do not experience racism in the same way as Black people[*1], a statement that had earned her a previous suspension in April 2023.

Labour said there would be no discussion of potential successor as an investigation was ongoing. The party said there had been no discussions about alternative candidates at any NEC meetings and no proposals put to NEC members about a selection process.

Abbott said: “It does seem to be rather pre-empting the results of the investigation.”

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/15/diane-abbott-suspension-labour-mp-successor

*1 I suggest that it shouldn’t be reduced to “Jewish people do not experience racism in the same way as Black people.” While that is how it’s perceived and dealt with by the Zionist Labour party, it’s more about there being different forms and consequent experiences of racism and not addressing Jewish people specifically.

“Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don’t know.

“I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism. I don’t know why people would say that.”

Continue ReadingLabour’s attempt to find successor to Diane Abbott ‘under way’

‘Outsourcing on our railways is a racket’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/outsourcing-our-railways-racket

 RMT members in Manchester, August 14, 2025

RMT demands Labour deliver on its promise to start the ‘biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’

RAIL union RMT held a mass meeting in Manchester today as part of its national campaign to end outsourcing on Britain’s railways.

The meeting heard from RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey, regional organiser Steve Shaw, Salford Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey and North West TUC secretary Jay McKenna.

In a recent report, the union warned that despite government plans to bring rail franchises in-house and create the new publicly owned body Great British Railways, a “hidden layer” of contractors continues to profit from the exploitation of thousands of workers.

The report warned that such companies make their profits by keeping workers on low-paid, inferior or casual contracts, leaving them struggling to get by.

RMT argues that all rail jobs, from cleaning to catering, engineering to station services, should be brought back in-house to reverse decades of outsourcing that have driven down pay, eroded conditions and undermined safety.

The union is also pressing the Labour government to honour its pledge to deliver the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.

Mr Dempsey said: “Outsourcing on our railways is a racket.

“Private firms are cashing in while cleaners, security staff and track workers, among others, are left struggling, often on low pay, insecure contracts and unsafe conditions.

“We have overworked cleaners, for example, working while sick, as companies like Churchill hand millions to shareholders.

“It’s totally indefensible and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/outsourcing-our-railways-racket

Continue Reading‘Outsourcing on our railways is a racket’

US flew spy flights for UK months before MoD admitted it

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/us-flew-spy-flights-for-uk-months-before-mod-admitted-it

A US Beechcraft surveillance aircraft circling Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza less than 24 hours before Israel’s deadly aircraft (Source: ADBS Exchange)

A US military contractor hired by Britain to conduct surveillance over Gaza operated above Nuseirat refugee camp the night before an Israeli bombing killed over 30 Palestinians in December 2024.

On the evening of 12 December 2024, Israel bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza without warning. A post office sheltering displaced families was hit; nearby houses were shredded. 

More than 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded. Entire families died, their names posted online within minutes.

Declassified can now reveal that a spy plane owned by a US contractor to whom the RAF is outsourcing its spy flights circled over Nuseirat refugee camp the night before the bombing.

Publicly available flight-tracking data show that in the hours before the blast, and again afterwards, two surveillance aircraft operating from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s military base on Cyprus, circled close to or over Gaza. 

One of these was a RAF Shadow R1 (registration ZZ419) surveillance plane that flew towards Gaza in mid-afternoon before vanishing from public tracking near the territory.

But the other belonged to Straight Flight Nevada Commercial Leasing LLC, a subsidiary of America’s Sierra Nevada Corporation. This was a Beechcraft Super King Air 350 with the registration N60125 and call sign CROOK11.

The presence of this US aircraft alongside RAF spy planes raises uncomfortable questions about whether British intelligence, directly or indirectly, assisted Israel’s targeting of the camp. 

Further, the presence of the US contractor over Gaza as early as December 2024 appears to contradict the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) claim that the company was only hired to take over the missions in recent weeks due to strain on RAF’s Shadow R1 fleet.

The MoD insists the flights are “unarmed” and “solely related to hostage rescue”, and denies aiding Israel’s prosecution of the war. But there is no known mechanism to ensure that data shared with the Israeli authorities is not repurposed for attacks in serious violations of international humanitarian law.

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Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/us-flew-spy-flights-for-uk-months-before-mod-admitted-it

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party's support for and complicity in Israel's genocide of Gaza.
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingUS flew spy flights for UK months before MoD admitted it

Heathrow expansion is a “flightmare on Downing Street” say Greens

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Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.

Responding to the release of detailed proposals for Heathrow Airport expansion, Green Party MP, Ellie Chowns, reiterated the Green Party’s opposition to airport expansion, saying,

“Heathrow Airport expansion is a flightmare on Downing Street for people and planet. On one hand, this government is saying they’re taking the climate crisis seriously, and on the other, they’re backing a project that will release a reported 4.4m tonnes of CO2 a year. These expansion plans would see the number of flights at Heathrow Airport go up to 720,000 from their current capped number of 480,000 a year.

These expansion plans are, at their heart, aimed to deliver profit for shareholders to enable a small group of people to fly more and more. In the UK we have a few frequent flyers that make up less than 3% of the UK population but take 30% of all journeys. On top of this, they seem oblivious to the impact that these plans will have on the communities currently living around Heathrow. Government must be grounded in reality and look hard at the climate science. No credible net-zero plan can include rampant airport expansion, and it’s time Labour looked to the many, many alternative ways to create high-paid green jobs.”

Continue ReadingHeathrow expansion is a “flightmare on Downing Street” say Greens

Hillsborough families urge Starmer not to make former Sun editor his communications chief

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hillsborough-families-urge-starmer-not-make-former-sun-editor-his-communications-chief

 The horror of the Hillsborough disaster is too much for a young Liverpool fan, April 15, 1989

HILLSBOROUGH families have warned Sir Keir Starmer that former Sun editor David Dinsmore is “manifestly unsuitable” to become the government’s permanent secretary for communications.

In a letter, they urged the Prime Minister to scrap the appointment due to Mr Dinsmore’s association with the tabloid, which he edited from 2013 to 2015.

“After the Hillsborough disaster in the midst of unimaginable suffering among the bereaved and the survivors, the Sun newspaper published vicious lies about the conduct of fans,” it said.

“Graphic and false allegations cast the deceased and those who survived as barbaric, feckless and inhumane.”

They also highlighted delays to Labour’s long-promised Hillsborough Law, adding: “This appointment gives us less reason to trust the government.

“It risks damaging public confidence in the state among those affected by Hillsborough, everyone connected to Liverpool and all who feel solidarity with them.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hillsborough-families-urge-starmer-not-make-former-sun-editor-his-communications-chief

Continue ReadingHillsborough families urge Starmer not to make former Sun editor his communications chief