IN a democratic society an individual or an organisation has the right to hold beliefs and conduct themselves as they wish provided they adhere to the law of the land. Political views are subjective, yet the Momentum group are branded “far-left” by the media and some Labour Party politicians simply, one assumes, because their personal views lie to the right of those Momentum members. The Westminster rumour-mill is churning out conspiracy theories promulgated by a group of MPs, Tom Watson in particular, to the effect that the Unite union and Momentum want to use their financial clout to take over the Labour Party (“ Labour civil war as union chief says Watson living in ‘world of smears’”, The Herald, March 23). If one looks at the basic numbers: Unite 1,382,126 members, the Labour Party 528,180 and Momentum 22,000 one can understand why some of the 229 Labour MPs could have cause to worry if their personal political views diverge from those plebs who make a major contribution to the finances of the Labour Party yet whose views are ignored. One can only assume that in a one-man one-vote system democracy will prevail.
If the members of Unite are unhappy with the performance of the Parliamentary Labour Party, its policies and Westminster behaviour then they have the democratic right to withdraw their financial support. Political parties in general should represent the wishes of their members irrespective of the fact, as is probably the case of the Labour Party, this could mean that they have little or no chance of winning the next General Eection. The country needs an opposition that is vociferous in dissent, not a collection of professional politicians who will compromise principles just to get their day in the spot-light.
The vacuous nature of UK politics is exemplified by our Prime Minister who prior to the Brexit referendum was a vociferous opponent of leaving Europe but who now enthusiastically leads the retreat. We are ill-served if we have politicians who do not say what they mean or mean what they say. Whilst neither a member of Momentum nor Unite I sincerely hope that they pull the financial rug out from under the likes of Tom Watson who probably doesn’t need it having been supported to the tune of £500,000 by Max Mosley in less than a year according to official records.
David J Crawford,
Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.
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