Rosie Duffield and threats

And all the other labour members who tweeted against her?

I’d really love to see leaders from the other parties stand up for Rosie - whatever your politics, behaviour so threatening that a candidate to be an MP not feeling safe to attend hustings is extremely serious. Address it as a threat to democracy - that is what it is

About time Andrew Neil followed up on his supposed mea culpa moment.

Saw a tweet saying that Rosie Duffield is going to be on Andrew Neil's Times Radio show tomorrow. Will be an interesting listen, on at 1.00.

Maybe the BBC are having a "wait, are we the bad guys?" moment

That's remarkably plain speaking of the BBC.

I wonder if we'll see a shift in some parts of the media in how they report following a change in government?

I wouldn't be surprised to see a reframing to be favourable to Starmer/Labour.

E.g what they would have criticised the Tories for and implied bigotry will suddenly become common sense and maybe even feminist when Labour do it.

I think people are underestimating the importance of this. TRAs have been hounding Rosie for years, the abuse has been awful. Besides a few apologies this is the first time anyone has been punished for any of that.

If I am underestimating it - which is quite possible - it's because I've spent the last 5 years giving Labour one last chance and staring into the tea leaves looking for signs of change.

I've said all along that I'd wait for their manifesto, and I did. But really the final straws were:
When they dismissed the Tory proposal to clarify the Equality Act, and with it women's concerns, as a distraction.
When I contacted my Labour candidate to seek reassurance that they would stand up for single sex spaces and they didn't reply.

I'm still pleased to see them do this today because a) it's never too late to do the right thing and b) because they're going to form the next government regardless of anything I do. But as far as winning my vote goes then nope, that's gone.

How privileged, how untouchable must Cashman have felt to be crowing about his own party colleague feeling unsafe, during a General Election, and on the anniversary of Jo Cox’s murder. How untouchable again must he have felt to issue such a pathetic damage-limitation apology, failing to mention the name of the woman he’d wronged? Shameful little fritter.

Love the wording in the BBC article. Finally, some balance.

That article was a pretty succinct and factual account of things (something I have sadly come to not expect from BBC journalism in recent years).

TRAs on twitting are melting down over Cashman losing the whip including Windy and the usual suspects.

BBC coverage is interesting
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722yx482xno

Look how it describes Rosie the language:

Ms Duffield, who has been a defender of women's rights and female-only spaces, has previously faced death threats and multiple instances of abuse over her stance on sex and gender.
She said she would be holding "secure local events" so constituents could put their questions to her.
Ms Duffield has spoken out about feeling unsupported by Labour in the past over her views on trans issues and did not attend the 2021 Labour Party conference after online threats to her safety.

I think people are underestimating the importance of this. TRAs have been hounding Rosie for years, the abuse has been awful. Besides a few apologies this is the first time anyone has been punished for any of that.

Remember if Rosie is free to say what she likes and can't be targeted for saying it the TRAs have serious issues. Intimidation is their best weapon and it has worked really well in the past. Now we are seeing that weapon is backfiring. If they can't frit Rosie or complain about her speaking out then what can they do.

The real question is this just a one off because of the election. We shall see soon enough. If they backtrack later it will be obvious. The precedent is set.

Cashman has been hectoring both people and businesses for years via social media without getting into trouble so I’m glad to see him experiencing a consequence for his negative behaviour.

True. Last week was the turn of thames clipper and James dreyfus. The first was just bizarre (where's the rainbow flag, are LGBT people not welcome etc) the latter was just plain mean.

Re starmer, if the personal is impacting him to this extent professionally, then we have a problem.

Cashman has been hectoring both people and businesses for years via social media without getting into trouble so I’m glad to see him experiencing a consequence for his negative behaviour. I’m sure it was a wee bit of shock for him given that he enjoys the prestige his position on the Labour benches in the Lords affords him.

This suspension of the Whip is a small step towards bringing civility back into political discourse; I hope political parties continue in this vein and remind their members that they are part of broad coalitions of similarly-minded people and that respect among members is expected even when they disagree with each other.

I know this has been suggested before: is he being ‘held hostage’ not by a hardcore of Labour TRAs, but by a younger family member?

It seems to happen a fair bit within the Labour upper echelon.

Anyway, good to see Cashman suffer some consequences and embarrassment for once. Men like him are anathema to socialist values.

It really isn't hard, so why won't he?

Especially after David Amess and Jo Cox.

There are many MPs that I strongly disagree with, or that I don’t particularly like, but I would condemn violent threats or acts against them vociferously. I would be appalled to see them threatened or hurt.

I can’t understand why this solidarity doesn’t happen more in politics today.

Starmer’s statement, while better than nothing, was milquetoast - I’d rather he just said loudly and clearly 'leave Rosie Duffield alone. Stop threatening her. People who threaten MPs (or their family/staff) are not welcome in the Labour Party and will be reported to the police’.

Agree with the general thrust, but I rolled my eyes so hard at 'Marxist teachings' that they nearly fell out of their sockets. The Torygraph just can't resist, can it?

That's a excellent and well written report and sums up the whole debacle very well.

Asked about the issue by journalists today, Keir Starmer said what Cashman said was “particularly inappropriate”, adding: “That’s why the support of the whip was withdrawn as it was very swiftly”.

Still can't quite bring himself to actually condemn what been happening to Rosie under his watch and with what I can now only assume is his approval.

Tom Harris in the Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/17/the-truth-about-starmers-changed-labour-has-been-exposed/

https://archive.ph/JIuBg Starmer click here! You need to read this one.

It's like Harris read my mind, took out all the 'erm's and 'you know's, all the digressions about biscuits, and printed it in the paper.

Don't hold your breath then. I dont demur from the popular notion that politics is (mostly)a shitty business for shitty people. I dont understand Starmer at all as he gives off the drive, ambition and burning desire to effect change of a carpet factory manager.