Margaret Hodge lawyers up

[Popchyk]

And posts the whole shebang on Twitter.

twitter.com/margarethodge/status/1021369803129401344

I thought that this deserved a thread of its own. Seems like it will run and run.

Sounds like Labour have totally screwed up sending a letter. You'd think that given the amount of complaints about Labour members, they could at least manage that. But no.

Labour seem to have contravened their own rules by not citing what the allegation actually is, nor how the alleged incident breached their rules. And which rules were allegedly breached.

The letter then goes on to threaten her about further disciplinary action if she repeats "the allegation above". And of course there is no allegation above.

I particularly liked the "The haste in which you sent your letter is reflected in the sloppiness of its contents, which defies recognised standards of due process relating to investigations" from the lawyers.

Look out Jezza.

Margaret Hodge is not taking this lying down.

Good for her.

The tone of the letter is trying to silence her, which her lawyers pick up on in their response.

So of course she posts it all on Twitter.

No doubt that will be another strike against her. Some made-up crapola about bringing the party into disrepute or some such.

I noticed the part which references Jenny Formby being on holiday when the letter was sent, begging the question who sent it & signed her name to it? The response to that will be interesting.

It's not lost on me either how this MP is able to 'lawyer up' yet ordinary members who are also subjected to this process aren't as privileged as Margaret Hodge. Jennifer James & Venice Allen could have done with that level of backing too I think.

I'll be keeping an eye out for the response.

What’s she supposed to have done? I can’t read the screenshots because I lack the sensory capacity.

Jennie Formby was on holiday at the time.

And the letter was sent just 12 hours after the non-specified allegation and looks like it was signed by Formby. This despite their anti-Semitism investigations taking years by the way.

So yep, interesting to find out who actually sent that letter.

Say what you want about the Labour Party but they absolutely excel when it comes to cock-ups. So entertaining.

She is alleged to have sworn at Jeremy Corbyn, which she strongly denies in the letter that's shown in screenshots on her twitter feed. The Labour Party are saying that this is against article 2.1.8 of the LP rules.

HotRocker it's part of the ongoing scandal over Labour's antisemitism. Roughly the timeline goes: various Labour activists and some MPs, including Naz Shah, make antisemitic comments under the guise of supporting Palestine. This causes a scandal. Chakrabarty is wheeled in to do a report, which turns out to be a whitewash job, but gets her a baronetcy. During the unveiling of the report, Corbyn jokes with various of the named antisemites while a Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, leaves the room in tears. More antisemitism follows. Eventually there's a (very good) debate in parliament, in which various Labour MPs speak up about the antisemitism they've been on the receiving end of. Labour still does sweet FA. Then they adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as part of their code of practice - or at least, that's what they say they've done. In fact, they leave out 4 crucial examples (out of 12) of antisemitic behaviour that the IHRA use in their definition, including comparing Israeli policies to those of the Nazis and suggesting the creation of the Jewish state was a racist endeavour.

This is the point at which Margaret Hodge approached Corbyn in the HoC lobby (IIRC) and accused him to his face of tolerating antisemitism within the party.

From the Independent's article "Dame Margaret, who is Jewish, was reported to have called her party leader a "f racist and antisemite" and suggested he did not want "people like me" in the party. She has denied swearing during the confrontation."

It seems that (as with Jennifer James and others over Momentum/Labour's censorship of debate over women's rights) the knee-jerk reaction from the party has been to call Margaret Hodge before a disciplinary committee. Margaret Hodge is one of the longest serving and most respected Labour MPs out there.

Two things of note regarding this:

Don't mess with Margaret Hodge

Don't ignore Mischon de Reya

Hodge is supposed to have approached Jeremy Corbyn in Parliament and called him a 'bad phrase' regarding his stance as leader of the Labour Party on the failure of the party to accept the widespread global definition of anti-Semitism.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/18/jeremy-corbyn-labour-antisemitism-margaret-hodge

The above is Hodge's article in The Guardian on the matter.

Also, that debate in the house - IIRC, one of the male MPs who spoke said his wife and daughter had received threats of rape from activists as a response to him speaking up against antisemitism. The debate is well worth a watch if you can track it down on youtube.

I saw that Fermats

Mischon de Reya.

Oh man... I am looking forward to seeing some Momentum arses get kicked into next week.

Good for her.

Labour's a shambles at the moment. It's makes me v sad to see the great LP dissolve into anti-semitism and misogyny.

Yikes, this is going to get very interesting.

Bloody good for her. They have clearly picked the wrong woman to piss about with

So depressing to see the Labour Party behaving like this. And they argue that they are a serious opposition party at a time when it should be an open goal given the state of the Tories.

But then there's always the Libdems with their toxic LGBT twatter account and their wishes for 50% transwomen representation in parliament. Not to mention their undying love for Ian Huntley.

Weeps at the state of politics in this country.

What a mess.

It is perfectly possible to be pro-Palestinian rights without being anti-semitic. I manage this perfectly well. You would have thought that one of the country's two major political parties would be able to manage this.

And yet again: more non-specific, deliberately threatening and authoritarian disciplinary methods. And yet again: the target is an outspoken woman (I say this as someone who is not a fan of Margaret Hodge, btw). Labour is looking more and more McCarthyite by the day. It's embarrassing.

*Mischon de Reya.

Oh man... I am looking forward to seeing some Momentum arses get kicked into next week.*

^ me too! I love Dame Margaret, I've been utterly in awe and slightly terrified of her since I supported my Minister at a PAC hearing she was chairing. She tore strips off him in the most calm and deliberate way I've ever seen, it was brilliant (although I didn't think so at the time, it took days for my knees to stop knocking together!).

I loved her Twitter rant (and don't give a fuck if she swore at him), the speed of the letter just showed that it was a knee jerk reaction to a mere woman confronting Corbyn, there is no way a man would have gotten a letter this quickly. I just wish there was a competent politician in the Labour party capable of taking advantage of the situation.

Nobody has been building support for a new candidate behind the scenes, nobody can agree anything and until they start playing politics (their job) Corbyn will remain leader.

This terrifies me, partly because you cannot lead a party if half of them worship you and the other half are trying (incompetently) to assassinate you. Like him or hate him, he cannot even lead the Labour party, how can he lead parliment?

But mostly because the party is fast becoming (returning to) a misogynistic shit show where women are ignored, slapped down and just expected to pick up the shit work and thank the men for the opportunity

The astonishing bit is when the Labour Party apparatchik threatens MHodge, saying that if she repeats the (unspecified) behaviour she will face 'further disciplinary action'.

In other words, there is no investigation. The so-called investigation is 'disciplinary action' in itself, and there is a presumption of guilt. So much for fairness, eh?

Firmat, Assassinated, thanks.
And so it came to pass, Jeremy Corbyn has been exactly the liafuckingbility I predicted he would.

While I hope Margaret Hodge gives the Labour Party a kicking over this, I am not a fan of hers. Her record of obstructing investigations into child sexual abuse while leading Islington Council is bad:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hodge#Islington_Council

I wonder if Dan Hogan will be interviewing interrogating her?

I could almost hear his knees knocking when he interviewed interrogated Venice Allen. DH v MH I would love to watch

I have very mixed feelings about Hodge. As others have said, her record of obstructing the child abuse enquiry in Islington was shocking. But she's one hell of a tough politician, and some of the stuff she's done in Parliamentary committees has been first rate.

But whatever the pros and cons, she is right on this one.

I am a fan of Margaret Hodge - nope she is not perfect but she is a strong woman within Labour who gets things done - and there aren't many of those!

Cheering her on... and wow, what an own goal Labour.... I suspect they did not imagine she would so publicly get Mishcon de Reya onto the scene..... Good on her

Yes, I agree with that. Even though I view her as tainted, if she is doing a proper public service in Parliament or in the Labour Party, that can be supported quite apart from her record.

I just think people should have a warts and all view of Hodge.