Sawyer suspends whistle-blowers
	Leeds North East CLP has been suspended. Four leading CLP members - Malcolm Christie, Mike Davies, Celia Foote and Lorraine Hardy - are now threatened with disciplinary action. Mike Marqusee reports.
	LEEDS NORTH EAST'S latest crime appears to be their insistence that the rules of the Labour Party be adhered to at the constituency's AGM. The Tory-held marginal is one of Labour's key target seats. In July 1995, the CLP selected Liz Davies as its PPC - only to have her removed by the NEC. Party officials were anxious that Davies' replacement be someone more to Tony Blair's taste. They pulled out the stops to swing the selection to Leeds councillor Fabian Hamilton, who fought the seat in 1992, and who had complained loudly and bitterly about his exclusion from the all-women shortlist requested by the CLP. Hamilton has a history of failed companies and court-enforced debts. He insists he has never done anything immoral or illegal. In the last seven years, he has had seven county court judgements against him for debt, most recently in March 1996, when the Inland Revenue took him to court for unpaid tax. According to one Branch Secretary, during the new selection process, "CLP officers were directly instructed by Party officials to conceal from members relevant information". At the selection meeting itself, officials blocked any questions pertaining to Hamilton's companies, financial and legal history, or personal probity, while allowing similar questions to other candidates. Though beaten at the meeting by left candidate Pam Tatlow, Hamilton emerged the overall winner thanks to postal votes. However, CLP officers complained to the NEC that the number of postal votes exceeded the number of applications. There were also complaints about Hamilton's business record. Nonetheless, the NEC endorsed Hamilton on 25th September. A concerted attempt to replace left-inclined officers with a New Labour slate failed at this year's AGM. At the meeting, a regional officer gave a verbal instruction, allegedly emanating directly from Walworth Road, to accept four individuals as delegates. These individuals had previously been turned down by the constituency executive (at that time with the official's full approval). One was from an unaffiliated GPMU Branch! The others were from a GMB Branch which was entitled to two delegates, but had sent five delegates (two of the five, it turned out, were not even valid members of the GMB Branch). The AGM voted to uphold the rules of the Party and not to accept the improper delegates. Subsequently, CLP members were informed that the AGM was invalid, and that the constituency and its officers were suspended until a new AGM was convened, sometime after the election. "Leeds North East has been suspended for keeping the rules," observed CLP Chair Celia Foote. "It seems to many of us that this unjustified attack prefigures a general attack on democracy in the Labour Party and especially on the rights of CLPs." In response to the suspension an informal meeting open to all Leeds North East members was held on Sunday, 9th February. Despite a letter sent to all CLP members by a regional official advising them to stay away from the meeting, nearly one hundred attended. A fighting fund was set up to campaign for the re-instatement of the CLP and its officers. Meanwhile, Fabian Hamilton is facing a private prosecution for seventeen alleged offences under companies' legislation. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment. The prosecution is being brought by an individual who is a member of Leeds North East but holds no office. Contrary to suggestions made by Labour spin doctors, the prosecution is not being brought by Leeds North East CLP nor is the CLP funding it. However, according to a report in The Guardian, Hamilton is enjoying the service of Labour Party lawyers in the criminal court. The determination of senior Party figures to rid themselves of dissidents seems to have overwhelmed their usual strictures about pre-general election caution. Already, Peter Coleman, Labour's recently retired Director of Organisation and Development, has been forced to write to all Leeds North East members apologising for an inaccurate and defamatory statement he had made in an earlier communication regarding Mike Eslea, Chair of Chapel Allerton Branch. Thanks to constitutional amendments pushed through with minimal debate in 1995, Tom Sawyer does enjoy sweeping powers to suspend members. These powers must, however, be exercised within the Rules of the Party and the law of the land. They were certainly not intended by Conference to be used to silence whistle-blowers, which is what has happened in Leeds North East. Why are Labour officials going to such lengths to protect Fabian Hamilton from scrutiny by Party members and the public? Has it occurred to Tom Sawyer that he is not only throwing away a potential Labour seat, but possibly exposing himself to court action? Leeds North East has an excellent campaigning record, having pushed back both Tories and Liberal Democrats in a string of council elections. The four members facing disciplinary action have all made immense personal contributions to the Party over many years.
	Messages of support, resolutions, letters to the NEC and the Director of Organisation and Development (David Gardner) as well as donations payable to 'Celia Foote (Leeds North East)' should be sent to: Celia Foote, 24 St Martins Drive, Leeds, LS7 3LR. For more information tel. 0113-262 4667.
	Visit the Campaign to reinstate Leeds North East to get the latest news of this appalling suspension.

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