She was a member of Militant: that’s hardly a surprise
UNLESS it’s revealed tomorrow that the Pope is Catholic, the contest for the year’s least surprising news story has already been won. It has been claimed this week that Jennie Formby, the newly appointed Corbynite general secretary of the Labour Party, was a member of Militant, the hard-Left organisation whose members were thrown out of the party in the 1980s.
Since Labour is now firmly in the hands of hard-Left extremists, it is hardly surprising that the party’s new general secretary is a… hard-Left extremist. But unsurprising as the news may be, it’s still a fine piece of investigative journalism by TV reporter Michael Crick.
Mr Crick’s report has been backed up by the Labour Party’s former South-east director Michael Creighton. He confirmed that Ms Formby was a member of Militant in Southampton in the 1980s. “Militant never published a membership list but it was common knowledge at the time among Labour Party members in Southampton that Jennie was a member.
“Everyone was saying it. We had about 500 members in Labour Southampton. Everyone just knew because there were other Militant members and you knew who they were – there are things you just know.”
He said that Ms Formby remained in the party after other Militant colleagues were expelled: “When there were half a dozen or so Militant members kicked out by the party nationally, it really drew a line under it and she remained a Labour Party member.”
THAT failure to expel Ms Formby in the 1980s allowed her to remain in the party and, now, to become its general secretary. To anyone under 50 this is ancient history. The label Militant means nothing – one reason why the hard-Left has been able to take control.
One of Jeremy Corbyn’s undoubted successes has been his ability to enthuse the younger generation. Naively, they have responded to his speeches about a “kinder, gentler politics” and his apparent wish to make society fairer.
The reality of his support for the IRA, his hatred of the West, and his defence of tyrannies across the planet are dismissed as “smears”. Organised by