As a result of the National Constitutional Committee Lambeth inquiry, five people were expelled and four suspended for between six months and two years. KATE AHRENS spoke to STEVE FRENCH and ALISON HIGGS, two of the expelled councillors. What have been the results of the inquiry? AH: George Huish, Rachel Webb, Steve and myself have been expened. Lesley ham® mond ha is been suspended for six months. Bill Houghting's been suspended until after the next selections for the council.
John Harrison's been given a choiceof signing a loyalty oath' and being let back into the group after six months, or being suspended for two years, until after the council selections. Were you all given the choice of signing this "loyalty oath'? hearing. Joyce Gould who was putting the case against me said that I was not fit to be in the Labour Party. She did ask me to say that 1 would always vote with the Group whip, but 1 serious attempt to get me to lie on the floor and beg to be let back into the party. SF: It was the same with me. Larry Whitty presented my case and at the start said that 1 was not a fit Fi think that the NCC party: neard that phrase as an instruc tion to expel us.
It's clear that it's prearranged who's going to get offers like the lovalty oath The hard left aren't even 'worthy of that AH: With John Harrison, they were bending over backwards to help him say the right things. The whole tone was completely different, which backs up what Steve was saying about the hearings being rigged. What response have you got from the local labour movement? AH: My constituency, Vauxhall has been opposed suspensions rom the begin. ning and they re opposed to the expulsions that have taken place. SE: We have support from Norwood CLP. Streatham CLP is controlled by the LCC and they were the ones who started the witch-hunt, with their MP Keith Hill, and Kate Hoey, MP for within Streatham there are some wards and the women's section who have supported us.
Every town hall union cept for the AEEU and UCATT have given us support. Also Lambeth trades council has supported us Brixton UCATT branch has also given us support. So we don't feelisolated because there is the weight of support from the local labour movement and community. What makes these expulsions different from what we have seen before with the expulsions of alleged Militant supporters? SF: This marks a real deepening of the witch-hunt. Previously all the people expelled have been charged under the rule about organising a party within a party.
With us there has been no pretence. None of us have been with being proscribed organisation. Weare people who have actually been expelled haven't been charged with being in Militant.
All the expulsions have been transparently ideological, but these ones are even more transparent!
Some of the evidence against me and other people includes internal Labour Party material -- position papers that we put arguing against cuts or the Poll Tax. The way we voted in the Group was also evidence of a 'sustained course of action prejudicial to the Party. So it'sa fundamental attack on the rights of party members to express a view that's contrary to national policy.
What struck me about the hearing was that they never even attempted to prove that 1 had brought the party into dis repute.
The evidence against me was either the positions that I had which argued inside the party can't bring we party tito als can it? Or it was that I had broken the whip in full council meetings There was an attitude that counporting their local councillors who were suspended for voting against the Poll Tax. All the local party structures have been suspended.
People now have charges against them purely because of their involvement in Friends of Brighton Labour Party. Part of our charges was the setting up of Lambeth against the Witch hunt, so it's now a crime to defend yourself. What are the prospects of a SF: These expulsions horrified a lotof people; not just the left, but a lot of people have said that the cases should be dropped.
Michael Meacher said at a meeting in Lambeth a few weeks ago that he thought the witch-hunt has gone far enough now. Tribune printed an article saying that the charges against us should be dropped So we can build a broad campaign that can encompass anyone who thinks that we should have the right to free speech inside the party.
Resolutions
We want as many local Labour Parties and trade union branches as possible to put amendments and emergency resolutions protesting about the witch-hunt to Labour Party Conference, and we want to be