Jeremy Corbyn

• THE Islington Tribune hit the nail on the head by referring to Jeremy Corbyn as the People’s MP.

Despite the current leadership of the Labour Party, with its new general secretary David Evans taking the whip away from him, Corbyn remains head and shoulders above the rest. It is an absolute insult that a former leader of the Labour Party be treated this way.

At a recent social-distanced gathering in Finsbury Park, Islington Trades Union Council raised our banner in support of Jeremy Corbyn and this event went out on social media.

We would march in support of our MP time and time again, as he has stood side by side and supported the campaigns and disputes of the labour movement throughout the years.

These include many justice campaigns; local campaigns such as the Whittington Hospital being one example; as well as displaying an enormous knowledge and understanding of international affairs. He has also joined workers on picket lines when they most needed support.

Islington Trades Union Council is not affiliated to the Labour Party, although some of us are party members and others belong to other groups on the left.

However, we come together as trades unionists. We feel that collectively we can speak more freely as it is clear that, as reported in your newspaper, (Whip row is about free speech, insists Corbyn, December 4).

Sir Keir Starmer, in a very short period of time, is silencing Constituency Labour Parties, with suspensions of individual members without any right to reply, and in a very well planned and calculated move to draw back on the progressive polices that Corbyn had developed in the previous five years.

As well as building a mass membership, Corbyn represents everything that Sir Keir will never be and will never achieve.

As an organisation we are registered with the Trades Union Congress and affiliated to the Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils, the umbrella grouping of trades union councils, and we are supportive of Jeremy Corbyn and remain proud of the two last manifestos of the Labour Party.

At our monthly meeting in Islington, we discussed how we can make a stand in solidarity with our local MP at a time when he most needs it, as he has been very supportive of our campaigns.

We agreed to form a wider base of Islington Trade Unionist Friends of Jeremy Corbyn, linking up with Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Islington’s very own, “The People’s MP”.

MICK GILGUNN
Chair, Islington Trades Union Council