Labour NEC member promotes the Socialist Party (Militant)?

Photo: twitter.com/BeckettUnite

This week saw a walkout by the far-left on Labour's National Executive Committee. One of the individuals involved was none other than Howard Becket who is also Assistant General Secretary of Unite. Seems he's been busy promoting the Socialist Party at their annual bash albeit on-line due to the pandemic Socialism 2000.

The Socialist Party are one of the fragments of the old Militant Tendency that plagued the Labour Party back in the eighties and became infamous for sending out redundancy notices to Liverpool Council workers by taxi. That led to Neil Kinnock's famous speech. Militant remains a proscribed organisation no matter what name it takes and the Socialist Party still use the the  Militant logo. 

The Socialist Party are one of the two main organisations that form the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (the other being the RMT union). This organisation has stood candidates against the labour Party in both local and general elections.

According to The Socialist newspaper :

"..the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has set out the core policies TUSC candidates will be committed to fight for in next May's local council elections."

So one must ask what Beckett thinks he was doing (personal capacity or not) at this event undermining  Labour to a rival organisation that has announced it will be standing candidates against the party at the next election?

The Socialist newspaper also reports:

Howard Beckett, Unite assistant general secretary and Labour NEC member in a personal capacity

This week we have had an announcement that 5.5 million public sectors workers can expect a pay freeze. Again, workers told that they must pay for this crisis. And where is the voice of Labour? Where are our arguments that it is time to tackle the Tories and talk of nationalising those businesses?

We have a Labour leadership determined to trounce Corbynism. Determined to make a stamp that they are a new leadership and in doing so have created a civil war within the Labour Party that sees the attempt to exit Corbynism, and, in doing so, exit socialism itself from the Party.

As a Labour Party NEC member he is assisting a rival party and proscribed organisation by bringing the Labour Party into disrepute.  A matter for the General Secretary to consider I would have thought.