Mick Hartley

A personal view of the Labour Party's problem with women, from Jean Hatchet:

Many women who have always found the left to be their natural political haven now have realised that the Labour Party is no longer the safe or welcoming home they once found it to be. Left wing women are leaving Labour over its blatant refusal to hear women’s concerns on the clash between gender identity and women’s rights. Women ask to be listened to and are ignored and isolated. They still yearn for a Labour Party that cares about them like it used to, and some feel that eventually if they make sound and well-evidenced points then the Ministers will respond sympathetically. Unfortunately, the men of the party keep politically slapping them in the face. The parallels with appealing to an abuser are stark. 

I was expelled from the Labour Party by email on 15 December 2022. There had been a preposterous accusation made about me that I had supported the Green Party, which is against Party rules. I was allowed to make written representation before being swiftly found guilty and told to attend no more meetings or take part in campaigning activity. The offending tweet was this: “Pleased to see the very lovely @alisonclareteal has been selected as Green Party parliamentary candidate in Sheffield Central”.

I naively pointed out in my evidence submission that this is not supportive of the Party. I have been highly critical of the Green Party for many years, and congratulating a competent candidate on parliamentary selection is not unusual. Keir Starmer has congratulated both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss on their respective appointments as Prime Minister. Women of the Labour Party cannot behave like the leader of the Party it seems. I know I am being expelled because of my views on the issue of women’s rights and how they conflict with trans activist demands. My own MP Olivia Blake was annoyed by my becoming a Labour Party women’s officer and refused to engage with me throughout that time. This expulsion is a nefarious slash at my views, which are worthy of respect in a democratic society. 

Just like when I was being abused, I am not allowed to speak about their unfair treatment of me. I am threatened that I must not speak about the investigation to a third party or the media lest action will be taken. I had the right to appeal but likewise had the command to be silent about doing so, or expulsion would be immediate. Labour refused to let me know the result of my appeal. They refuse to give me a time frame. They want me to be silent as I wait. 

The thing about victims of abuse is that once we take a man’s foot off our throat and walk free of him, we are often very difficult to keep silent ever again. I am not afraid to walk from under the shadow of the Labour Party, until they remember how much they need women. I will not abandon the left, but I am not the property of misogynistic men of the left or the cowardly women who sit alongside them instead of standing up for the feminist warrior Rosie Duffield.