Hint to Emily Thornberry MP

Emily,

thankyou but no thanks for your spam email sent to all Labour bloggers containing a press release slagging off Stephen Byers which you expected me to reproduce here.

Had you read my post about his proposals, you would have noticed that although disagreeing with him I expressed my respect and admiration for him as a politician.

I will not therefore be joining in publicising the content of your attack on him.

I must say that quite aside from the foolishness of sending your missive to me, the level of political courage required to wait several days, see if what someone suggested was unpopular, then jump on the bandwagon, was noteworthy.

Instead of publishing your views on Byers, I shall remind readers of your excellent political judgement, exhibited when I was guest speaker at the Islington Labour Party LGC and you chose to attack me for suggesting that a blind eye should be turned to comrades who wanted to campaign for then then independent (but soon to be readmitted to Labour) Ken Livingstone as well as for Labour GLA candidates. Your position, which was put forward in a rather aggressive and personally rude manner (ironic given my own record in opposing Ken's readmission) was that I must be blind not to see the merits of Nicky Gavron, who:
a) was going to continue to be Labour candidate
b) was going to thrash Ken
c) would have won us the Brent East byelection if she had been candidate

much as I like Nicky I thought this was slightly over selling her strengths vis-a-vis Livingstone.

To your credit friends in Islington told me you made a great contribution to the excellent results there this May. It is a shame you have marred this with an outbreak of publicity seeking sectarianism.