‘Labour meeting was overwhelmingly civil’

I’m one of the tens of thousands of people who’ve joined the Labour Party, inspired by Corbyn’s leadership. In him I see the possibility of a strong principled opposition to Tory austerity and all its attendant ills.

I went to the meeting yesterday, really curious to see what’s going on in my constinuency Labour Party. I also wanted to hear what people thought of Thangam Debbonaire’s resignation from the front bench and vote of no confidence in Corbyn.

It was pretty clear from the start that there were strong feelings all round. People were packed into the main hall, and filled a side room. There was a group with pro-Corbyn placards outside.

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Read more: ‘Labour meeting left me in tears’

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Debbonaire spoke for a short while about Jo Cox’s murder and the referendum. She also expressed her frustration at the difficulty of communicating with Corbyn and his announcement that he wanted Article 50 to be invoked as soon as possible.

These were her reasons for resigning, she said. She said she wanted to be able to hold up and oppose Article 50, and she could only rebel in this way from the back benches.

When the floor was opened to questions, it was easy to see that the prevailing mood was one of disappointment at their MP’s resignation. Again and again people expressed their support for Corbyn and asked questions about the timing of her decision and her relation to the failed coup.

It is true that a small number were more vocal and uncivil. I was stood at the back next to two guys who spoke loudly, shouted and generally made their opinions known even when others were speaking.

One of them called Debbonaire a traitor as she passed. However, these people were in the minority. Calls for everyone to listen and show consideration came from all sides – Corbyn-inspired newer members as well as more traditional Labour members.

At the same time, you could see that some of the more “moderate” Labour members were bristling at the changes in their party.

Although there were calls for questions representing “alternative points of view”, the large majority of the meeting supported Corbyn and wanted to know why their MP had joined in a series of resignations that had set the Labour party against itself at a time when strong opposition is needed more than ever.

Some of the longer standing CLP members might, I think, have felt frustrated with this.

Overall, the tone of debate was overwhelmingly civil. There were many strong feelings, but I heard opinions from a of variety of perspectives. I did not recognise Davies’ description of the meeting as “toxic” or “dangerously close to bullying”.

There were difficult questions for our MP at a time when the Labour party is divided, but differences of opinion from all sides were heard.

Chris Esson works in teaching and software development. He tweets from @C_Esson.

Read more: ‘Labour meeting left me in tears’