Jennie Formby’s tweet this morning

The Mail has run fake – and ridiculous – news that Labour’s membership has fallen to just 385,000, claiming that it represents a fall of 150,000 in just a year.

In fact, it would represent a fall of almost 150,000 in just a three weeks, since Labour’s membership figure in December was 533,000 – as the SKWAWKBOX reported. The Mail also claimed that Labour’s ‘coffers’ had taken a hit of around £6m as a result.

Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby has put the record straight:

The Mail article forms part of a continual propaganda campaign by Labour’s opponents – including so-called ‘centrists’ pushing for a new referendum – claiming that Labour is ‘haemorrhaging’ members and supporters angry over the party’s Brexit strategy.

This is wholesale fake news.

As Formby pointed out, more people continue to join the party than leave, while both Labour voters and Labour members approve of Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to the issue, in spite of ‘MSM’ claims to the contrary – and yesterday a pro-referendum group was forced to admit that backing another referendum would damage Labour electorally.

But that’s not all. While centrists and the media spent last week – a week of utter chaos and disgrace for the government – trying to blame Labour for the current Brexit shambles, one of the most reliable indicators showed clearly that voters saw through the Establishment ruse.

As the media shamed itself with a skewed and often nonsensical interpretation of events and a sneering dismissal of Labour’s push for a new general election for the sake of the country, members of the party and of the public were digging deep in their pockets to donate to Labour – to an unprecedented extent.

Jennie Formby tweeted the news this morning:

Thank you to our brilliant members who donated more to Labour in one 24 period last week than at any other time in our history outside elections. If you want to/are able to donate, here’s the link #WeAreMany #ChangeIsComing https://t.co/GDOvChzUsr — Jennie Formby (@JennieGenSec) January 20, 2019

SKWAWKBOX comment:

It suits the purposes both of the right-wing Establishment and of ’empty vessel’ centrists trying to exploit Brexit to try to regain their relevance in the Labour Party, to claim that Labour’s position on Brexit under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is driving away support.



But the latest polls – including a poll by a pro-referendum organisation – show that to be fake news. And now in the most concrete way people are demonstrating, by donating their scarce income to the party, how solidly they are behind not just Corbyn’s vision for Labour and society, but also his approach to the most contentious political issue in play at the moment.

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