Full Fisher message exposes past and current media spin as Labour insiders accuse McDonnell of power play

John McDonnell

Within minutes of news breaking this morning that Jeremy Corbyn’s chief of staff Karie Murphy and a number of his ‘LOTO’ (Leader of the Opposition) team were being seconded to Labour’s ‘Southside’ HQ to coordinate the general election campaign, journalists hostile to the Labour left were being briefed from inside the party that the move was a form of pay-back by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

McDonnell was said to be ‘furious’ over the resignation of LOTO policy expert Andrew Fisher – whose resignation has been painted by hostile corporate media as triggered by the behaviour of Corbyn’s closest aides, with a clear implication that Murphy was at the heart of the problem.

But Labour insiders tell a very different story – and have accused McDonnell of making a power-play. One told the SKWAWKBOX:

Karie Murphy was Jeremy Corbyn’s firewall. She absorbed key attacks on him & carried out the ugly jobs dutifully. She shovelled the s**t everyone else was either too timid and/or too self-interested to touch. There are only two potential reasons for wanting to connive to remove her. First, so they can isolate and destroy Jeremy. Second, so they can control him. We won’t have long to wait to discover which of those motivations were behind this redeployment.

Certainly @johnmcdonnellMP is being seen by some of @karie_murphy 's allies as the driving force behind the move.

And the forthcoming departure of @FisherAndrew79 has soured the atmosphere – one insider said 'it's bigger and more damaging than the @tom_watson row at conference' https://t.co/id3PzIGoGe — iain watson (@iainjwatson) October 8, 2019 The BBC’s Iain Watson reports on the fingers pointing at John McDonnell

Another said:

This has been brewing for a while. John has been on manoeuvres, as his comments about Labour and remain have shown when Jeremy has wanted Labour’s ‘sensible leave deal’. But it dates back much further. Hostilities commenced in June last year, at least in part in response to Jennie [Formby] becoming general secretary, and have gone steadily downhill since. Of course, Karie’s too highly regarded for John to get her out altogether. But all of a sudden, Jeremy’s closest aides who have helped resist John’s attempts to push the party down a damaging line are all in a different building, leaving Jeremy isolated and exposed.

The SKWAWKBOX has obtained Andrew Fisher’s full resignation statement, which is reproduced below for the first time. Contrary to the corporate media line, Murphy is not mentioned – and the most damning comments seem aimed at so-called ‘centrist’ front-benchers leaking confidential information to the right-wing press:

I wanted to let you all know that I have today written to Jennie Formby to resign. To illustrate why, I will use a few examples – all from yesterday: • Firstly, a major speech I was working on for Monday was pulled, without any plan to reschedule

• A pamphlet that was being launched yesterday in Scotland was pulled (neither the Leader, Shadow Chancellor, Pauline Bryan who authored it, or me who had signed it off were told why – I still don’t know). Oddly, the event to launch it still went ahead

• A tweet was drafted for Jeremy in light of the recent Russian bombing of hospitals in Idlib. The tweet condemned Syrian and US bombings in Syria (I kid you not)

• I was told by a manager in Southside that I am the only ED trusted professionally by another ED (now in some ways this cheered me, but actually it’s incredibly depressing).

• Despite a strapline having been promised by the end of August since mid-July, there is still no conference strapline, with conference just one week away. Tens of thousands of pounds have been spent on focus groups and polling for this and there is no end-product, just a blizzard of lies and excuses.

• A member of another team complained to me that there is “a class divide” in their team

• Another member of the same team told me they are applying for other jobs (I know of one other who is too, and several others are already leaving)

• A confidential document that I had prepared for the Leader (who asked me to share it with 3 other people) was shared more widely and then left on a printer

• I find out that JC’s major policy announcement for conference has been leaked to the Telegraph

• I find out that a policy story has been briefed onto the front page of the Times without my knowledge or sign off – and without the knowledge of another shadow cabinet member whose area it affects. I had assured that team it had not come from us earlier in the day. I later find out that a member of LOTO press team, a senior politician and their staff, and a member of my own LOTO policy team have connived to leak it and not tell me. Bizarrely, they then thought I would welcome hearing their conflicting excuses (but not apologies) by whatsapp, text and phone. Unsurprisingly, after the day described above, I decided to ignore it all and spend a sliver of time with my wife and son. None of these things individually would be enough to make me leave. All of them happening three or four years ago wouldn’t have been enough to make me leave. All of them happening yesterday are not why I am leaving. But they are a snapshot of the lack of professionalism, competence and human decency which I am no longer willing to put up with daily. I’ve tried to resolve some of these issues for a long time, but have been unable to – and yesterday just proved that I never will. As the sole surviving staff member from Jeremy’s first leadership campaign, I think I’ve probably put as much into this project as anyone else. I leave proud of what we have collectively achieved, but I no longer have faith that we can succeed, although I do hope I’m wrong. In fact, please prove me wrong. I remain committed to winning a socialist Labour government with Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister. I also want to assure everyone that I will not be seeking a huge pay off (or any pay off). I do not have another job and have not applied for any. I won’t be briefing the press against anyone (never have, never will). I won’t be writing a book about my time working for the Labour Party. And I am not sharing this message anywhere else or with anyone else. I will tell other staff and politicians that I am leaving due to family commitments. Between now and then I will continue to work hard to prepare us for conference, the likely imminent election, and to get us into a better and consensual place on Brexit. I would strongly recommend that you consider promoting Mike Hatchett to Executive Director of Policy & Research (and backfill his role with Tom Webb) – but they are decisions you must take. p.s. I will not be taking any calls this weekend, but I will participate in any work-related calls so that I can fulfil my role between now and when I leave. I’m not sending this message to start a debate and won’t engage in one. I’ll also delete it after a couple of hours.

John McDonnell had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication, but has denied to other media that he is behind this morning’s developments.

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