Sir Keir Starmer defended his choice to dismiss a Labour frontbencher who supported the railworkers’ strike, but he also cautioned the left-leaning MP’s backers that it was a “straightforward judgement.”
As a result of Sam Tarry’s termination as a shadow transport minister, the partner of the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, Labour is currently involved in a bitter dispute with unions.
The former union official and MP for Ilford South showed up at London’s Euston station on Wednesday morning “in solidarity” with the 40,000 RMT members who shut down at least half of Britain’s rail network yesterday, causing chaos for millions of people.
Sir Keir has already advised senior MPs to distance themselves from rallies while supporting the right to strike if they want to seem qualified to form a government.
It coincides with union plans for a summer of unrest that will result in numerous train halts in the upcoming months.
Mr. Starmer, who is in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, said: “Sam Tarry was fired because he booked himself onto media programmes without permission and then made up policy on the fly, and that can’t be tolerated in any organisation because we’ve got collective responsibility.”
This was met with outrage from the Union and support for Tarry from Corbynista backbenchers.
That was therefore fairly simple.
Of course, in terms of the strike, I completely comprehend the annoyance felt by so many workers who have watched as prices have increased and inflation has skyrocketed but haven’t seen an increase in their pay.
The Labour Party will therefore always be on the side of the working class, but we also need collective responsibility, just like any other organisation.
The dismissal was criticised by the general secretaries of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), the RMT’s Mick Lynch, and the Unite union, with the latter calling it a “juvenile attack.”
In the meantime, John Prescott, a current Labour peer and former Labour deputy prime minister, tweeted a picture of himself speaking to striking miners in 1984 as the shadow transport secretary in an apparent effort to support Mr. Tarry.
Rachael Maskell, the York Central MP, requested that the Labour leader visit picket lines last night, but he chose not to do so.
Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB, called it a “huge own goal” for Labour to “turn a Tory Transport crisis into a Labour story.”
Mr. Tarry declared himself “proud” to support the rail workers who are on strike.
He claimed in a statement that a Labour government would ensure that rail workers receive a fair wage and that this dispute would not occur.
“It has been an honour to sit on Labour’s frontbench for the past two years and to have had the chance to speak up for struggling workers who deserve so much more than the treatment they have received from this dishonest and out-of-touch Government.
I will continue to fight tenaciously from the backbenches for a Labour victory in the upcoming general election while also supporting the striking rail workers.
Backbench Labour lawmakers like Ian Byrne of Liverpool West Derby, Dawn Butler of Brent Central, Tahir Ali of Birmingham Hall Green, Ian Mearns of Gateshead, and Emma Lewell-Buck of South Shields also joined picket lines.
Additionally, a few Labour MPs from the far Left came to his aid.
“Solidarity to Sam Tarry,” wrote Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery in a tweet. It is in the best interests of what Labour was founded for and should stand for to support RMT employees as well as all other workers who are in a dispute.
To put it simply, the firing is shameful.
Solidarity Sam Tarry, said Edmonton MP Kate Osamor. The Labour Party exists to represent common people in battle. We must always keep that in mind.
Salford & Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey stated: “Labour is supposed to stand in solidarity with workers as they fight for their jobs, pay, and conditions.
Trade unions were established to represent workers politically and to fight for a living wage for all.
Former TSSA union official, Mr. Tarry. He started getting close to Ms. Rayner, 41, after he managed her campaign for deputy leader of Labour, and they are now dating.
In 2020, she and her husband Mark divorced, and Mr. Tarry, a father of two, divorced his wife as well.
After local party members decided to hold an open reselection process ahead of the next general election, Mr. Tarry will have to fight to retain his seat in London.
This means that a different candidate could be chosen to run for the seat.
He holds a 24,000 vote margin in one of the safest Labour seats in the nation, Ilford South.
However, sources informed The Guardian yesterday that Tarry might be selected for a seat elsewhere, in a district where the party’s left wing has more influence.
“The Labour dismissal of Sam Tarry for supporting working people on strike, against cuts to their jobs and pay, is another insult to the trade union movement,” said Ms. Graham, who took over the superunion Unite last year. To be honest, if it weren’t so serious, it would be absurd.
‘The Labour Party has chosen to continue engaging in old factional warfare at a time when people are experiencing a cost of living crisis and on the day the Conservative Government launched a new round of attacks on the rights of working people.
“Labor is becoming less and less important to the struggling average worker.”
Attacks by children on union members will not increase Labour’s chances of gaining power.
Members of the frontbench sign up for collective accountability, according to a party spokesman.
“That involves speaking to agreed-upon frontbench positions and having media appearances approved.”
Sam Tarry has been demoted to the frontbench because “as a government-in-waiting, any breach of collective responsibility is regarded extremely seriously.”