“Application for membership – I already have a number waiting to be reinstated: I have been expelled from the Party on the grounds that I am organising Left Unity in Leicester. I have been advised to re-apply as I have no right of appeal.
I am frustrated that this decision was made without any approach to ask what I had to say about the evidence you have. The evidence used to expel me was historical and I think it was used to expel me as an opportunistic swipe because I was given no right of reply. I believe that the Party knew of my previous Party Political activity before allowing me to join. In effect I am very disgruntled and frustrated that my time, my CLP members’ time, and your time has been so wasted at a time when we should be fighting the cutbacks, not each other.
The ‘evidence’ used by the NEC to expel me included an article from the Left Unity website:
This page was written in March 2013 when Left Unity was being established and I was indeed the organiser in Leicester. The other piece of ‘evidence’ is a Facebook extract dated January 2015 – yes, I was then in Left Unity and organising the Branch, also Chair of the Disputes Committee, and I chaired one National Conference however I left Unity in May 2015 and provide evidence of that below in my email exchange with Kate Hudson, Party Leader in May 2015.
When I applied to vote in the Labour Party 2015 Leadership election I was called by the Guardian who knew about my application to Labour and my link to Left Unity – I can only surmise that their information came from the Labour Party. I applied to join Labour Party at the same time as others in my house after Jeremy Corbyn took the Leadership but my membership application took a lot longer than theirs to be processed. Again I surmise that I was being screened before being allowed in.
I was however admitted and have been Oadby & Wigston Branch Chair, Vice-Chair of Harborough CLP, CLP rep on the LCF and observer at the Labour Group. I have been out door knocking a number of times with Willy Bach in the PCC elections, canvassed in the streets on behalf of Labour in the EU elections and attended the count; I have attended a newcomers’ meeting, the East Midlands conference, the Leicester meeting, and had paid for a ticket to Conference which I have now cancelled.
I am applying for membership and expect the 5 year rule to be lifted in my case as the expulsion was based on inaccurate information.
As I need to ask for permission to have the 5 year ban lifted, I will sign up for Direct Debit when have confirmation that I have been accepted back into membership.
Thank you
Sheila”
[+ evidence]