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Dear Mr Starmer,

I was beginning to wonder if by electing you as leader of our Party that members had scraped the bottom of the barrel, but it seems that you are intent on taking our Party down further. Examining your tenure as leader we may get the impression that democratic socialism is anathema to you and that you are an agent of the apartheid Likud party of Israel.

First to give members and former members this impression was your complicity in making sure the leader of our Party at the time of the 2017 and 2019 general elections, the Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn, did not win those elections Your performance was certainly lacklustre even if you did not join in the antics of certain members of staff.

Then there is your obsessive persecution of the said Right Honourable Member expelling him and anyone who supported or agreed with him accusing us all of racism particularly anti-Semitism. Leaked copies of the Forde Report indicate that under Honourable Mr Corbyn complaints of anti-Semitism were dealt with far more quickly and effectively than under previous leaderships: a tribute to Ms Jenny Formby.

In my experience, anti-Semitism is negligible in our Party.  I was brought up in a Labour supporting, labouring class family in a working class area and I have been a member of our Party long before you. I was also a member of Chipping Barnet CLP, which had a significant number of Jewish members. I never heard any complaints of anti-Semitism. The accusation against our Party was a lie.

Accompanying this is your ditching of democracy in our Party. The attempt to control discussion in local parties: the censuring of selection of candidates who may favour democratic socialist policies like public ownership of public services and industries, who may support human rights for Palestinians; your appointment of a witch hunter from the IDF to root out anyone who does not agree with you; the bullying of MPs by threatening to withdraw the whip. Can you not see the significance of losing 300,000 members, the almost bankruptcy of our Party through your alienation of these former members and the amount of lawsuits you have invited?

Now to crown it all, you have joined the bandwagon demonising the Russian Federation and its leader, Mr Putin. I agree that invading Ukraine is wrong morally and strategically, but for a leader of a democratic socialist/social democratic party to demonstrate a lack of appreciation of the psyche of Mr Putin is base. It is a pandering to the neo-liberal forces of the West wanting to destroy the Russian Federation and to grab the mineral riches of Ukraine. You have aligned our Party with a neo-fascist regime in the Ukraine which is undemocratic, is guilty of ignoring agreements made in in 2014 to allow areas with significant  ethnic Russian populations to be autonomous, of waging an eight year war against ‘separatists’, of suppressing opposition using torture and murder.

As a  well educated person, formerly Head of Crown Prosecutions, you cannot be ignorant of the history of Russia and its influence on Mr Putin’s suspicion of NATO, so it must be that you chose to ignore it. Perhaps you are listening too much to those who benefit from conflict. You must be aware that the end result will be further austerity for citizens who will have to pay for the weapons sent and used in Ukraine. The UK government, and you for supporting it, must take responsibility for the mess in Eastern Europe. The sending of Liz Truss to negotiate with the Russians was not only an embarrassment but also a death sentence for military and civilians.

Her only brief was to threaten the Russians. Hardly a fine example of diplomatic skills. As it has turn out to be – deadly. And you are now threatening members who join the Stop the War Coalition. I am a pacifist and I do not acknowledge the idea of ‘A Just War’, but obviously you do. We should rely on the primary art of diplomacy: listening to what others have to say, which is also significantly missing in your leadership.

Lastly, your position in this affair is hypocritical. You condemn Putin for invading West Ukraine but you have expelled former members for criticising Israel for invading Palestinian territories, murdering women and children and young people, denying Palestinians human rights, illegally detaining them, denying them healthcare.

It is time to reflect on your tenure of OUR Party. True repentance may help you: it may even help you to sleep at night because I doubt if you can with all that on your conscience!.

Mike Larcey

Downham Market,

Norfolk

02/03/2022