Take It Off

According to today's Trotskyist "Independent" (a journal that currently combines the politics of George Galloway with the journalistic style and insight of the Beano), an emergency resolution will be sent to CLPs demanding that Tony quits because of his "disgraceful policy in Iraq" and calling for a leadership election within two months.

The motion has been tabled by leaders of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, who despite my active and vocal opposition successfully backed four candidates elected to the NEC, including the CND loony Walter Wolfgang.

Unlike "The Guardian", the politics of which I despise but which perversely has published numerous letters from me in recent years, "The Independent" is a horrid little rag.

To understand why I hate this pile of "journalistic" vomit so much, read the article their contributor "Pandora" let out of the box and published about me on 27 April 2001:

"An exchange of correspondence in The Times over the past week rather attracted our interest, not for the puerile political point-scoring expressed therein, but because of one of the characters involved. Step forward Luke Akehurst, prospective Labour candidate for Aldershot and long-time Blairite activist, who amusingly mused as to why there was still such a thing as the LibDems. This, then, must be the same chap who wrote a paper a couple of years ago, when Labour was officially cosying up to (then) Paddy's boys and girls - urging fellow workers facing LibDem pressure to "find one flaw and smear them all". Just one, indeed, among a range of duplicitous tactics. "The LibDems will never do a deal with Labour so you can offer them one in complete safety" being another.

"It was also this same Luke who, working for Frank Dobson in his ill-fated tilt at being London mayor, was spied with a full list of London Labour members, leading to serious accusations of dirty tricks by "Red" Ken and others. The same list, it was later revealed, that had been acquired by one Linda Smith - Luke's long-term partner. With all this fancy footwork, we thought Luke deserved to be watched more closely by Pandora.

"But what to call him? "Some people call him Labour Rent Boy," said one source. Perfect."

How would you like to be called a political rent boy all over the internet? My reaction is, "Take it off!"