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To: The Labour Party's National Executive Committee (NEC)
Labour Party: lift the suspension on Andrew Fisher
We call on Labour's NEC to lift the suspension on Jeremy Corbyn's political advisor Andrew Fisher and reinstate him as a full Labour Party member with immediate effect.
Why is this important?
On Friday, the 6th of November, Jeremy Corbyn’s political advisor Andrew Fisher was suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into a tweet sent in August 2014 which, it is alleged, advocated support for an anarchist party, Class War, in opposition to a local Labour candidate, Emily Benn. In fact, the tweet was clearly sent in jest, and part of a series of tweets sent by Andrew at the expense of the Class War candidate – who acknowledges that he didn’t have Fisher’s support.
Andrew has been a Labour Party member since 1996, has stood as a Labour candidate and worked hard for the election of local Labour Party candidates in the election of 2015 (as he had in every previous election since becoming a member). He wrote a book in 2006 marking the centenary of the Labour Party and has been instrumental in persuading people to stay in the Labour Party and argue for the types of policies advocated by Jeremy Corbyn. He was instrumental in developing Jeremy’s policy platform during the leadership campaign in the summer. These are not the actions of someone who is anti-Labour or supports another party.
Andrew was not an employee of the Labour Party at the time of the tweet, yet recognises that it was inappropriate and has therefore issued an apology for the embarrassment his joke may have caused. That should have been the end of the story. We believe the suspension is both unnecessary and damaging to the Labour Party at this crucial time in the political cycle. We feel there has been no violation of Labour Party rules and therefore, we call on the NEC to reinstate Andrew Fisher as a full Labour Party member with immediate effect.
Andrew has been a Labour Party member since 1996, has stood as a Labour candidate and worked hard for the election of local Labour Party candidates in the election of 2015 (as he had in every previous election since becoming a member). He wrote a book in 2006 marking the centenary of the Labour Party and has been instrumental in persuading people to stay in the Labour Party and argue for the types of policies advocated by Jeremy Corbyn. He was instrumental in developing Jeremy’s policy platform during the leadership campaign in the summer. These are not the actions of someone who is anti-Labour or supports another party.
Andrew was not an employee of the Labour Party at the time of the tweet, yet recognises that it was inappropriate and has therefore issued an apology for the embarrassment his joke may have caused. That should have been the end of the story. We believe the suspension is both unnecessary and damaging to the Labour Party at this crucial time in the political cycle. We feel there has been no violation of Labour Party rules and therefore, we call on the NEC to reinstate Andrew Fisher as a full Labour Party member with immediate effect.
