The battle for Stella Creasy's streets: how the bombing of Syria is causing a growing divide in Walthamstow

Labour MP Stella Creasy has become a target for anti-war protestors and Left-wing activists, online and in Walthamstow. As the bombing begins, Susannah Butter reports on a growing divide in E17
Walthamstow residents holding a vigil against military strikes on Syria
Cascade News

It’s 1.20am and now the questions aren’t even logical. Am out! Good night all & will circulate Sunday details.” Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, sent this fraught message late last night, after a 10-hour debate in the House of Commons over whether to bomb Islamic State.

Creasy is known for her prolific Twitter and Facebook activity, responding to most constituents personally and openly sharing her concerns. She notably took on the trolls when they attacked her over her campaign to stop payday lending.

Now the trolls are back but this time many are from her own political side. In the run-up to yesterday’s vote, Creasy stated that she was undecided on whether to back military action in Syria, sharing the arguments for and against. This, and her eventual decision to vote with the Government, have made her a target once more.

Shortly after last night’s vote, Creasy’s Wikipedia page was edited to describe her as a “warmonger”. On Facebook and Twitter, constituents claimed she had lost their votes, while others sent graphic messages: “Enjoy sleeping when the first child dies. Maybe you can keep one of their limbs as a souvenir.”

It’s not just the trolls who are turning up the heat on the popular Walthamstow MP. On Tuesday night, 250 people marched from the local Queen’s Road mosque to Creasy’s branch office on Orford Road, blocking the street for an hour. They stuck Post-It notes with “No” written on them on the doors and windows, made anti-war speeches and waved flags and banners.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy
Jeremy Selwyn

Organisers called the event a vigil, insisting it was a grassroots, community-based protest, set up on Facebook 24 hours before by Waltham Forest Stop the War, Waltham Forest Council of Mosques and Walthamstow Migrants’ Action Group, “focused on sending a clear message that we oppose the bombing of Syria and we call on our elected representatives to vote no”.

Local priest Stephen Saxby made a speech, as did some representatives from the mosque. On the night Conservative voters rubbed shoulders with many from the Labour Party.

Prominent in the ranks were members of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), a socialist pressure group that some are concerned is posing a threat to unity within the party. The LRC advertised the event on its Facebook page and its red flag was visible during the protest.

Yesterday, Creasy’s office was inundated with calls and she tweeted from her seat in the Commons: “For Christ’s sake — I want to listen to debate in chamber but people ringing my office abusing my staff so dipping out to check ok!” One Facebook commenter accused her of being “no better than GW Bush”. George Galloway tweeted: “Funny Labour MPs who want to fight ISIS feel “bullied”, “intimidated” by the telephone calls of their constituents and e-mails from members?”

But others came to her defence, including Ed Miliband, who tweeted: “Attempts to demonise and target MPs over Syria by some who claim to be our supporters are intolerable and have no place in the Labour Party”. I Stand with Stella is trending on Twitter and a petition of the same name has 1,326 signatures.

Two hours before the vote, Jeremy Corbyn waded in, prompted by concerns over the treatment of Creasy and other undecided Labour members including Diana Johnson, MP for Hull North, who received a message in her parliamentary inbox warning that MPs in favour of military intervention would face a vote of no confidence in their constituencies: “That is the least the Labour Party members will do to try to wash the blood from their hands of the innocent civilians which the bombs will surely kill.”

Hove MP Peter Kyle was sent a picture of a dead baby through the post. In Creasy’s constituency, Labour councillor Asim Mahmood wrote on Facebook that any MP who supported the “killing of innocents in this way should automatically go through a trigger ballot for re-selection”.

A majority of MPs voted for airstrikes in Syria

Corbyn said: “Over recent days I have received a number of reports that there have been some incidents where Labour Party members and MPs have been abused ... There is no place in the Labour Party or from those that support us for bullying of any sort.”

But is this about more than air strikes? A councillor in north London who wants to remain anonymous suggests that the protest highlights factions within the Labour Party who have other agendas and believes that Creasy, who was re-elected with a substantially increased majority in May but failed to win the deputy position in the autumn’s leadership elections, “is not perceived as far Left enough.”

“There was an anti-war element to the vigil,” says the councillor. “But there was also a group of people who don’t think Creasy is far Left enough and were using it to express that. The act of that many people protesting is very worrying. Even if Creasy had voted no I don’t think they would leave her alone. They aren’t concerned about her work stopping payday lending.”

One speaker at Tuesday’s vigil was Linda Taaffe, from the National Union of Teachers. Her partner Peter was expelled from Labour in the Eighties for his militant Trotskyism. He is now the Socialist Party general secretary. Their daughter, Nancy, attends LRC meetings and stood against Creasy as a Trade Union and Socialist Coalition candidate in the general election. She won 0.9 per cent of the vote.

With its mix of centrist MPs and more militant activists, Walthamstow is a microcosm for opinions in the Labour Party. The current protests are happening against a background of uncertainty: the constituency borders are likely to be redrawn before 2018, creating scope for manoeuvring and a new Labour candidate could be put forward.

Jon Lansman, who is involved in Momentum, the campaigning group set up after the Labour leadership result to harness the pro-Corbyn surge, recently told the Financial Times he no longer favoured automatic reselection. Former Labour MP Tom Harris said: “There is nowhere rebellious MPs feel more vulnerable than in their back yards.”

On Sunday Creasy is holding a meeting to discuss her decision and it is likely to be lively and well attended. Many will be Labour Party supporters.

National membership more than doubled in the wake of Corbyn’s election to nearly 400,000 and the councillor says this rise “means the party is more difficult to control”. “Experienced councillors are very concerned about where this is taking the party. It is difficult to have a policy discussion at the moment in the Labour Party. It is almost split between pressure groups and policy.”

As well as producing Momentum, the membership surge has boosted the LRC, which was founded in 2004 and chaired by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell.

There is no branch of Momentum in Walthamstow, although there are discussions about setting one up.

Many of the LRC members present at Tuesday’s protest also attended a meeting in Walthamstow on November 25, arranged by McDonnell. Creasy was not there, although the LRC claims she was invited. Soon afterwards, four Creasy supporters lost posts in the local constituency parties to Corbyn backers. Some have remarked that AGMs are being rearranged at very short notice and meetings are going on until late in the evening.

Chris Ford, the head of Walthamstow LRC, says he supports Creasy: “The anti-war event on Tuesday was about expressing our opposition to the bombing of Syria. We gave Stella a pledge that we support her. I voted for her as deputy leader and there is no reselection initiative. The Labour Representation Committee is not engaged in any attempt to seek re-selection in Walthamstow. Walthamstow Labour Party nominated Jeremy Corbyn for leader, and Waltham Forest LRC is committed to working with Stella Creasy and all party members in advancing Jeremy Corbyn’s agenda.”

Meanwhile, Creasy continues to fend off what she calls “untrue and hurtful” messages. The councillor says: “Stella Creasy is an exceptionally hard-work0ing MP and if she is being threatened it should not be condoned. It risks bringing the Labour Party into disrepute.”

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter

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