South Tyneside Independents» Labour Party

Jarrow MP prefers Balls

May 29th, 2010 | By admin | Category: Labour Party

Why is Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn refusing to back nearby South Shields MP David Miliband's bid to become Labour leader?

Stephen Hepburn, the Labour MP for Jarrow will not be supporting David Miliband for the Labour leadership.

Mr Hepburn, the former deputy leader of South Tyneside Council believesthat the best man to lead the Labour party is Ed Balls despite the fact that front runner David Miliband’s South Shields constituency borders his own Jarrow constituency.

Locally it is common knowledge that there is very little love lost between the Jarrow and South Shields Labour parties and they have spent decades at each others throats in an attempt to grab power and control of the local council.

In recent years the South Shields Labour party has been in the ascendancy and after the council elections in May the South Shields Labour party further strenghtened it’s grip on the reigns of power. As if to rub salt in their wounds Labour council leader Iain Malcolm (who may believe would like to see the back of the Jarrow Labour party once and for all) consolidated his and indeed the South Shields Labour party’s position by ‘crowning himself’ leader of the council for a 4 year term, albeit with his supporters help!

Iain Malcolm and his South Shields Labour party are now so confident of their position that in an unprecedented step he has decided to break with tradition and hold all the Labour group meetings in South Shields instead of alternating them between Jarrow and South Shields. For many Jarrow party members this is a like being slapped in the face but ultimately there is absolutely nothing they can do about it because Iain Malcolm has ensured that he has ‘bought off’ any dessent by rewarding his Jarrow based supporters with paid positions on the council – all except Eddie McAtominey – but then he knows that Cllr McAtominey is the only real threat he faces within the local Labour parties.

It seems that the A and B teams that created so much havoc in the past are alive and well and this time Iain Malcolm’s ‘B’ team is firmly in control!