Angela Eagle MP, currently running for leader of the Labour party, has been caught out seemingly being ‘selective’ with the truth, again – after a planned meeting in Luton was cancelled.
Eagle, who announced on Monday that she would be standing in the Labour leadership contest against Jeremy Corbyn, was due to do a question and answer session at the Leaside Hotel in Luton on Tuesday 12 July, the same day as the National Executive Committee made its decision about Corbyn being on the ballot without nominations.
However, during the day a spokesperson for Eagle told the media that:
A members’ meet-and-greet and Q&A in Luton today with local MP Gavin Shuker had to be relocated after the venue, a hotel, apparently received threats. Police were informed and have offered protection for the event. Angela is continuing with the visit as planned.
This came in the wake of Eagle’s constituency office being damaged. According to sources for the former shadow first secretary of state, a brick was thrown through the window of the office either overnight or on Tuesday morning:
Eagle apportioned blame on Corbyn supporters. While there was no evidence on Tuesday to suggest this, she said that attacks like these were:
being done in his name, and he needs to get control of the people who are supporting him and make certain that this behaviour stops and stops now. It is bullying. It has absolutely no place in politics in the UK and it needs to end.
If, of course, the hotel was receiving threats in the wake of such an unpleasant attack on the office of a member of parliament, then Eagle quite rightly should have pulled out of the event. It would be wholly unfair on the staff at the hotel, and of course, may pose a danger to her.
Except it appears that there were no threats.
A spokesperson for the hotel said that:
We can confirm that the event has been cancelled as we were unaware of the nature of the meeting.
So, it would appear the management pulled the plug on the event because of what the meeting was about, not that the hotel had been subject to threats or abuse. Eagle’s office was contacted, but no comment was given.
But it would seem Eagle and her supporters have form on manipulating a situation. As The Canary previously reported, accusations of homophobic abuse being thrown at Eagle during a meeting of her CLP Wallasey branch appeared false.
Tessa Jowell, the former Labour MP, claimed that in a meeting of Eagle’s constituency Labour party (CLP) the latter:
faced homophobic abuse at that meeting. Talk to MPs all around the country, under the influence of Momentum, activists, members of parliament and their staff are facing day in, day out harassment and – in some cases – intimidation.
However, the chair of Wallasey CLP said that Eagle wasn’t even present at the meeting in question, and denied that any such abuse took place. Considering her daughter got married the next day to her longtime (female) partner, it’s probable that the Wallasey CLP chair’s word is better than Jowell’s.
With the Labour party clamping down on Corbyn supporters use of the words “traitor”, “scab” and “scum” – it would appear that manipulating a situation for your own PR gains is an acceptable form of behaviour. The danger is, however, that false claims of abuse or threats only serve to undermine real ones.
And Eagle, in her bid to become the leader of the Labour party, is turning this into an art form.
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