22nd May 2003

Inside 'MSF for Labour'

An amazing document has come into the possession of amicus.cc. It is an inside account of a joint meeting between the shadowy right-wing groups that run both sections of amicus, namely 'AEEU United' and 'MSF for Labour (MSFfL)'

AEEU United was involved in the vote rigging scandal that tried to get Sir Ken Jackson re-elected. It is firmly integrated with the old AEEU regime: full time officials have been caught using union laptops for United email and at least one of their meetings (in Birmingham in January 1998) was financed with AEEU funds.

MSF for Labour is a secretive organisation that seems remarkably well funded (it is rumoured that the missing Daxo and Guildhall bank accounts mentioned in Marcia Solomon's Tribunal were to finance MSFfL and not for Roger Lyons' holiday home in France). MSFfL are famous for their professional daily flyers at annual conferences, handed out by people rarely recognised as union members and who show little interest in getting into the conference hall. Their flyers have been known to appear on the identical colour and shade of paper as official conference publications. MSFfL recruits actively amongst MSF staff, for example its meeting notices were blatantly included in official MSF briefing packs at a National Officers meeting earlier this year. Membership is seen as mandatory for advancement for full time officers, with promotion based on politics rather than aptitude. The result is a sadly low correlation in MSF between capability and high office.

Key revelations

* The meeting was a significant one, attended by 2 Lords, 2 MPS, the chair of the Labour Party and 3 union leaders/ex leaders, including Roger Lyons. Full listing here.

* A large number of the MSFfL side are full time officers

* Lord Bill Jordan: "Today's multinationals carry with them $250,000,000,000 of investment - we cannot turn our noses up at that"

* Lyons on fellow General Secretary Derek Simpson's Gazette group: "A bunch of Trotskyists and other assorted head bangers"

* There are similarities with the behaviour of some Right annual conference delegates: "After lunch we started the business session. Quite a number of people had gone home"

* "Tim, from Birmingham, spoke. I think he is a Regional Official for the AEEU in the Midlands. He is quite fat, bald, 45-55." Tim, whoever you are, amicus.cc'd love to hear from you or even better send us a picture!

* "Simpson cannot get anywhere on the current AEEU EC, whatever he tries they are able to block him, and they want this situation to continue"

* The meeting spent 25 minutes trying to decide on their own name, and failed.

* The name 'amicus First' was considered, known to be a Lyons favourite ever since Tony Blair personally launched Lyons' "MSF First" package, a "groundbreaking innovative membership benefits package" - actually a credit card and some other financial products of doubtful value. High up on Lyons complaints against the illegally expelled member David Beaumont was David's 'misuse of the MSF First logo' on this website (see top left of this page).

Famous Past Exploits of the MSF Right

The most unusual aspect of this exposé is that traditionally it has been the Right that infiltrated the left in MSF. There are numerous examples of this, perhaps the biggest coup for the Right was getting their man Frank Barry to become the Left's candidate for President in 1999! After his election Barry revealed his true colours, making a chair's ruling at conference to push through the merger (chair's rulings require a 2/3rds vote to overturn). MSFfL's conference flyer the next day crowed "Frank Barry has proved a real find".

Other right wing coups include Leonie Cooper, who appeared to be of, and mixed with the Left, at one time seeking their nomination for vice-president. She failed to get it, we think more on capability grounds than political ones. She only exposed her true leanings at the Special Conference on the merger. Mandated by her branch to follow the Left view and reject a merger, Leonie instead voted for it! Shortly afterwards she became the Right's candidate for the next available NEC seat, in 2001, displacing other more long standing would-be candidates of the Right. The election was marred by a rigging scandal in which full time officers Paul Matz and Alex McKenna (a known MSFfL member) were eventually found guilty of breaking union rules in her support.

Leonie achieved a first by managing to get her web site address distributed with the ballot paper. www.leoniecooper.com was registered, designed, written and hosted by the same company who did MSF's official web site. Leonie rose like a Saturn 5 rocket after her election, she currently sits on the exalted MSF General Purposes and Finance Committee and on the amicus Joint Executive.

Perhaps the least impressive but most amusing escapade of the Right belongs to Leon Rodin. For a while Leon attended the open Left meetings and was on the London Left's mailing list. It was only a personal lapse in discipline that blew Leon's cover, this occurred at the 2000 TUC congress in Glasgow. A rogerlyons.com T shirt was being demonstrated to Labour Minister Tessa Jowell, in the congress building. Leon promptly mugged the demonstrator and ran off with the T shirt, presumably to deny it further publicity. To shouts of "STOP THIEF!" he was chased through a packed GMB fringe meeting, where he could only exit by bursting through the fire escape doors and into the hotel restaurant. Here he scurried past startled diners and finally got out into the hotel car park. He was then floored by the security guards. Denying any connection with MSF, he was frisked and his MSF delegate badge was found. Leon left congress quietly later that day. Unfortunately for him the man he mugged was Guardian journalist David Hencke and this story was published in the newspaper next day. Poor Leon never attended a Left meeting again. We should add it turns out that he was Roger Lyons' son's best mate and not a professional spy after all.

Lastly the MSF Right's clandestine activities are not restricted to MSF; full time officer and likely MSFfL member Arthur Taylor was caught bugging amicus/AEEU General Secretary Derek Simpson last year. Possibly Taylor was acting independently of MSFfL because he reports directly to the spare General Secretary of amicus, none other than Roger Lyons.

Who was there

* Lord Bill Jordan former AEU leader and friend of the scab EEPTU union
* Roger Lyons current Spare General Secretary of amicus
* Lord Douggie Hoyle, ex President of ASTMS.
* Margaret Wall chair of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee
* Khalid Mahmood MP No stranger to sleaze allegations
* Andrew Miller MP A war-on-Iraq supporter
* Serial MSF expense claimer twenty five thousand Bob Braddock

Leading members - the MSFfL steering committee mail list

Alice Anderson
Alex McKenna (Lyons' assistant)
Allan Sanderson (Vice President, North West Coast Region)
Andrew Miller (MP, ex-MSF official)
Bob Braddock serial NEC expense claimer
Dan Smith (Chair, Pathology OAC)
Dave Cooke (Standing Orders Committee)
Dave Tomlinson
David Houliston (NEC)
Debbie Brannan (Regional Officer Liverpool)
Dominic Hook (Integration Coordination Officer, HO)
Jo White (NEC)
Joan Westerman (Chair, Leeds & Bradford Universities, Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Learning Organiser)
Kevin Coyne
Margaret Wall chair of the Labour party NEC
Marion Watson-Blake (Lyons' secretary)
Rachel Maskell, full time official promoted last month to MSF’s National Equalities Officer
Roger Lyons, Spare General Secretary of amicus
Steve Scott (Full timer, Research Co-ordinator)
Sue Sharpe (NEC)

Other known paid MSF full timers who belong to MSF for Labour

Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe assistant regional officer
Chris Ball regional officer
Peter Skyte National Secretary
Apologies for only being able to identify so few, as a guide we believe most full time MSF officers are MSFfL members.

Are you a full time officer and a member of MSFfL? Why not come out by mailing us at itsafaircopguv@amicus.cc. You'll feel better for it.

We've made significant efforts to check this material, if you feel it is in anyway inaccurate please let us know.

SEND US YOUR MSFfL OR AEEU UNITED ANECDOTES

[The document] Inside MSFfL at their joint meeting with AEEUnited
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 22nd May 2003