Photograph: Alamy
This week I write with an invitation: the Guardian is planning to hold an event in Liverpool in August for readers of this project – and I hope you can join us.
The event will be held at Fly in the Loaf, 13 Hardman Street, L1 9AS, on Wednesday 10 August. We’ll start at 7pm and finish about 9pm. It will be an informal meeting in which readers of and participants in this Labour & Liverpool series will be able to come together and discuss what we’ve discovered so far, and where we should be heading next. If you let us know you’d like to attend using the form below, we can work out how many bar snacks we should order.
I don’t have an agenda in mind. I like the idea of “Who owns the Labour party: the members or the MPs?”, which seems to be at the core of the leadership contest, but I would welcome alternative suggestions. We could also spend a little time exploring the idea of collaboration between journalists and readers.
I am in Chile this week on a story, also about the politics of the left, arranged before I embarked on this Labour project. When I come back, I will head for Liverpool. I hope to get a chance to interview Labour MP Louise Elllman whose Riverside constituency meetings seem so divided, as highlighted by new member Sarah Byrne, who last week expressed her unhappy experiences. Some members of the constituency subsequently got in touch to add further details. And members from constituencies elsewhere around the country emailed to say their experiences chimed with hers. This could be an interesting thing to discuss at our meeting, too.
I am also considering heading back to Angela Eagle’s Wallasey constituency. The constituency party has been suspended, with Labour headquarters in London saying it is because of allegations of intimidation and bullying. I have reported twice on Wallasey but several readers have suggested going back to look at whether the suspension is justified. The “Broken Window” incident has become a symbol of how divided the party has become: was it intimidation or a piece of petty vandalism unconnected to Labour?
I look forward to investigating all this – and meeting you all on 10 August in Liverpool when it will no doubt be discussed further.
