Jan 31, 2017
Jon Rogers — candidate for chair
Personal statement by Jon Rogers, standing for election as chair of Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party at its annual general meeting at the Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton BN1 1YD at 10.30am on Saturday, February 4.
Jon says:
“I am standing for election as Chair because I believe I can do a good job for our Party and our members in Brighton Pavilion.
“I am a long-standing Labour Party member, having joined our Party here in Brighton Pavilion in 1980. I have remained a member ever since and have served as an officer at branch level in Lewisham and Brighton.
“For the past 25 years I have been Branch Secretary of the UNISON branch at Lambeth Council. I have also served on the National Executive Council of UNISON since 2003. I am standing down from my UNISON roles and have more time for Labour Party activity.
“I am a socialist and a member of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC). I supported Jeremy Corbyn in both elections over the past two years. My personal opinions are strongly to the left.
“I support public ownership and oppose all forms of privatisation. I am opposed to nuclear weapons. I am an anti-racist and believe in open borders and the free movement of people, and am therefore opposed to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
“As Chair of Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party it would not be my role to express my own opinions, however, but to represent the democratic decisions of Party members.
“Our role as a local Party is to campaign for support for our Party within our constituency and to represent the views of local people, and in particular of local Party members, to the Party.
“We need to make the return to constituency-based organisation work well as a means to mobilise and motivate the mass membership which has been brought into the Party, inspired by the socialist leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
“I am a very experienced labour movement activist and it would be my role as Chair to encourage and facilitate participation and involvement in our Party by all our members, new and old.
“As an experienced chair of meetings I can keep order and can ensure that all points of view are heard and treated with respect. Lively debate is the lifeblood of democracy, and socialism cannot be built without democracy.”
