Getting the message across: denied any opportunity to speak with their MP, peaceful protestors on Saturday plastered their slogans over the Blairite MP’s office windows

Trades unionists in Croydon are calling on the management of Ruskin House – the HQ of trades unionism in the borough as well as the offices of the Morning Star newspaper – to cancel a planned campaign fundraiser due to be held there this Saturday, which Croydon Labour is calling a “Keir-aoke party”, after their party leader.

A boycott of the event and a protest are already being planned, as the event becomes a lightning rod for a range of complaints against Labour.

“Ordinary people of Croydon are disgusted by Keir Starmer, who believes that Israel has the right to deprive the already impoverished and besieged Gazans of food, fuel and water, and by local MP Steve Reed’s refusal to call for a ceasefire and his refusal to listen to the concerns of his constituents on this matter,” according to one campaigner who has pledged to boycott the event.

Union branches and Palestine solidarity groups from across London have added their voices to the calls for Ruskin House to cancel what some have described as the “tastelessly named” event.

They point out that last month, when Reed and some of his Blairite chums looked to stage a fundraising shindig while Starmer and his entire leadership team were giving approval to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, there was a popular revolt.

“People were going to picket the venue and a very public letter-writing campaign saw that event cancelled,” according to one activist. That previous event, due to be staged at a banqueting hall off the Purley Way, was cancelled at considerable cost to the venue owner.

“For Croydon Labour to merrily put on a fundraising event and literally naming it after Keir Starmer, following his atrocious comments defending Israel’s criminal behaviour in Gaza, is a grotesque insult to the memories of 20,000-plus dead Palestinian civilians, when there’s countless families in mourning,” they said.

Gagged: MP Reed’s connections to Zionists has been raised again at constituency office protests

There appears to be some sensitivity, even among some local Labour apparatchiks, who are more usually known for their crassness. Their WhatsApp messages ask loyalists to share the booking details of the event, “but not generally on socials” – an indication that even Labour loyalists are aware that the event will be regarded as controversial in many quarters.

With Reed continuing to ignore calls from the Muslim community in his constituency even just to hold a meeting to discuss the humanitarian catastrophe going on in Palestine, there has been a series of regular, peaceful protests staged outside his constituency offices in Thornton Heath.

There is also growing resentment from grassroots members, especially in the new Croydon East constituency, after they have been locked out of a parliamentary selection process amid allegations of vote fraud – yet are still being asked to cough up money at a fundraiser potentially towards the campaign of a candidate none of them will have picked.

“While Reed, Starmer and the Labour Party leadership drags its feet on properly condemning the barbaric war crimes committed by Israeli armed forces in Gaza, surely Croydon Labour should have its event boycotted and picketed again?” said one activist.

WhatsApp messages from Labour Party loyalists have been seen which look forward to partying at Ruskin House on Saturday, with one of the event’s organisers making a “joke” that they want to be “Croydon’s answer to Jane McDonald”. Whoever that is.

“Ruskin House should cancel the booking or they will be condemned for allowing their venue to be used by an organisation that is giving political support genocide,” said a supporter of Palestinian rights.

“The communities of Croydon should mobilise to demonstrate their disapproval of this tasteless ‘Keir-aoke’ event that glorifies a supporter and apologist for genocide.”

Read more: Mounting complaints of suspected fraud in Labour’s selections
Read more: Labour cancels Croydon selection after voting fraud claims
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection

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