Graham Durham - ex Brent councillor and ex-member of the Labour Party
From Brent branch of Your Party
The Brent branch of the newly formed political party, temporarily called Your Party, which was launched by Jeremy Corbyn MP and Zarah Sultana MP on 24 July 2025 has criticised Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent West, for his support of the classification of the peaceful non-violent campaign group, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organisation by the Labour government.
One of the local organisers of Your Party, former Brent Labour councillor Graham Durham, said;
On Saturday 9 August 532 peaceful protestors were arrested by police in Parliament Square.Their only offence was to hold a cardboard handwritten sign stating they opposed the Israeli genocide against Palestinians and supported Palestine Action. Amongst the arrested were numerous members of the peaceful religious group The Society of Friends (Quakers ) and over half the arrests were of pensioners including 15 people over eighty years old. Charges under the Prevention of Terrorism Act are to be made against all arrested.These charges against peaceful protestors opposing genocide by Israel are only possible because hundreds of Labour MPS voted on 2 July 2025 to proscribe the peaceful non-violent group in an attempt to halt criticism of the Israeli genocide and the Labour Government complicity in continuing to sell arms and parts to the Israeli Defence Force. For Barry Gardiner MP for Brent West to be one of these MPs is an utter disgrace. Your Party alongside other organisations and international bodies will continue to campaign to end the arms sales and end the genocide, we will not be deterred by Barry Gardiner or Yvette Cooper who arrest us in an attempt to silence our voices.'As Jeremy Corbyn said, 'These arrests will go down as one of the most shameful moments in British legal history. No amount of suppression can hide the truth: our government is complicit in genocide'Graham Durham added, 'As our party grows and organises we will consider standing against Gardiner and other supporters of this represssion at the next general election'
45 comments:
Ballad for Graham Durham
Graham gave his life to Labour,
knocked the doors, held the line,
stood for Brent, stood for workers,
year on year, time after time.
But Labour’s changed its colours,
votes for war, votes for shame,
sells the weapons, bans the voices,
then tries to shift the blame.
They kicked him out for speaking,
but he won’t be pushed aside,
he’s standing now with Your Party,
with the people on his side.
When they jailed the Quakers,
pensioners too,
just for holding cardboard
that said Palestine is true
Graham called it what it is:
a government disgrace,
criminalising protest
to hide a bloody face.
Starmer sold out Labour,
Khan sold out the town,
Butt sold out the borough,
all three let us down.
We don’t need their power,
their prisons or their spin
the people will outlast them,
and justice will win.
With Corbyn, with Sultana,
a new hope starts to grow,
a party built from struggle,
where the honest voices go.
So here’s to Graham Durham,
he’ll never bow or bend,
he fought with Labour all his life
and he’s fighting till the end.
The Brent branch of the new party has not yet been formally created yet. What gives Graham Durham the right to make such pronouncements in its name.
As a law abiding foreign born individual who pays high enough taxes as it is in this country, and supports Palestine, the right to free speach, and more social housing, how can I possibly vote for a party that will no doubt priorities the needs of others over mine? I want more police officers, more prisons, longer prison sentences, and for the homeless/beggers and those who commit antisocial behaviour in the borough dealt with more harshly. I want less immigration. As a past Jeremy Corbyn supporter, I could never vote for Your Party. It does seem like it will be a protest party not a party that can govern the people of this country.
I also was a Labour supporter but Sultana and Corbyn are hardly the answer
Why not?
Sadly all of this and the lack of any real action by Starmer is the reason why Reform are popular 😞
Graham Durham spent years in Labour and could have kept fighting for change inside, but instead he chose to divide the party. His suspension and expulsion were right. This wasn’t about being “too socialist,” it was about him undermining Labour when we needed unity.
When you start attacking the Chief Rabbi and the Board of Deputies you are not just “asking questions” you are giving ammunition to those who call Labour antisemitic. That is unacceptable for a party that wants to govern. Now, Labour is in power locally, london and nationally, and we can deliver. Yes Labour is not perfect but it is still the only party with a chance of delivering for working people. If you cannot show SOLIDARITY and DISCIPLINE then you have no place in it. Durham chose to walk away and history will remember Labour, not another splinter group, as the party that stood in government.
Now he has gone off to set up a branch of “Your Party” in Brent?! it looks like Change UK all over again. Remember Chuka Umunna? They made a lot of noise, thought they were the future, and disappeared within a year. That is exactly where this will end up.
Labour the "party delivering for working people" by even considrring hammering them with massive £80K inheritance tax on properties worth just £290K...
https://share.google/hwMLeT57QmOrBr0v5
Does Sir Keir Starmer with his personal wealth of over £7million and his freebies such as directors box football tickets have any clue at all what working people go through to buy a property - saving a deposit, estate agent fees, mortgage fees, solicitors fees,
surveyors fees, stamp duty, removal fees, insurance fees with VAT on top of most of these costs and now they will be hammered with inheritance tax on small value homes if a loved one dies - this will be on top of potential care home fees, funeral costs, admin fees and solicitors fees, estate agent fees if a property has to be sold with VAT on top of most of these, etc.
Yet others who refuse to work or who only work 16 hours per week to claim all their benefits get everything given to them with no or barely any tax paid.
The Labour Party is no more. It's now just a party that belongs to businesses, developers, the rich and the selfish.
I don't care who stands for any labour group I hope the electorate in Brent come to their senses and don't vote for any of them, the only thing the labour party are good at is spending money and increasing debt whilst lying about how they doing it.
Starmer sold out Labour,
Khan sold out the town,
Butt sold out the borough,
all three let us down.
Let's leave it there.
Wembley Matters have asked me to respond to the comments made .Unlike all others here I don’t hide behind Anonymous comments , if you believe something you should have the courage not to hide .
I agree that Labour , to which I devoted 50 years of membership and activity ( including 8 years as a hard working Labour councillor in the dreaded Thatcher years of destruction) is now a part for the rich and wealthy .Worse there is no opportunity to challenge this inside the Party,anyone doing so will be suspended or expelled. Local Labour Party members have been excluded from any say in selecting Council candidates for 2026 and Starmer has taken control.
There was never any truth in the big lie told by the Tory media that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn was anti-Semitic.Starmer used this lie to expel many fine socialists.Despite the genocide on defenceless Palestinians in Gaza Starmer and Lammy continue to allow weapons to be sold to the Israeli Defence Force .
In the face of this and the disastrous Labour Party attacks on pensioners , disabled people and those children in poverty there seems no alternative to form a new party.This will be a democratic party controlled by its members .. over 700,000 have expressed interest to date .
The Party branch in Brent is just forming but one thing that unites all is that the use by Yvette Cooper and Starmer of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to arrest 700 people holding cardboard signs is an authoritarian act designed to silence non-violent protest against genocide .I note no one has defended Barry Gardiner who voted for this , I believe he does not represent Brent people in this
Finally thank you to whoever wrote the ballad , it made me smile but those of us forming Your Party are not extraordinary, just people who believe in social justice and oppose war.
Do email me at grahamdurham@hotmail.com if you wish to get involved in the Brent branch of Your Party
Three cheers for Graham for saying how it is
The Dreaded Thatcher years of destruction???
It was Labour that started closing the pits long before Thatcher...
Between 1947 and 1994, some 950 mines were closed by UK governments:
Clement Attlee’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951;
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963;
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976;
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974; Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990.
It was by far the majority of staunch Labour supporters who cashed in buying their council houses under Thatchers right to buy scheme then selling up and moving away to nicer Tory areas.
You say Labour has now become a party for the rich but what about the old Labour stalwart Tony Benn who renounced his title but kept his Holland Park house and his country house and left £5million in his will to his kids using tax avoidance schemes.
And don't mention the super wealthy trade union bosses!!!
Add to that, more mines closed after thatcher under new labour, than under thatcher
Brent Labour are delivering for the people of Brent.
I’d join ‘your party’ but i believe Israel has a right to exist, so am a zionist. Would you have me?
How many candidates will the "Whatever your name is" Party put up in the May 2026 local elections? Splitting the vote will be great in helping to beat Butt and Co! With the 'right' Tories v Reform fighting like cats 7 dogs all this splitting is good for the Lib Dems and the Greens who should pick up Labour seats. There will be plenty of people winning on 30% or even fewer votes as a result of this helpful in fighting. Great - politics in Brent is never boring.
Which people in Brent are Brent Labour helping??? They are not helping us even though we pay a fortune in council tax!
On the point of whether people who believe Israel should exist can join Your Party the answer is yes . However if you are a supporter of the Netanyahu policy of destroying Gaza and the brutal settler attacks on the West Bank then it will not, I suspect , be the party for you .
As Your Party is a new party that has broken with the legacy of Blair , Brown and Starmer then obviously we cannot be held responsible for their policies . I opposed them inside the party …but this is no longer possible
The sale of Council houses by Thatcher has created misery for many working class young people forced to rent ditto water privatisation which has led to pollution etc . I could go on but the Wembley Matters team is being very tolerant already
You know Labour are rattled by ‘your party’ if they’re resorting to the idea they’d be “splitting the vote” already! How about Labour stand down in favour of you party if so concerned?
Ha ha
How many current labour councillors, when deselected will stand as Your Party candidates? Quite a few if the rumours are correct
If you were elected again to brent council and leader, what is the first three things you would do?
Tories under Thatcher may have started the sale of council houses (which Labour voters benefitted from the most) in the 1980s but Labour didn't reverse the policy when they were in charge from 1997 and still haven't done so - so Labour are as much to blame as the Tories.
Deeds not words please!!!
True Labour even now is selling Council house stock , That’s why Your Party has been formed and as an IPSOS poll showed yesterday already has 20% support ( rising to 33% amongst 16-34 year olds).
On the Brent Council issue , under the Starmer government the Council is massively underfunded. Services are in permanent decline and Council tax and charges rise each year . No local councillor can change this but they could campaign against these Labour cuts and for a Your Labour government. Massive council house building , an end to the privatisation of the NHS and a stop to selling arms to the Israeli Defence Force are three of my priorities
Would ‘your party’ want them, as the point of the party is it stands for something not the nothing these candidates do
So will YOUR Party keep selling arms to the Saudis or other despot led countries? Which other British industry that the country depends on will Graham Durham's new party destroy? Or will their Trade Union members representing hundred of thousands of workers employed by these companies object?
How exactly will Your Party raise the £tens of billions needed for their massive house building program?
Even the Labour Government under Starmer has learnt that election promises made just a year ago are impossible to deliver on without presiding over a cost of living crisis and imposing more taxes on working people.
Anonymous18 August 2025 at 15:40 says "Labour is not perfect but it is still the only party with a chance of delivering for working people. If you cannot show SOLIDARITY and DISCIPLINE then you have no place in it." It makes Labour sound like a hard-line cult!!!
Are we not a democratic country with freedom of thought and expression???
What example ard we setting our young people with words like "If you cannot show SOLIDARITY and DISCIPLINE then you have no place"??? Surely everyone has the right to stand up for their own principles.
Where will you get the money and land for massive council house building??? And where will you get the builders from???
Labour Party membership falls by almost 200,000 in five years
https://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/national/25407414.labour-party-membership-falls-almost-200-000-five-years/
Worried about keeping her seat at the next general election?...
https://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/25398406.brent-east-mp-dawn-butler-confirms-bid-london-mayor/
Words & One Liners "Splitters" and 'I (Corbyn) am not the Messiah' from Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' come to mind when watching the 'socialist brothers' usual divisions and infighting. Amazing how quickly the big Labour hope & promise of 2024 has turned to dust.
On monty python ‘splitters’, how are the liberal party, the liberal democrats and the social democrat party getting on?
Labour Party membership falls by almost 200,000 in five years - need we say more!
In reply to Anon 22 August at 18:12 - Cannot speak about the others but the Lib Dems are doing fine. Just won another Council seat off the Tories in Surrey. No chance of Labour doing anything similar at present as they are losing Council seats all over. Things looking promising in Brent for the Lib Dems as the last Brent by election in Alperton clearly showed.
Compulsory land purchases without compensation for land hoggers will allow massive council house building and a huge investment in building apprenticeships will provide the labour . Of course the Lib Dems must never be forgiven for their coalition with Cameron and Osborne and their placing university education out of the reach of working class kids . As to Labour , how could anyone stay in the party of genocide and massive attacks on the poorest in UK. Join Your Party now
Oh the old story again. Tuition Fees were introduced by a Labour Government who promised to offer a University place to anyone while failing to fund Universities in full.
I look forward to the magic Money Tree that will pay for the court cases when Your Party embarks on its 'compulsory land purchase without compensation'.
This is the kind of wishful thinking fantasy world that Comrade Corbyn seems to inspire in his followers.
Too many people for council houses, let alone boat people
Sorry the comment on how to build council houses was from me (Im not Anonymous ! )Strange how property developers have no difficulty finding sites for expensive flats ( many of which are then rented out at huge sums ). Wembley , Alperton , Cricklewood etc are covered in new builds. What is needed is compulsory acquisition of brown field sites for social good and a massive council house for rent build on these sites
Multi-billion pound property developers have bottomless pockets which our local councils don't have!
Where is the land that's being hogged in Brent??? Virtually every space is being built on.
If you build homes on every brown field site where will you have the offices, factories etc to employ people???
You need to get people out working so that they can afford to buy a home - there is too much reliance on benefits and council houses.
Why do people feel they are entitled to a subsidised council home???
What about the single people living in 3 or 4 bedroom council properties alone with rent and council tax subsidies now that their kids have moved out - why aren't they moved to smaller properties just as Labour expects those who own their own properties to downsize???
Rachel Reeves's hike in national insurance paid by employers continues to wreak havoc...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l0057dnb
People still believe the BBC..who knew
Job losses are actually happening - wake up and see the real world!
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