The Londoner: 'Pious waffle' blast at Tribune buyer

Former staff at Left-wing Tribune magazine have blasted the “disrespect” shown to them by new owner Bhaskar Sunkara, who, they claim, didn’t even invite them to the magazine’s relaunch.

“In the capitalist world someone who buys an ailing company and dumps its committed workers is known as an asset-stripper or robber baron, but at least they don’t claim to be socialists,” said Ian Hernon, the magazine’s former deputy editor. Sunkara is the publisher of American magazine Jacobin, which bought Tribune at the end of August. Tribune, originally founded by Labour MPs in 1937, relaunched at Momentum’s The World Transformed festival in Liverpool on Saturday.

But there was a dash of vinegar for Sunkara: his failure to settle matters with the old staff, who, they claim to him, had kept the magazine going “so that you would have something to buy”.

In a series of three emails, Hernon, Mike Parker and George Osgerby complain to their new publisher, claiming that they compromised on pay. They said they agreed to take 70 per cent of the money owed to them — “in the belief that we would continue to be involved in Tribune”, but, he said to Sunkara, once the money was paid “we heard practically nothing from you”.

For the former Tribune writers, matters were moral as well as financial. Osgerby wrote of the “democratic socialism” Sunkara advocates: “All the pious, pseudo-academic waffle in the world doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans. Our actions are what count. How we treat others is what matters.”

Ian Hernon reminded Sunkara: “You said you tried not to become the sort of editor/proprietor you despised. My advice to you is: try harder.”

Sunkara and new Tribune editor Ronan Burtenshaw refute the allegations, stating “that the magazine was effectively bankrupt as of the beginning of this year”. “While we appreciate all of those who have contributed to Tribune over many years, the claim in this instance that their stewardship of the project in the last three years ‘made it possible’ for Jacobin to take over the magazine is entirely false.”

Backdated malice

Diane Abbott accused David Blunkett of preparing the ground for Theresa May’s “hostile environment” policies yesterday. The Shadow home secretary claimed Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, instituted “the type of immigration detention we have today” and added “immigration detention became part of the hostile environment”. She added: “Windrush was a consequence of hostile environment-type policies before Theresa May ever became Home Secretary.”

Abbott added darkly that she “might say a little more” if there weren’t journalists present.

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What lessons has Caroline Flint MP learned in 40 years as a Labour member? “If you leave a vacuum and you’re not there, you can’t go moaning about it,” she tells us. “You can’t have a little pity party. You’ve got to be there, fighting every single day and, quite frankly, whatever happens to me — if it’s curtains for Flint — I’ll be there staring them down.”

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Yvette Cooper chaired a Policy exchange think tank event on social media, where she revealed her own Twitter habits. She says she frequently writes a post but then, after reflection, deletes it again, especially if the subject only has 15 followers. She has, however, been writing and then deleting a lot of tweets about Boris Johnson recently.

Whole lotta love at Led Zep show

The National Portrait Gallery hosted the launch of Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, a book commemorating the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band. “It’s amazing coming in and seeing Led Zeppelin on the walls,” guitarist Jimmy Page announced.

“I just hope it travels through to the fans and meets their imagination and expectation.”

Also observing the show was Danish photographer Jørgen Angel, who took the first-ever photographs of the group (then called the New Yardbirds) during a gig at a teenage club outside Copenhagen in September 1968. “I was 17 and had to pay for all my own equipment then,” he recalled.

“I would try to limit it to three bands per roll of film. That night I used up my entire allowance so I knew I must have been taken with it.”

Meanwhile, at Abbey Road Studios, Edith Bowman helped Nile Rodgers introduce his mentee Kyan to the music industry as part of an American Express initiative.

SW1A

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth spent his summer “incognito” in GP surgeries and A&E departments as he tried to learn more about the NHS. So was he in disguise? “I didn’t have a fancy moustache or anything, I just didn’t introduce myself.” But once, at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, he did don some scrubs and, while walking down the corridor, “someone ran up to me shouting: “Surgeon! Surgeon!” and I said: “Oh no, no, no.”’

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Union leaders hit the tiles last night in Liverpool: Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey popped up at Bongo’s Bingo alongside Jeremy Corbyn, while Manuel Cortes, the Transport Salaried Staff Association boss, was spotted leaving The Shipping Forecast pub, complaining about “middle-class w****rs”.

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Ahead of Tory conference, The Birmingham Mail reports that a venomous scorpion has been caught at the city’s Hyatt Regency hotel, where the conference will be held.

Quote of the day

‘I now know what those “exotic spresms” were that Vince Cable was talking about.’

Labour’s Liz McInnes​ is struggling to attend conference after getting ill on a parliamentary trip to Sudan.

Look Hugh turned up at union shindig

Is a very English scandal brewing at the Labour Party Conference? Last night actor Hugh Grant was spotted in Liverpool at a Communications Workers Union party. The event also saw journalist Owen Jones and Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner on the DJ roster. The disc-spinning duo sported red baseball caps that read: “Make the Post public again”. While not on the decks, Rayner danced to Stormzy. The grime artist has spoken in support of Jeremy Corbyn but declined to appear at the Labour Live event earlier this summer.

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With the Labour Party in Liverpool, the Conservatives went to Sotheby’s, where Andrew Roberts launched his new book, Churchill: Walking with Destiny. David Cameron, Ed Vaizey, Matt Hancock, former MP Jonathan Aitken and Kwasi Kwarteng were among the supporters.