Sir Philip Sales - Tony Blair war ciminals' favourite judge

[TonyGosling]

Labour Appeal: Fury as Appeal Court Judge Philip Sales’ intimate links to Tony Blair revealed
By Matt Turner - 12th August 2016
http://evolvepolitics.com/labour-appeal-fury-as-high-court-judge-phili p-sales-intimate-links-to-tony-blair-revealed/

In what is a consolation victory for the Labour Party’s establishment in the Court of Appeal, it has been revealed by WikiLeaks that there may be more to the decision than meets the eye.

After Sir Philip Sales QC overruled the previous High Court decision to allow the 130,000 disenfranchised Labour Party members to vote in the up and coming leadership election – notorious whistle-blower Wikileaks revealed that Sales had been a Blair insider for years, having been recruited as Junior Counsel to the Crown in 1997.

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5:53 PM - 12 Aug 2016
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The literature cited by WikiLeaks confirms that immediately after Labour’s victory in the 1997 general election, Sales was recruited by Tony Blair. Interestingly, it also reveals that Sales used to be a practising barrister at law chambers 11KBW, of which Tony Blair was a founder member. At the time of the appointment, there was uproar over Sales’ appointment and plunged Blair into a cronyism row.

According to The Guardian’s coverage of the sexual discrimination case brought against Sales’ appointment, a source close to the case referred to 11KBW as a ‘network of old boys and cronies’, and that there was ‘no coincidence that the appointment came from Lord Irvine’s and Tony Blair’s old chambers’.

Since his appointment in 1997, Sir Philip Sales managed to rack up a hefty bill to the taxpayer as the highest earning lawyer in the entire government. Moreover, as a key part of Blair’s legal team, he also defended the Government’s decision against holding a public inquiry into the Iraq War in the High Court in 2005.

Clearly, there is no evidence of wrongdoing, only that of a conflict of interest. Sales’ deep involvement in the Labour Party during the Blair years will raise questions about the legitimacy of his shock ruling in favour of the National Executive Committee, especially as there was an evident breach of contract.

Despite these 130,000 members being told in black and white that they were eligible to vote in upcoming leadership elections upon registration, today they have been officially cast aside by their own party in an attempt to skew a result that is already a foregone conclusion. The biggest kick in the teeth, however, is that the permission to do so was granted by a former key lawyer of Tony Blair’s Labour government.



Labour NEC appeal was allowed by QC who worked for Tony Blair’s government

On Friday, Labour NEC’s appeal against an earlier decision to grant 130,000 new Labour Party members the right to vote in the leadership election was overturned by Philip Sales QC who worked for the Tony Blair government which earned him £3.3million.

Questions need to be asked. Why was Philip Sales allowed to hear the appeal when there is clearly a conflict of interest? What about impartiality? How can the outcome of the appeal be accepted when the hearing was clearly swayed by Philip Sales’ connection to Tony Blair?

Blairites have systematically destroyed the Labour Party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader nearly a year ago, yet the NEC’s appeal was heard by a QC who was clearly sympathetic towards Tony Blair and his Blairite supporters. The appeal should have been heard by a neutral QC, not someone who is connected to Tony Blair and the Establishment.

There was outcry from the Labour Party when David Cameron appointed Baroness Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf to chair the VIP Child Sex Abuse Inquiry because both had connections with the alleged abusers and the Establishment. Labour questioned the impartiality of these two people and called for them to be removed from chairing the inquiry.

That same point applies to the Labour NEC’s appeal. How can Labour justify allowing Philip Sales to hear their appeal knowing full well the decision would be biased and influenced by Philip Sales’ connections to Tony Blair? It’s sheer hypocrisy on Labour’s part and a huge miscarriage of justice. It also proves that Blairites are very much part of the Establishment and are not in politics for the interests of ordinary working class people like you and me.

To rub salt in their wounds, Philip Sales ordered the 5 Labour Party members to pay Labour’s costs of up to £80,000 within 28 days which filled some Blairites with glee, but their celebrations were soon shattered after a crowdfunding campaign to cover these costs raised over £80,000 in less than 8 hours.


This is a truly amazing achievement and has sent a message to the Labour NEC, Blairites and Philip Sales: Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters will not be beaten. Furthermore, this also sums up people’s feelings and proves that Jeremy Corbyn’s support is strong and united. Everyone who donated should be immensely proud.

It is unconfirmed whether the 5 Labour supporters will challenge Philip Sales’ decision in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Personally, I hope they do. If they decide to then they will have huge support behind them.

Blairites might be laughing now but they won’t be laughing on 24 September when the outcome of the Labour leadership election is announced. Jeremy Corbyn is still on course to win with an even bigger majority over the 59.5% of the vote he received last year. Meanwhile, Owen Smith is trailing way behind Jeremy Corbyn in the CLP nominations, which sums up the lack of support his campaign has within the Labour Party.

So far 304 CLPs have cast their nominations:

Jeremy Corbyn = 255

Owen Smith = 49


This whole sorry leadership campaign is completely unnecessary and Owen Smith is clearly out of his depth. His leadership campaign is embarrassing and he has performed very badly in the leadership hustings. He has zero chance of winning the leadership election and he more or less admitted this during an interview on ITV News on Thursday.

I stand in solidarity with the 130,000 Labour Party members Tony Blair’s mate has banned from voting in the leadership election. His decision has not only angered Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters, it has strengthened his campaign and brought his supporters closer together. It has also caused the Labour divide to widen and Blairites will now have to face the wrath of a lot of angry party members. Serves them right.