The mood in Nottingham, except amongst the most committed reactionaries, is one of revulsion at the level of intolerance to which the N.E.C. has descended, Already, within days of the N.E.C. decision, nearly 80 members of the Labour Party in Nottingham have signed the following protest, to be sent in the form of an Open Letter to Len Williams, the Party Secretary. The breadth of the support, ranging across the whole spectrum of the Labour Party, is impressive: "We, the undermentioned members of the Labour Party, are deeply concerned about the findings of the N.E.C's, investigation into the affairs of the Nottingham Labour Party, which we believe are profoundly unjust. Before any more damage is done to the Labour Party in Nottingham we strongly urge the N.E.C. to reconsider its decision, which is clearly at variance with current feeling within the Nottingham Party, "The recent defection of ex-Councillor Caughtry, whose removal from the panel of municipal candidates by the Executive Committee of the City Labour Party led the leaders of the Labour Group to retaliate by plotting the expulsion of Ken Coates, has proved the correctness of the E.C's. original decision, The basis for the expulsion of Ken Coates now stands exposed 4s worthless. 'Three further members of the Nottingham Party - Councillor Peter Price, Bob Gregory and Geoff Coggan — have been barred for 3 years from acting as delegates to the General Management Committees of their respective parties. We regard this as a most sinister development and a direct interference with the rights of wards, unions and affiliated societies to nominate and elect
from amongst their own menbers,. "Within the past few weeks Councillor Price has been elected Vice-President of his constituency party, and, only the day before the N.E.C, announcement, Mr, Coggan was elected as West Nottingham's representative on the Executive Committee of the Young Socialists. In the recent Municipal Elections Councillor Price's victory in one of the city's marginal wards not only proved the solid basis of his own support, but also ensured Labour's continued control of the City Council, "All these expressions of confidence have been made in the full knowledge of the events of the past six months and the actions and attitudes of the persons concerned. It is obvious to us that the N.E.C.'s long delayed findings are now thoroughly out of step with the mood in Nottingham, where there has been a growing realisation on all sides at the injustice which was perpetrated last November," ( + Councillor Caughtry was removed from the Nottingham Party's panel of possible municipal candidates because he was persistently unpunctual, He initiated the witch-hunt against Ken Coates by starting a major press campaign. At the enquiry into tha affairs of the City Labour Party, Alderman Eric Foster, leader of the Labour Group on the Council, admitted that Caughtry had sought his protection in February 1965, fearing that he would soon be removed from the panel. Foster had, he confessed, been involved in discussions with Cattermole, the East Midlands Regional Organiser of the Party, about how to save Caughtry from the local party's anger. Cattermole had advised caution. "Let them remove you, and I will get you reinstated", he is alleged to have promised at a secret meeting in the Council House. In the event, Caughtry rewarded Cattermole's solicitude rather strangely, by publicly announcing that he was lending his wife and his car to help the Tory candidate in this year's municipal elections.)