Starmer has changed the Labour Party – to what end – perhaps its own?
JVL Introduction
Perspectives on the 2024 General Election (20)
What does Starmer’s changed Labour Party look like from the inside? Not quite an empty shell but the crowds of enthusiastic people working for a Labour victory, especially in 2017, have largely gone. Even some Party members who are aligned with the current Leader’s politics are not happy with the lack of democracy and the imposition of candidates and the diktats from the Centre.
In the desperate determination to end this pernicious Tory government, many are gritting their teeth and getting on with it but few are enthusiastic. Here Guardian columnist Andy Beckett takes a look at how things feel in Brighton where the incumbent, Lloyd Russell Moyle’s candidacy was blocked, two days after which he was replaced by: “Chris Ward, who just so happened to have worked from 2015 to 2021 as an aide, speechwriter and deputy chief of staff for Starmer.”
It is not a pretty picture. People deserve better than this; better than merely “we are not the Tories”. There will be work to continue on July 5th.
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Sat 22 Jun 2024. Read the original here.
What does Starmer’s ‘changed’ Labour party look like on the ground? In Brighton, I found out
A controversial deselection has rocked the local party, and campaigners are divided over the leadership
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Andy Beckett is still clutching at straws – hoping that social democracy will come to save him and his hope for a better Labour (somehow).
It’s important to understand that Starmer’s done away with democracy inside the Labour Party – there is no way for progressive voices to challenge him. The entire bureaucracy is now rigged against even vaguely critical opinions – you can’t get on a shortlist for selections, you can’t become a delegate or Party representative, you can’t produce leaflets or pamphlets, election literature, you’ll never be a Councillor and certainly never a Parliamentary candidate. The entire elected layer of the Party is locked down against the Left. CLPs which dare to become critical will be shut down by central diktat; the more troublesome party Officers will be suspended or expelled. Motions which address the shortcomings of the leadership will be ruled out of order, officers will be sent from central office to identify potential troublemakers. There is (already) NO extra parliamentary activity from Labour – when was the last time Labour banners were seen on marches, picket lines, or simply held in solidarity with workers? The entire apparatus is controlled centrally, and that control, with Starmer as Prime Minister, will tighten. It’s not that activists are unwelcome, they’re no longer needed, opinions which do nor align with Starmer’s gang are forbidden …. part of Starmer’s agenda (and this is another argument) is the depoliticisation of Labour – the Party and the wider Movement.
“People deserve better than this; better than merely ‘we are not the Tories’. ”
Oh yes you are!
And perhaps worse.
80 years after the leftist popular front against fascism Starmer has abolished free speech and free association within his now fraudulent Labour Party.
Anyone seriously want him to gain control over the security services?
He’s the continuity candidate, so what is it you think he’s changed exactly ?
This Labour Party – in desperate need of a change of leadership, and administration!
But who? That’s the big question. Party rules have been so gerrymandered and hashed about, it will be difficult for anyone to challenge Starmer.
As far as I can tell, he’s ‘locked in’ – until the administration decides otherwise, of course.
Park it until its too late. The level of denial in Labour left and centre is staggering. If Starmer has unravelled power, the left, centre and dissenters will be toast. David Evans preferred model is an end to CLP democracy, and the Party is currently 100% on his playback.
JVL, like other members of the Labour left, completely forget that Starmers the continuity candidate and the problem is the party, not just Sir Keir. Time to stop romanticizing.
the main issue of this election is to kick the Tories out.
But It is painfully obvious that an Establishment figure has bamboozled the Labour Party to become leader and abandon any Socialist policies introduced by his predecessor. This has happened at a time, when Western Capitalism is in desperate decline and countries outside the G7 nations are forming themselves into a comprehensive economic bloc led by China which now dominates world capitalist production. Until Western nations come to terms with this, they are doomed and a Right oriented labour government will be unable to establish prosperity for the British people. But installing a rightist Labour government is necessary so that socialists can fight to press them to make important changes in society and the economy.
Inevitably compromises will be made. For example, in my constituency of Chesham and Amersham the late `Cheryl Gillan was the Tory MP. After she died in 2022, a by-election was fought in which the Liberal Democrat candidate defeated the Tory hopeful successor to Gillan. The Lib Dems achieved that because there was a general distaste for the Tories and a considerable number of Labour voters gave their support to Sarah Green, the Lib Dem candidate.
Now in 2024 a former member of the local Labour Party has asked Labour supporters to cast their votes for the Lib-Dems so as not to split the anti-tory vote. This tactical voting may well keep the Tories out of this constituency and I expect it will happen elsewhere on June 4th. It is noteworthy that at the 2022 by-election the Labour vote was little more than the local branch membership.