The ‘soft left’ of the Labour Party is launching a new faction. Not another one…
Guido hears the Compass group and Open Labour, which regularly work together calling for wealth taxes and higher spending, will launch a new group called “Mainstream” on 3 September. The organisers claim their new “network” will “publish and hold events across the country” to foster “real debate that leads to robust and ambitious ideas, policies and strategies for a democratic socialist future.” The “Radical Realists” of Labour say they will campaign on “economic, social, democratic and environmental issues that will defeat authoritarian populism at the ballot box and win hearts and minds for the long-term.” Starmer’s ability to command hearts and minds has been put into doubt recently…
The group outlines its aims:
“It means fighting for public services that meet these needs, inspire pride in collective provision and are built on long-term investment and the wisdom of the workers and users who sustain them… And it understands that authoritarian populism can only be defeated by creating a national community that truly belongs to all of its people, and delivers for all of its people.”
With Starmer pitching more to the left ahead of Conference and Rayner cementing her power base in government there is significant pressure for a marked shift in policy. Bad news for working people…
The armageddon of mass far right protests supposedly due to take place across Britain last night came to… absolutely nothing whatsoever. As Sky News’s long-serving crime reporter Martin Brunt put it:
“There’s no evidence yet that our teams on the ground have seen any far right activity – the counter protests have got no protests to counter.”
As the night wore on, special coverage arranged by the main broadcasters – which sent cameras across the country, dispatching correspondents and TV helicopters far and wide – became increasingly embarrassing. An example from ITV’s Paul Brand summed up the position:
In all honesty there seems to be very little purpose to the gathering here. You hear the odd word about immigration but most people seem to have come out for a look and to see if anything kicks off. A fair bit of drinking and low level aggro but no major unrest.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) August 7, 2024
As news hounds desperately tried to spot the slightest hint of far-right activity, there was less attention on the developments of the past few days, including:
As it turned out, the threat turned out not to be in evidence. Were rioters just taking the night off, or is this much-hyped episode of disorder now over?
Speaking at an IPPR think tank event in London, the Health Secretary compared striking junior doctors to mutinous sailors.
“I feel like we’ve turned the ship, the boat’s going in the right direction, except some of the crew are trying to row in one direction while the rest of us are going in the other. You can’t make progress that way. We are seeing an improving NHS, and we’ve seen improvement despite resident doctors’ strikes, but the fact is, performance would have been better and there would have been more money to invest in staff and services if the BMA hadn’t been undertaking the strike action.”