By Chris Robinson, North West Durham Labour member
I recently joked on social media that I owed Keir Starmer an apology, for questioning his leadership campaign pledge to unify the party. The apology is owed on the basis that he has united both left and right within the party, in the belief that he is f*****g useless.
Whilst that was meant as a joke, it does however hold true to a significant degree. Since Keir Starmer was elected as Labour leader in April 2020, I always believed that his tenure was doomed to fail and fail quickly. And I had urged members to stay and fight, on the basis that this was the case.
There were two outcomes which could be arrived at. Either Starmer would stick to the pledges and program he promised in his election campaign, in which case he would have the support of the left, albeit sceptically. Or the other outcome – in which direction he is currently travelling – is that he would row back on the pledges he made, and actively turn the party back to the so-called ‘middle’ ground.
Ruthless attach on socialists in the Party
Whilst I predicted this second path would be the one taken, I did not expect the speed and ruthlessness of his attack on socialists, which includes members purged with no given reason, the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey, the appointment of David Evans and the suspension of Corbyn, amongst many other provocative acts.
Whilst I didn’t expect this level of ruthlessness in plain sight, I also did not expect his level of incompetence, which leaves Starmer in a no-mans-land, disliked by the left and not competent enough to offer any opposition for the right.
Despite the proclamations of John Rentoul in a recent article for the Independent (7th February), there is no evidence that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will do well in the elections in May. The article’s main argument appears to be that he’s not Corbyn. “The advantage of Starmer not being Corbyn has not yet been cashed in at the ballot box”.
This is just lazy journalism. In 2017, the Corbyn-led Labour Party made the biggest post-war gain in vote share since the election of 1945. It was the introduction of the so-called ‘people’s vote’ into the 2019 manifesto, a strategy devised by Starmer, which clearly cost us seats in parliament.
Most seats lost had voted Brexit
Of the seats lost in 2019, 52 of the 54 were in Brexit-voting constituencies. A fact that will be remembered and can’t be washed away by a smart suit and a Union Jack.
Starmer’s lack of opposition, lack of charisma, and more importantly his lack of politics and policies will see the party make minimal gains, if any, in the May local elections. Recent opinion polls see Labour trailing by an average of 5 points nationally. The roll out of the vaccine and a projected lifting of lockdown in April, will be perfectly timed for a positive Conservative result. For the first time, these polls are leading to reports in the press, that the right wing in the party are concerned about Starmer’s leadership.
Crooked contracts dished out by Tories
These polls are a stunning indictment of Starmer’s tenure, but a predictable outcome for a party leader who snubbed education unions and demanded the reopening of schools, who has offered the most limp criticisms of a government that dishes out crooked contracts to its supporters, whilst people die in record numbers.
The so-called ‘strategy review’ for the Party, recently leaked, suggested a need to focus on ‘patriotism’, on forces veterans and on dressing smartly. Some junior policy wonks, who probably haven’t had a real job in their lives, are putting forward this mush as ‘Labour principles’, so no wonder we’re crashing in the polls.
Waving the Union Jack
It has now been denied that the leaked review is accurate, but the branding of every party video with a Union Jack or three says it all. That and the fact that Starmer or Rayner keep dropping comments about making Britain ‘great’ would suggest, in fact, that the patriotism strategy has indeed been taken on board.
Strategy is not, and never can be a substitute for policy. Strategy should follow from policy and any strategy should start with clear positions, based on the needs of working class people and using a Labour government to address the huge inequalities in society.
A policy agenda that focuses on how Labour can advance the rights of all oppressed people, should be linked to a class policy on all the other issues like low pay, poverty, housing education, health and so on. Labour should have a policy of removing all homelessness in Britain. Environmental issues, racism, the rights of oppressed groups, intersectional issues, should all be linked to a clear class position. The biggest single determinant of life chances is socio-economic status, class, and that has to be basis on which Labour’s policies are established.
We need to defend the lefts positions
This leads us to how we, the left inside the Labour Party, should react to the situation in which we find ourselves. Firstly, we need to defend our positions in CLPs and Labour branches; we should consider carefully where we expend our energy in the upcoming elections. We should be focusing our efforts on keeping left comrades in the party, in elected positions, and more broadly speaking, where we can maintain and take key CLP positions, we should.
We should only be campaigning for members within the party who will fight on class lines, for working class policies.
Secondly, we should brace ourselves for defeat in the May elections, prepare motions which put pressure on the leadership and prepare to fight our ground. Starmer will not make it to the next general election. Comrades who have left the party need to be persuaded to return.
This can only be achieved through grassroots membership applying the pressure on the leadership, fighting the small battles and winning them. We need to have a socialist on the ballot for the next leadership contest, which will not be far away. Provided we are able to do this, those who were duped by Starmer, and those who return to the party to vote, may be enough for the left to turn the corner once more.
