By our spy in their ranks
When supporters of Militant were expelled from the Labour Party in the 1990s, it was because they were alleged to be part of an organisation that was separate and apart from the Labour Party itself. Yet the right wing have always been organised into separate factions. Progress in particular, for a long time has had its own full-time organisers, subscriptions, publications and conferences. It just isn’t as successful as Militant was, and is never likely to be.
The successor to Progress, the mis-named Progressive Britain, continues in much the same vein. It is OK for the right wing to organise open factions in the Labour Party, but not the left. Progressive Britain is currently sending out e-mails to its members and supporters inviting them to attend its forthcoming conference on May 14th at Congress House, TUC headquarters.
Here is a list of their current speakers, with more to come:
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden,
Shadow Minister for Employment Alison McGovern
Chair of the BEIS Select Committee, Darren Jones
Stella Creasy, Chair of Labour Movement for Europe
Among the topics to be discussed – if there is any time in between the lectures from the top table – are the following:
*How to respond the Ukraine Crisis and Britain’s future role in the world. That will be an opportunity for a bit of Union Jack waving and a roll-call of NATO supporters. We expect little opposition to NATO and definitely no mention of the Iraq War or NATO bombing of Libya or Serbia.
*How a Labour government can give a fair chance to every child. There will be no promises for an end to austerity, or to reverse Tory cuts in welfare, child benefit or spending on child care and education. But all working class children will be able to suffer equal levels of deprivation, so they will all have the same ‘fair chance’ in life.
*The economy of a future Labour government, from the world of work to how we will handle green transition.
What will not be said out loud is that every aspect of Labour’s economic policy, including its ‘green’ programme, will be completely dependent on the health of capitalism, without which there are no policies. The health of British capitalism being what it is, any Labour government will be under pressure from Day One to introduce cuts and counter-reforms. But that will not be said out loud.
The trouble with Progressive Britain, of course, is that it is just about as ‘progressive’ as a penny-farthing bike. Their underlying philosophy, dressed as ever in the Union flag, is to support and sustain an economic system that has long past its shelf-life. They are apologists for capitalism and every commitment they ever make on reform has that caveat attached.
