I’m not a pacifist. I believe that there are times and places where intervention is right and necessary. I have little but contempt for those like Stop the War who seem to believe that a war doesn’t happen until the West is involved. Wars are happening all over the globe. Sometimes the way to stop them is precisely for the West to get involved. Sometimes that is not the case.
Read MoreThe battle to replace Iain McNicol as the Labour party general secretary is getting heated. There have been some pretty furious exchanges between supporters of Momentum chair Jon Lansman and Unite's Jennie Formby.
Those on the inside of each organisation will tell you that this is about deep, important divisions over how democracy within the party should be played out. Lansman's supporters say this is about party democracy versus union-backed central control, while those backing Formby say it’s about defending Labour’s historic link with the unions.
How we run local communities, what services are provided and by whom, are deeply political questions. The philosophical traditions of the two main parties in Britain differ greatly on state involvement at every level: national, local and international.
Read MoreI really wasn’t expecting much from this play. The fact the press release promoted it as “bitcoin-funded” had me worried it was going to be a buzzword-heavy, all-too-trendy play, heavy on zeitgeist and light on almost anything else. I could not have been more wrong.
This play is a one-hour, one-man tour-de-force.
Read MoreThe message that “something must be done” is one of the most prevalent of modern politics. Although designed to reflect the resolve of politicians and those who influence them (from constituents to campaigners) on the issues that face them, the need to show urgency often leads politicians to take action without fully examining the consequences, or to reach for easy solutions to tough problems when actually only a long, hard, and politically unrewarding grind will do.
Read MoreAs expected, the Momentum slate swept the board again at Labour's NEC elections. This means they now hold all nine constituency positions as well as controlling other internal bodies such as the Conference Arrangements Committee. It all sounds incredibly boring, largely because, for the most part, it is.
You have to be a truly dedicated political activist to care much about internal elections. Even party members don't very much, which is why turnout (other than for leadership contests) is always so low. You will probably hear a lot from the losing factions about turnout numbers, but then you always do. Whoever happens to be the losing faction at that time will always make that argument. When they start winning again they'll do naff-all to change it.
Read MoreTo understand why the Tories are incapable of solving the housing crisis, you have to understand that its roots come from Tory dogma older than most of the unfortunate ‘generation rent’. It is a creed they refuse to resist, and a doctrine that blinds them to the increasingly perilous consequences.
It is exemplified by ‘right to buy’, one of Margaret Thatcher’s most politically potent and significant policies. Incredibly popular at the time, it is probably responsible for some measure of the older generation’s electoral loyalty to the Tories. But the electoral bribe it represented was time limited – unlike its consequences.
Read MoreOnce again politics is going through a crisis of its own making. The scandals around sexual abuse and harassment have been a ticking time bomb for years. Women in all parties will tell you they've been raising this alarm for some time. They were largely ignored as an inconvenience. So of course, the parties were then caught on the hop when the scandal exploded.
So far, so Westminster. It is a reactive place and however much politicians like to talk about the future, they actually spend most of their time reacting to the recent past. All too often this means responses are put together too quickly and are not always as well thought through as they could be. The implications aren't fully considered. Too often the responses to crises such as this contain the seeds of future problems.
Read MoreWhile Jo Platt is off buying us both a much-needed coffee from the Portcullis House café, her new boss Angela Rayner walks by, stopping for a quick chat. “She’s a bloody superstar,” says the Shadow Secretary of State for Education “she’s keeping us in line”.
It’s unusual to become a PPS (one rung down from a junior shadow minister) so soon after being elected. But it’s quite clear from the passion that Platt shows when discussion education at every level as well as the mutual respect between her and Rayner (who she describes warmly as “an absolute force” and working with her as “the perfect opportunity”) that she’s hit the Parliamentary estate running.
Read MoreI don’t mind a little nostalgia, so the first time at conference this year I heard Things Can Only Get Better, I admit I sang along, danced and laughed indulgently at the chants of “Tony, Tony, Tony” – sometimes from those who will cry “cult” at the first hint of Seven Nation Army. But, by the fourth time in four days, I was thoroughly exasperated. While those of us on the left may not feel it our place, it should be said that those to the right of the Party need to get their heads out of the 90s and into the game.
Read MoreLabour is currently promising nothing short of a complete change of economic model for the UK. That would be a hell of a challenge under the best of circumstances. Faced with the likely contraction of our economy post-Brexit, which will make any upfront investment needed to make this shift harder to come by, it’s going to be a bloody difficult ask.
Read MoreDuring his time running mayoral campaigns for Boris Johnson, Lynton Crosby famously created the "doughnut" strategy. This focused campaigning efforts on the outer boroughs of London where the Tory vote was then strongest. On the face of it, this remains the case. Of the 23 London constituencies that share a border, Labour hold just seven compared to the Tories' 13. But this is up two for Labour from 2015. There are four seats in north and east London where the Tory majority is under 5,000 (five if you include Johnson's majority of 5,034 in Uxbridge). In these, the swings at the 2017 general election range from 2.7% in Hendon and seven percent in Chingford and Woodford Green.
Read MoreThis weekend, people up and down the country will be coming together to remember Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was shot and killed by a man in the name of his extreme right wing beliefs. At The Great Get Together, friends and neighbours of all politics will come together in Jo’s name to celebrate what we have in common.
Jo was killed at a difficult time for our country. We were at the height of an extremely divisive referendum that split the country almost exactly in half. Families fell out, neighbours fought, friends stopped speaking. Since that time, particularly on the left, it has felt like this mode has been constant, with the Labour leadership contest that followed the referendum creating further splits, even between people who had campaigned side by side to remain in the EU. The recent election that followed a year later has helped bring Labour Party back together—but equally demonstrated that we remain a very divided country.
Read MoreThat was an extraordinary night. It wasn’t one I expected and I have had to eat a certain amount of humble pie. Under the circumstances, it is delicious.
Thanks to our weak and wobbly Prime Minister, we now enter a very unstable time in politics...
Read MoreThe people Labour were formed to protect, promote and provide for will be the ones hurt by the result of yesterday’s election results and the result they point to in a month’s time.
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