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There is a simple and obvious rule of thumb in politics about policy choices, and it is this: keep your attention ruthlessly focused on the issues voters care most about. When Labour wins, it wins because it has thought about the things that really matter to the public; thought about what positive contribution it can… Continue reading The exception of stupid

So, I wrote a little chapter for our Labour Uncut book, on culture wars, which Labour over recent years – and still even today – seems hell bent on losing.  You can read it here or download the whole e-book here (Chapter 4, starting on page 15).

And so John McDonnell is interviewed in the Independent in the run-up to conference, aiming to stir up a sense of grievance over Jeremy Corbyn’s continuing, enforced absence from the Parliamentary Labour Party. Trouble is, he seems blissfully unaware that the voters Labour needs to win a general election think the polar opposite: they don’t… Continue reading John McDonnell spectactularly misreads the British public on Corbyn

This is not an idle claim. In the 1980s, the unions were still largely regarded as centrist ballast against the worst excesses of a hard left spearheaded by figures such as Derek Hatton, Ted Knight, Eric Heffer, and Tony Benn. But they are so no longer: over the last decade, unions have been way to… Continue reading In the most important union election in decades, Coyne is the only choice to rehabilitate Unite and Labour

Clip from the Pink News video It was all going so well. Keir Starmer, having made it intact through his first year of leadership, had managed – admittedly, not entirely by design – to remove the toxic presence of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, from the party and win back a majority on the party’s ruling… Continue reading Starmer’s disastrous Pride

It’s not really been a good week for Len McCluskey, has it? A mere three months away from stepping down, it does seem the once-irresistible grip of him and his Unite faction on the Labour Party is fading fast. First there was the Anna Turley libel case, whereby the union is now forced to pay… Continue reading The poisonous McCluskey era thankfully draws to a close

Yesterday it was quietly announced that the legal challenge to the EHRC report on anti-Semitism in Labour was to be dropped. This was for the fairly obvious reason that the challenge, attempting to trigger a judicial review, stood no hope whatsoever and was costing money. It was a challenge that – although the Unite union… Continue reading End of term approaches at the Corbynite clown school

And after a very odd, year indeed, it seems that political gravity is finally starting to reassert itself. The thing with populism, as the US is in the process of finding out, is that at some point the lies unravel and the cognitive dissonance many have been living for the duration is abruptly curtailed, by… Continue reading Britain edges towards the clifftop – a few things about to happen between now and 1 Jan

It was a day of shame for Labour, there is no doubt. Never before had it been criticised so indelibly about racism: something which a decade ago would have seemed to many unthinkable. It is a hurt that will take time and care to undo; a stain that will not be removed any time soon.… Continue reading The EHRC report is conclusive and damning. But with Corbyn suspended, the rebuilding can now start