By Mike Kennard
For all the crowing, the result for Labour nationally was not the crushing victory that an active opposition party should achieve against a disorganised and discredited government at a time of deep crisis for the majority of the electorate. The generally low turnout was an indication that Labour under Starmer has failed to inspire.
But in some areas the story is even worse for Labour. Peterborough has been a target for purges by the Labour right-wing, beginning in 2021 with the suspension on spurious antisemitism charges of 14 members of Peterborough CLP and the Chair and Secretary of NW Cambridgeshire CLP, which includes part of the City council area. This crippled the party organisation and both CLPs have struggled to raise enough members for quorate meetings.
Some of those suspended confessed their guilt (!) and were allowed to retain their membership. Others were expelled or resigned. This was not enough for the witch-hunters. This year, they first removed local candidates from the longlist for the parliamentary selection, including a former MP who had won the marginal seat after the previous Labour MP had been jailed, and also the leader for the Labour group. They then told four sitting councillors that they could not stand for Labour in this year’s election.
No gains at all in the City of Peterborough
The result has been a gift to the Tories, whose spokesmen on national TV, were able to reply in interview, “But look at Peterborough“. Two Peterborough seats in a solidly Labour ward were won by the Tories, with no Labour gains at all in the city. One of those councillors purged in 2021 stood instead for the Greens and won the seat, adding to Labour losses.
Two of this year’s cohort of witch-hunt victims also lost their seats, one of whom stood for the Greens and came third behind Labour and the Tory. Elsewhere, a former stalwart of the Labour Group for many years ran as an Independent and lost. Strangely enough, all the victims of the purges were on the left.
What do we learn from this? It shows that winning elections for Labour is of secondary importance to the rigidly right wing leadership faction, compared to removing socialist ideas from the Party. The day before the election, Starmer rowed back on his pledge to abolish students’ tuition fees and front bench spokespersons have rigidly refused to support renationalisation of public utilities, although polls have shown that this is a very popular measure.
The membership of the party is largely demoralised and Labour voters have been given little reason to cast their ballots. The victory in Liverpool of purged Labour councillors who stood as independents on a socialist ticket should send a message to the leadership, but unfortunately, they are more likely to see this as a signal to step up the witch hunt.
