One door opens…

None of us should be surprised at Sir Keir Starmer’s victory in the Labour Party leadership contest. The darling of the Blairites was backed to the hilt by the right-wing Labour factions that operate within the party and the trade union movement. But his convincing first-round victory over the supposed heir to the Corbyn mantle showed that his support went far beyond that of the Labour’s traditional right-wing constituency.

It’s also true that the number of abstentions outweighed those that actually voted for the ambitious lawyer turned politician who now leads the Labour Party. But the fact that Starmer bagged 275,780 votes in the poll – more than that of the two other hopefuls combined – shows that tens of thousands of Labour members who had previously backed Jeremy Corbyn had been swayed to vote for the “unity” candidate this time round.

Some are now, once again, calling for the establishment of a new socialist party to challenge Labour. None of them can explain why all previous attempts to do so have failed dismally. Others, ready to rebuild the left inside Labour, have not looked frankly at their own record over the last five years and are, therefore, doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Although Corbyn’s campaigns sparked off a surge of support that has made the Labour Party one of the largest political parties in Europe, they failed to build a mass left social-democratic base within it. His core support in parliament went little beyond the old Bennite Socialist Campaign Group. The tens of thousands who rallied to Corbyn’s banner showed no interest in the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) that Corbyn led. Although there was some mass support for Momentum when it was founded, that rapidly evaporated when it became clear that it was just an ego-trip for a tiny clique that revolved around one of Corbyn’s useless advisers.

Starmer is a good communicator whose 10-point programme embraced much of Corbyn’s old agenda. This includes support for the common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water, as well as an end to outsourcing in the NHS, local government and justice system.

He also pledged to “work shoulder to shoulder with trade unions to stand up for working people, tackle insecure work and low pay and repeal the Trade Union Act,” although he’s avoided any commitment to reverse the tranche of anti-union laws passed by successive Tory governments since 1979 and to restore free collective bargaining in full.

Many can easily be forgiven for thinking that Starmer’s agenda is, indeed, a continuation of the Corbyn project. But it isn’t.

If Starmer talks about “common ownership” of the railways and the utilities it’s because it’s popular on the street and there’s now a bourgeois consensus in favour of restoring part of the old public sector. No-one is going to argue about more support for the health service these days whilst even some sections of the ruling class are resigned to accepting a modest increase in income tax at the highest levels.

Although we get the usual platitudes on climate change, peace and human rights, Starmer’s camp is totally committed to retaining the colossally expensive Trident nuclear missile system to maintain Britain’s bogus independent nuclear deterrent, which in practice is just an appendage of US imperialism’s nuclear arsenal.

Corbyn won the Labour leadership contest in 2015 with mass support. It showed Labour was still a potentially strong weapon for our class. That is not to confuse the Labour Party with a revolutionary party or imagine that we can gain a workers’ state through parliamentary elections.

A Labour government, with the yet unbroken links with the trade unions, offers the best option for the working class in the era of bourgeois parliamentary democracy. Our strategy is for working class unity, and our campaigns are focused on defeating the right-wing within the movement and strengthening the left and progressive forces within the Labour Party and the unions. We support those in the Labour Party fighting for left policies. It is part of our struggle for a democratic Labour Party.

Troubled Waters

Although the results of the Tory leadership contest won’t be declared until next week, Boris Johnson looks set to win the ballot in the race to fill Mrs May’s boots in Downing Street. Johnson says his first act as Prime Minister will be to press forward on Brexit. The Conservative front-runner insists that he would ensure Brexit happens “come what may” by the autumn deadline and he’s vowed to take Britain out of the European Union (EU) by 31st October “do or die”.

            But there’s no majority in the House of Commons for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. Nor is there a majority for any other option on the EU in this fractious parliament. The unofficial factions in the Commons that regularly defy the wishes of their own leaders on both sides of the House cannot agree on Brexit nor, indeed, anything else at the moment. This is what brought Theresa May down in the first place. What chance has Johnson of succeeding in pushing Brexit through when others have failed over the last two years?

The Johnson team tell us that whilst Boris likes to play the fool a shrewd intelligence lies behind his oafish persona. His latest wheeze is to threaten to suspend parliament in order to force through Brexit against the will of MPs. Although the prime minister could ‘prorogue’ parliament to prevent MPs from blocking a ‘no deal’ Brexit, it would plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.

The Speaker of the House, John Bercow, has stated that he will not permit Parliament to be prorogued in such a way. Prorogation is, however, the gift of the monarch, who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, not the Speaker. Refusing the advice of the sitting premier challenges one aspect of the sovereignty of the Westminster parliament whereas ignoring the views of the Speaker challenges another.

Former Tory prime minister John Major threatens to seek a judicial review to stop any arbitrary suspension of parliament and wilder Remainer politicians say that if prorogued they would meet in another place, such as Central Hall Westminster, for a ‘Rump’ session to block Brexit.

What the Johnson government will actually do remains to be seen – but Johnson would be playing into the Remainers’ hands if the Brexit issue is subsumed into a crisis over Parliamentary authority. Johnson knows the only way out of the impasse is another general election and he clearly hopes to side-line the Brexit Party by totally embracing their ‘no-deal’ departure demands.

We have no problem with a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. That’s what the people voted for in the 2016 referendum and that’s what we want. The problem is that the Tories cannot deliver it.

Meanwhile, the Remainers within the labour movement are on the march. The Blairite majority of Labour MPs have always supported membership of the EU. Now the Europhile leaders of most of our trade unions are moving to push the Corbyn leadership to follow suit.

In June the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) that largely reflects the thinking of the Corbyn leadership rejected Brexit under the slogan of “Remain and Rebel”, which is just a variation of the “Another Europe is Possible” drivel that third-rate left social-democrats in Greece, Germany and France use to justify their treachery.

For us the issue is clear. We want a general election now to get Labour in and the Tories out. We want Labour to stand by the people’s vote to leave the EU without any ifs or buts. And the surest guarantee of Brexit is a massive majority for Labour at the next election.