Is Labour too divided to win?
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2022
⏱️ 21 minutes
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Summary
After more factional strife within Labour, the academic and former Downing Street staffer Patrick Diamond speaks to Anoosh Chakelian about his new book: Labour's Civil War: How infighting has kept the left from power (and what can be done about it).
They discuss the party’s history of fighting itself, what lessons can be learned from its time in government, and what Keir Starmer needs to do to end the conflict.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Anouche, and on today's episode of the New Statesman podcast, I'm joined by |
| 0:08.1 | Professor of Public Policy at Queen Mary University, Patrick Diamond, to discuss Labour's Civil Wars. |
| 0:23.6 | So I'm delighted to be joined on today's New Statesman podcast by Patrick Diamond, |
| 0:28.2 | Professor of Public Policy at Queen Mary University of London. |
| 0:31.3 | He was senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister in 2001 to 2005, and head of policy planning |
| 0:36.9 | in Downing Street 2009 to 2010. |
| 0:39.2 | He has written a book with Charles Radici, the Labour peer and former MP, Labour's Civil Wars, |
| 0:45.2 | how in fighting has kept the left from power and what can be done about it. |
| 0:49.0 | Patrick, I was going to say this book was timely, but I suppose you could always have said |
| 0:53.9 | it was timely since the creation of the Labour Party. |
| 0:56.8 | The history of the Labour Party can be written around the civil wars that have engulfed |
| 1:00.3 | it at various periods. |
| 1:01.4 | So yes, it is a theme that has been recurrent in Labour's history, but obviously remains |
| 1:06.1 | very relevant in the present day. |
| 1:07.6 | OK, and so why did you feel that you wanted to write this, but what was it that was, |
| 1:12.0 | we frustrated from your time working new works under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as well, |
| 1:16.5 | a time of division? |
| 1:18.0 | Yeah, so we started thinking about the book actually during the period of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, |
| 1:22.0 | because obviously that was a time in the Labour Party when there was a lot of division |
| 1:25.4 | clearly between, in particular, the parliamentary wing of the party and the leadership and also |
| 1:30.0 | the grassroots. |
| 1:31.5 | And I think what really struck us was, yeah, there were some new features to that in terms |
... |
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