Labour Party
Britain's main opposition Labour Party named Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions who opposed the country's exit from the European Union, as its leader on 04 April 2020. Starmer worked as a barrister specializing in human rights issues before being elected to the House of Commons in 2015. He served as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
Starmer, who tried to carry the socialist supporters of outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn while also keeping more centrist Labour members on board, beat Rebecca Long-Bailey, an ally of Corbyn, and Lisa Nandy in the contest. He won with 56.2% of the vote by party members and supporters. Starmer is faced the challenge of rebuilding the Labour Party after its historic election defeat, while boosting its presence as the largest opposition party. The new Labour leader used his victory speech to describe Labour's alleged anti-Semitism as a "stain on our party", pledging to "tear out this poison by its roots".
The Labour Party celebrates achievements from its emergence in 1900 as a parliamentary pressure group until the historic landslide victory in 1997. The historic establishment of the National Health Service, the enshrining in law of equality of opportunity for all and the creation and maintenance of an empowering welfare state - all Labour achievements. Equally important has been the development of Labour as a mass membership party in the 1920s and 1930s, the modernisation of our campaigning techniques in the 1980s and the election of 101 Labour women MPs in 1997.
However, the lessons from this history are not all positive. Labour was in government for just 23 of its first 100 years. On occasions the Party has also been the victim of division and disunity which cost dearly in electoral terms. It allowed the Tories to win and undermine Labour achievements.
In the 2015 election the Scottish National Party (SNP) destroyed Labour in Scotland. Labour is a shadow of its former self - the final tally was 232, an astonishing 99 seats lower than the Tories. Labour's future hangs in the balance, and with no alternative candidates stepping up to the mark, 2020 looks likely to provide another thumping. Blairites such as David Blunkett and Jack Straw demanded a return to center ground if Labour was to regain power.
There has been a long tradition of socialism in Britain. It originates from before the work of Karl Marx. However, there are very strong similarities between the two sets of ideas. The main difference is that socialism is an agenda for political action whereas Marxism is generally seen a theory to explain society and social relationships. Socialists believe that capitalism creates inequality; it concentrates all the power and wealth into the hands of a very small number of people. These are the oligarchy. Socialists argue that we all need to work for a fair society in which there is equal access to wealth and power. Just as there are debates within the Marxist tradition, there are debates in the socialist tradition as to how equality can be achieved for ordinary people.
Traditionally the Labour party has been associated with socialist policies. In 1945, the Labour Party was elected to power under the leadership of Clement Atlee. It had a strong socialist agenda and policies that would change the nature of the British state. This government set up legislation to set up the Welfare State: education, benefit systems, the Health Service, pensions and unemployment payment. It also nationalised many struggling industries to preserve jobs and improve conditions for workers: coal mines, gas companies, steel works, telephones, transport and electricity. Less popularly, it oversaw the return of the British Empire to the populations who actually lived in those countries. In the election of 1950, there was a reduced majority and the Labour party were defeated in 1951. The next influential Labour government was that of Harold Wilson in the early 1960s. It was responsible for a number of social policies such as the legalisation of homosexuality, abortion and the abolition of capital punishment. It pushed for comprehensive schools and also set up the Open University.
In 1997, the Labour Party was re-elected in a landslide victory for Tony Blair. Many people hoped that this would see an end to New Right policies, but in reality, very little changed and many of the policies of the previous conservative government were carried on through into the new government.
On 01 May 2008 Londoners went to the polls to elect a new Mayor. Thirteen candidates were running but, the main contenders are "Ken" and "Boris," the Labour and Conservative party candidates who were both on first name terms with the voters.
"Red Ken" Livingstone, Mayor of London for eight years, was behind in the polls and under pressure as the race enters its final weeks. Latest poll figures put his conservative rival, Boris Johnson, at 45 per cent with Livingstone close behind at 39 per cent. The candidates were fighting it out on environmental issues, transport and economic development. Livingstone's combative manner and ability to court controversy, vote-winners in the past, appear this time to be turning voters away. Critics said he is wandering far beyond the issues of concern to a Mayor and he appeared to be suffering by association from Labour's dismal national poll ratings.
A well-known figure in London politics for more than 20 years, Ken's initial popularity rested on his image as a political maverick: Margaret Thatcher's Government and his own party hated him in the '80s when he was known as "Red Ken" for his extreme left-wing views. And his refusal to toe the party line endeared him to Londoners who voted for him in droves when he ran as an Independent candidate in London's first Mayoral elections in 2000. Livingstone ran as independent because then-Prime Minister Blair would not endorse him as Labour's candidate.
Until the 1980s, the British left was broadly pro-Israel. By 2016 the Left was almost entirely anti-Zionist; and with the rise of Momentum, veering towards bigotry against Jews. The left-wing embrace of the Palestinian cause, which later led to Labour anti-Semitism, had its roots in the now defunct Young Liberals, the youth wing of the party. Heading the campaign was the one-time chair of the Young Liberals, Louis Eaks, who died in the early 1990s. Anti-Zionism began as part of liberal, anti-apartheid, anti-colonial sentiment. But what started as pro-Palestinian ‘anti-Zionism’ grew into ill-concealed anti-Semitic Jew hating.
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