Historian researching the Labour Left. Articles and book reviews in @tribunemagazine, @Jacobin, @CBHJournal.
Jan 25 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Labour Party history suggests that blatantly factional candidate stitch ups like this, handed down by a micro-managing party leadership, often lead to unintended consequences. 🧵
In 1995 the NEC deselected Liz Davies as Labour’s candidate for Leeds North East, on trumped up charges of Trotskyism. The decision sparked uproar and three years later she was elected to the NEC as part of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance.
Nov 6, 2025 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
As has been rumoured for some time, Labour's Tribune Group is being reformed. By my count, this is the third relaunch in its complex 60+ year history. Thread below on the Group's history, factionalism, and the soft left's major issues🧵
theguardian.com/politics/2025/…
The Group was set up by a few dozen left-wing Labour MPs supportive of @tribunemagazine after the 1964 general election. Most had been veterans of the Bevanite rebellion of the 1950s, or supporters of the early Labour left group Victory for Socialism.
Mar 26, 2023 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
As requested by @NickSDickinson here is a thread on @johnmcdonnellMP's 2007 leadership manifesto. While short, it is a richly informative source that is both very evocative of the politics of the 2000s and lays much of the groundwork of what we could eventually label 'Corbynism'.
Straight off the bat, McD's introduction outlines the difficult situation New Labour found itself in in 2007 (bare in mind this is all pre-crash!).
While riding a wave of goodwill in 1997, New Labour had managed to alienate broad swathes of who McD considers the natural base.
