‘Factionalism at the top Is weakening Labour – and handing a gift to Reform’

The Government has been plunged into a political crisis with the fallout from Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Ambassador to the United States. But that appalling decision did not happen in a vacuum. It was the product of a toxic factional culture coming from the top of the Labour Party that must now be swept away.

Serious concerns were already in the public domain about Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein long before he was made Ambassador. Yet these appear to have been brushed aside because Mandelson was an ally whose reintegration into the Labour leadership project suited the agenda of a small clique in No 10.

Mandelson has been famously close to the rich and powerful for decades. As a noted scourge of the left, he was brought back to help shift Labour onto a path that sided more with powerful corporate interests and avoided the reforms needed to rebalance power and wealth in favour of working people – reforms Keir Starmer had promised in his Labour leadership campaign.

READ MORE: ‘Winning was the easy part. Governing requires a different politics’

This political approach has squandered one of the biggest majorities in British political history. It has led to crisis after crisis. From the debacle over Winter Fuel Payments to unnecessary confrontations with MPs over the two-child benefit cap and cuts to support for disabled people, the Government has made decision after decision that jars with what millions understand to be real Labour values.

Each time, the leadership was warned not to proceed down this path. Each time, the polls showed it was the wrong course. But it ploughed on regardless. The sharp decline in Labour’s support less than two years into government is the predictable result.

The arrogance of ignoring those warnings has gone hand in hand with the stifling of internal democracy. As the political direction clashed with the instincts of Labour voters, members and elected representatives, the Labour leadership of Keir Starmer and Morgan McSweeney responded with a clampdown.

Power has been concentrated in the hands of a few. Decisions are imposed from above. Alternative voices are not listened to but marginalised. Debate is now treated as disloyalty. Suspension has too often become a political tool rather than a measure reserved for the most serious misconduct.

The recent controversy over the selection process in Gorton and Denton is part of a pattern. Councillors have faced mass barring ahead of local elections this May. MPs who have spoken up for their constituents have seen the whip withdrawn.

We cannot go on like this. That is why a coalition of leaders of trade unions affiliated to our party, more than 25 Labour MPs and Labour campaigning organisations have issued the call to Restore Labour Democracy.  

This warns that “a narrow, factional agenda is being imposed upon the Party” and that this approach is “increasingly unpopular with the public.” It says this is wrong in principle and damaging in practice.

Labour’s strength has always come from its members and affiliated trade unions being rooted in their communities. We are a party of workplaces, town halls and community campaigns. When members and trade unionists are sidelined, the Party loses its anchor. It becomes detached from the everyday realities of the people it seeks to represent.

That is politically dangerous. If Labour fails to reconnect with its roots, we risk losing the chance to deliver the change people voted for and so desperately need.

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Worse still, we risk ushering in a far-right government for the first time in British history. The consequences of a Trump-style Reform administration here are deeply alarming. Public services would be stripped back further. Trade union rights would come under attack. Minority communities would be targeted.

The coalition backing the Restore Labour Democracy statement is committed to working together to restore a culture of openness and respect for Labour members and affiliates. That means ending the contempt for internal debate. It means ensuring local members can choose their candidates. It means treating MPs and councillors as representatives of their communities, not problems to be managed.

Harold Wilson once described Labour as a party that needed two wings to fly. Today, too many voices across our party have been silenced.

Only by ending that factional culture can we ensure a Labour government rooted in working people’s lives that delivers real Labour values and prevents a Reform government. We must rebalance power in our own party so we can rebalance power in the country.

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