‘Delivering for the country must come before internal party politics’

When the British people returned a Labour government with a commanding majority, they did so to see change delivered – not to watch internal debate consume our attention. After years of economic stagnation and pressure on public services, voters gave Labour a mandate to govern. They trusted us to deliver our manifesto. We owe them nothing less than full focus on that task.

As a practicing NHS GP for decades, and after twelve years serving London at City Hall, I know what happens when politics loses that focus. Patients waiting months for diagnostic tests do not care about Westminster factionalism. Families struggling with the cost of living are not interested in internal manoeuvring. They care about delivery. 

We have already seen what a disciplined Labour government can achieve. In London, during my time in City Hall working alongside Sadiq Khan, we showed that focus and unity translate into results. From expanding universal free school meals, to tackling toxic air quality, to strengthening core public services, the principle was straightforward: stay focused on outcomes, and people’s lives improve.

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As the former Chair of the London Assembly Health Committee, I saw first-hand that meaningful change is rarely headline-driven. It is built through steady, structural reform, not short-term headline-grabbing political positioning. In London, we used statutory health strategies to begin closing the gap in life expectancy between boroughs, and supported initiatives like Thrive LDN to reduce stigma around mental health in workplaces. We achieved this because we had unified leadership focused entirely on outcomes, rather than internal division.

Our focus at the national level must remain completely locked onto the Prime Minister’s core missions in the same way. We are a government built on the promise of national renewal – stabilising the economy, fixing our broken care system, and rebuilding the foundations of our public sector. To disrupt that work now, at a moment of acute national challenge, is a luxury the country simply cannot afford.

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Nowhere is this more important than the NHS. The scale of the challenge facing the NHS requires steady, systematic, and serious governance. It requires pushing forward with our plans to expand primary care, reduce waiting lists, and tackle deep-rooted health inequalities. We cannot successfully reform the NHS if the department responsible for it is treated as a tactical launchpad for personal ambition rather than a vehicle for public service.

History is a cruel teacher for the Labour Party. Whenever we have allowed internal division to overshadow our duty to the public, the country has rightly punished us. A large parliamentary majority is not a licence for self-indulgence; it is an immense responsibility and a contract with the British electorate we are bound to honour.

The public gave us the tools to fix this country because they believed we were the grown-ups in the room. They had grown weary of a previous administration that prioritised personal advancement and internal warfare over the basic duties of statecraft. We must not repeat those mistakes.

This is the time for stability, discipline and unity. The leadership of this party has set out a clear, funded path to rebuild Britain. Our job, every single one of us, from grassroots activists to senior parliamentarians – is to get behind that agenda and deliver the change we promised. 

Let us learn from the proven record of delivery we built in City Hall, put the country’s business first, and prove that we are worthy of the trust placed in us.

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