The Thin End

The Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, was right to question the Prime Minister on Care Home deaths. Our loved ones in care homes should have been kept safe.  A new report today finds that the number of people dying from COVID-19 in care homes is double the figure given by the government. The government's advice up to 13th March was that there were unlikely to be infections in care homes. This conclusion could not have been based on scientific advice.  What logic were they applying? There is no reasoning in science why a virus would behave differently because it is in a care home! A virus has no idea it is in a care home! Did they think older people were immune if they were in care homes? The government was slow to understand the problem we faced, slow to act, and still refuses to publish the advice it receives. The consequence in our care homes has been catastrophic. The government should come out of its self-congratulatory mode and start listening. The j...

Labour Party leadership candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, wants to reopen the debate about Clause 4 in the party's constitution. At a time when the party should be seeking to unite, this candidate is bent on opening old wounds and potentially devoting months if not years of wrangling about its constitution. It is, of course, a pitch to the Corbyn wing of the party.   They have never forgiven Tony Blair for pushing through reform of the old Clause 4 section 4, which enshrined public ownership as an objective. It was and will remain a source of contention in the party ever since it was written in 1918, but mainly since the former leader in the 1950s, Hugh Gaitskell, tried to ditch it. The clause, which has sweeping nationalisation in it, was always far removed from what a Labour government would do.   But for years the party carried the burden of its intent written in stone. For many on the left, it is a shibboleth.  To moderates, it is was an unnecessary handic...

All the candidates for the leadership of the UK's Labour Party have presented themselves well on the hustings. I confess to being sad that Emily Thornbury will not go forward into the final round. It bodes well for the future.  Labour has the potential for an excellent frontbench team. What is also clear is that Keir Starmer can command respect across the party. His brief as Shadow Brexit Secretary has been the most difficult of all to take on. I believe he has performed that duty brilliantly in the house of commons and it didn't surprise me that he received a resounding standing ovation during his speech at the party conference. But what he is showing now is his breadth and vision.  As a leader, Keir Starmer can unite the party and reach out to voters with a credible platform. Now, more than ever, The United Kingdom needs a robust opposition.  Boris Johnson's Tories have a commanding majority, and there is the danger that he will move towards what Lord Hailsha...

The Labour Party is in the process of making a decision that will decide whether it can recover from the defeat in 2019 General Election.  All the candidates have much to offer and are making their case well. No doubt for some the decision will be difficult.  Others may well have made up their minds on the simple binary of Left-wing-Right-wing. The choice should be whoever is best placed to pull the party together.  Someone who can form a front bench of all talents and across the spectrum in the party. That is what Harold Wilson did in the 1960s.  His government included Roy Jenkins on the right and Barbar Castle on the left; it included Crossman and Crossland, and Tony Benn with Jim Callaghan.  It presented a formidable team. Keir Starmer brings to the top table a formidable career outside politics, having been a human rights lawyer and then Director of Public Prosecutions.   He is a man of integrity and commitment who believes in a fairer society ...