Keir Starmer

Stop the Tory attack: Kill the bill

Counterfire editorial on Tory corruption, a useless opposition and the new normal to be won
Starmer has nothing to offer Teesside

With local elections looming, Starmer’s Labour continues in its failure to offer an effective alternative for Teesside, argues Alex Brooke
A year of Sir Keir: how the opposition went missing

Terina Hine interrogates a year of Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party and the disappearance of the Opposition
Labour backs Tory assault on democracy in Liverpool – CounterBlast

Labour’s backing of the Tory assault on local democracy underlines the need for the left to fight for a political alternative, argues Alex Snowdon
Vaccine bounce or Starmer slump? – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on Labour travails and the power of protest
Whose unity? Scottish Labour drops candidate after she backs Indyref2

Anas Sarwar is following Sir Keir Starmer’s footsteps in expunging every vestige of progressive thought in the Labour Party, reports Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Sunak’s budget: austerity hasn’t gone away – CounterBlast

A few increases in state spending shouldn’t disguise a budget which offers nothing for working class people, argues Alex Snowdon
Why is Starmer to the right of the Tories on corporation tax? - CounterBlast

By opposing an increase in corporation tax, Kier Starmer’s failure to offer an alternative to the Tories has become farcical, writes Terina Hine
Starmer’s shtick: Ruthless against the left, useless against the right - CounterBlast

Preoccupied with burying the politics of the Corbyn era, Starmer’s vacuous leadership is failing to offer a coherent alternative to the Tories, argues Alex Snowdon.
It’s not the vaccine, it’s the vacuousness: polling, politics and the Starmer slump

Chris Nineham argues Starmer's poor polling can't be blamed on vaccine success
Starmer and Mandelson plot to resurrect the corpse of Blairism - CounterBlast

The nightmarish return of spectres from Labour’s past is the last thing the party needs, writes Sean Ledwith
Starmer's flag fetish: win the middle ground, don’t chase it

Rather than Starmer’s bland patriotic appeal, Kevin Ovenden argues for the revolutionary tradition of winning broad support for socialists through building mass movements
Starmer’s patriot games are a political dead end for Labour - CounterBlast

The last refuge of a scoundrel will never be fertile territory for the left, writes Sean Ledwith
Starmer: no leadership, no principles - CounterBlast

Sir Keir Starmer’s lack of opposition and support for the spy cops bill is letting the government get away with murder, writes Terina Hine
2020: the year the mask fell off

Shabbir Lakha reflects on a tumultuous year and what we must remember for the fight ahead
When Liz Truss speaks a truth, beware

Mike Wayne unpicks Liz Truss’s recent speech on inequality and finds that it scores some hits against parts of the left
Why Labour can't deliver

We need to dig deep for the roots of Labour’s failures, argues Dragan Plavšić
Starmer’s purge turns against Palestine solidarity

The ongoing attack on the left in Labour is increasingly targeting those who are vocal in support for Palestine, writes Sybil Cock
What is behind Starmer's war on the left?

The Labour right has always been hostile to the left, but the ferocity of Starmer’s attacks is exceptional, argues Martin Hall
Civil war in the Labour Party – weekly briefing

Alex Snowdon on Starmer’s offensive on the left and the fight for zero Covid
Is there life outside Labour?

In our continuing series on left strategy, Chris Nineham from Counterfire responds to Laura Smith and John McInally
Labour's absent opposition, the CRG and scotch eggs - CounterBlast

Instead of opposing Johnson's shambolic tiers, Starmer's abstention is letting the anti-lockdown Tory rebels and scotch eggs dominate the debate, writes Terina Hine
Tiers of a clown – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on the idiocy of Tory pandemic policy and Starmer’s witch-hunt on the march
Keir Starmer's Brexit opportunism

Starmer has confirmed that his manoeuvring on Brexit and a second referendum was always an anti-left operation used to attack Corbyn, argues Kevin Ovenden
Does Starmer want permanent war with the left?

Starmer is sidelining the left in the NEC as his purge continues, writes Terina Hine
Covid crisis: what are YOU getting for Christmas?

Boris Johnson wants to return to an ineffective tier system to save profits for shops instead of people’s lives, writes Caitlin Southern
Bombs and bosses’ bailouts while workers get pay freeze – weekly briefing

Alex Snowdon on second wave austerity, Starmer’s Labour party and Friedrich Engels
Letter to the left: gloves off, time to fight!

Natalie Strecker describes her political journey, why she joined Labour under Corbyn and has since left, and what she thinks are the next steps for the left
No money for school meals but Johnson found £16.5bn extra for the military

Boris Johnson has chosen to up defence spending over the necessary measures to protect lives during a pandemic, writes Lindsey German
Johnson's choice: no good Brexit options

Whichever way the prime minister looks, he is presented with a circle of problems that is becoming increasingly difficult to square, argues Martin Hall
Starmer, Corbyn and the Labour whip: this is a war against the left

Withholding the whip from Corbyn is unjustifiable. The left must unite and fight back against Starmer's war on the left, argues Chris Nineham
Retreating won't stop the attacks on Corbyn and the left

If the left doesn’t get on the front foot, the attacks will only keep coming, argues Shabbir Lakha
Starmer's purge continues: Bristol members suspended for supporting Corbyn

Labour members in Bristol West have been suspended for confronting Starmer’s witch hunt against the left. This is a fight for all of us, argues Tom Whittaker
Why Labour fails - video

Dragan Plavšić explains why the Labour Party fails as a party that was founded to represent the working class
Goodbye, good riddance… get ready – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on Trump’s departure as POTUS and the reality of Starmer’s Labour party
No capitulation to Starmer's witch-hunt: fight back now

The question isn't 'stay or leave', it's whether or not the left inside and outside the Labour party is going to fight back, argues John McInally
Defend Corbyn: the key thing is to fight - video

Lindsey German speaks at a mass online rally in defence of Jeremy Corbyn
Crossing red lines: why the establishment wants to destroy Corbyn

Corbyn's anti-war principles and their popular appeal are the biggest threat to the establishment, says Chris Nineham
This is a fight: there is no unity with the Labour right

You can't win a war if you don't realise you're in one. Time to fight, argues Shabbir Lakha
Corbyn suspension: seven lessons of the Starmer witch-hunt

John Rees looks at what we’ve learnt so far from the response to the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party
The SpyCops bill is an attack on us all: it must be resisted

We shouldn’t imagine that we are powerless and have to accept this assault on our civil liberties lying down, argues Shabbir Lakha
Defend Corbyn: Counterfire statement on Jeremy Corbyn's suspension

The whole of the left must unite to defend Jeremy Corbyn from this outrageous attack
The attack on Jeremy Corbyn is baseless – there is nothing to support it in the EHRC report

The EHRC report does not uphold claims that Labour under Corbyn was institutionally antisemitic and does not justify the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, argues Chris Nineham
EHRC report: a green light for further attacks on Corbyn and the left which must be resisted

Lindsey German's statement ahead of the EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party
Testing times, but no trace of a government strategy - weekly briefing

Lindsey German on the Tories’ ever-escalating Covid crisis, anti-austerity and Labour’s warped security values
Spy cops bill: Starmer helping the Tory assault on civil liberties

Starmer's tacit support for government legislation that will allow undercover police to commit crimes is a dangerous new low, argues Lucy Nichols
Covid: a Tory-made crisis - Counterfire Bulletin October 2020

Why we need a zero-Covid strategy, resistance on the frontline, carnage in America and a new direction for the left in this month's Counterfire bulletin
No country for old men? – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on systemic inequality and Labour’s identity problem
Starmer is colluding with Tories to unleash the spy cops - CounterBlast

The Labour Leader is jeopardising civil liberties in his pursuit of approval from the establishment, argues Sean Ledwith
When Towering Inferno meets Groundhog Day - weekly briefing

Lindsey German on a Tory party that cannot cope and a pitiful pseudo-opposition
Starmer’s road leads to disaster: the left urgently needs a new direction

A left in thrall to Starmer's Labour risks irrelevance, argues Chris Nineham
Protecting war criminals and torturers: the Tory bill and Starmer's shame

The passing of the Overseas Operations bill which Labour abstained on is a disservice to victims of torture and undermines international law, argues Lindsey German
Doncaster reacts to Starmer: 'We don't need another Tony Blair'

Keir Starmer's conference speech in Doncaster isn't convincing anybody, writes John Westmoreland after speaking to people in the area
Starmer's 'New Leadership': blame Corbyn, offer nothing - CounterBlast

Starmer's policy-stricken, Corbyn-bashing conference speech confirms that opposition to the Tories is only going to come from outside parliament, argues Terina Hine
Where next for the left? - Lindsey German

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left, Lindsey German looks at the election defeat, the coronavirus crisis and how socialists should organise
Starmer’s empty new slogan

Dragan Plavsic considers what we should we make of Labour’s new slogan
Where next for the left? - Holly Rigby

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left after the rightward shift of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, looks at Tory failures during the pandemic and the role of union and movement organising
Where next for the left? - Mike Wayne

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left after the rightward shift of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, Mike Wayne looks at the need for a new party of the left and the importance of revolutionary organising
Tory failure: the explanation lies beyond stupidity - weekly briefing

Lindsey German on the return of Conservative sleaze and Keir Starmer’s unfit-for-purpose Labour Party
The official opposition isn't working: is there a new frontline? - CounterBlast

While the government is in disarray and Starmer fumbles, the opposition is building in workplaces, writes Chris Nineham
Labour adrift while the second wave builds - weekly briefing

Lindsey German on faux opposition, media sickness and Britain’s oldest colony
Counter-revolution in the Labour Party and the coming storm

John McInally, long-standing activist and former member of the PCS executive, contributes to the ongoing discussion on the future of the Labour Party and the prospects for the wider left
Why the government is to blame, not the people - CounterBlast

Boris Johnson’s Tory government should be held responsible for the scale of the coronavirus crisis, not ordinary people, argues Alex Snowdon
McCluskey: Starmer's decision to settle is a 'huge miscalculation'

McCluskey is right. Union subs should not be paying off those who helped the Tories win power, argues Chris Neville
Summer Brexit report: Britain drowns beneath the waves

As the UK reels under the double impact of the pandemic and recession, the Brexit deadline is coming over the horizon, argues Martin Hall
Starmer's Panorama drama: an attempt to bury Corbyn's legacy

We repost Anna Southern's article in The Left Berlin on the continued attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and the left
The Starmer supremacy: Labour is now on the wrong side of the struggles that matter

Starmer's stampede to the right means that socialists will need to reach beyond the Labour Party to build a fighting left, argues Chris Nineham
The Labour leadership isn’t serious about anti-racism - CounterBlast

Starmer isn't fighting racism, he's fighting the left, writes Lucy Nichols
The Starmer restoration is only just getting into stride

Starmer's transformation of the Labour Party by attacking the left and pulling the party to the right is only just beginning, argues Kevin Ovenden
Jeremy Corbyn is right to challenge claims of 'institutional antisemitism'

Labour’s decision to settle with former party officials looks like a politically motivated attack on the left, writes Alex Snowdon
A wealth tax is a bare minimum, why is Labour not demanding it?

Starmer refusing to back a wealth tax shows he’s not going to fight against the Tories putting the cost of the crisis on working people, argues Shabbir Lakha
Tory policy: eat, drink, be merry because tomorrow… well you know the rest – weekly briefing

Lindsey German on government idiocy, Black Lives Matter and Starmer’s Thermidor
Starmer is moving Labour to the right 'brutally and rapidly': a CLP secretary’s resignation statement

Socialists should focus their energies on building the extra-parliamentary left, argues Terina Hine in her statement resigning as Cities of London and Westminster CLP secretary
‘Super Saturday’ reopening is reckless and dangerous - CounterBlast

The government’s push to reopen pubs, restaurants and much else this weekend is irresponsible and premature, writes Alex Snowdon
Starmer takes Labour right: It's time for an extra-parliamentary left

The fight is on, but it isn't going to be fought in the Labour Party
The battle is on: and the left can’t win in Labour - weekly briefing

Lindsey German on Labour, the left and taking on the Tories
Sacking Long-Bailey accelerates Labour’s drive to the right - CounterBlast

The sacking of the shadow cabinet’s only prominent socialist is a milestone in Labour’s move to the right, argues Alex Snowdon
Starmer’s ruthless at rooting out the left, not antisemitism - CounterBlast

In a week where the Tories are covering for corruption and risking working people’s lives, Keir Starmer is attacking the left instead of the government says Penny Hicks
Starmer plays to the right: where now for the left?

Starmer has signalled war on Labour's left with the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey. It is a deliberate attempt to root out Corbynism from positions of influence
Sacking Long-Bailey is a disgrace: it's proof Starmer is leading a witch-hunt against the left - CounterBlast 25 June

There can no longer be any doubt, Starmer is leading a witch-hunt against the left in Labour at a time when the Tories are in maximum disarray, writes Chris Nineham
Johnson is gambling with our lives. Why is Starmer backing the bet? - CounterBlast 24 June

Boris Johnson is lifting the lockdown when it is patently unsafe to do so, and the opposition's going along with it, writes Shabbir Lakha
The Tories are at each other's throats, why isn't Labour seizing its chance? - CounterBlast 11 June

When the Tories are caught between their donors and the polls, we deserve better than the present docile opposition, argues Chris Nineham
Keir Starmer, don’t pander to Modi's fascist regime and its allies in Britain - SASG statement

A statement from Indians for Labour and South Asia Solidarity Group
Set up to fail? Labour’s not so independent inquiry

Nick Fitzpatrick finds glaring issues with the panel put together by the NEC and its remit to investigate #LabourLeaks
Starmer’s foreign policy and the spirit of Blairism

Dragan Plavšić considers what Labour’s foreign policy will look like under Starmer’s leadership
Who pays? Socialists and state intervention part 2 – long read

In the second part of his article, Chris Nineham examines the recent development of the state and how the Coronavirus will impact on government policy and the left
Starmer's Labour: the opposition's gone missing

Kevin Potter explores whether Labour's attempt at constructive opposition is actually opposition at all

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Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer

Counterfire editorial on Tory corruption, a useless opposition and the new normal to be won

With local elections looming, Starmer’s Labour continues in its failure to offer an effective alternative for Teesside, argues Alex Brooke

Terina Hine interrogates a year of Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party and the disappearance of the Opposition

Labour’s backing of the Tory assault on local democracy underlines the need for the left to fight for a political alternative, argues Alex Snowdon

Lindsey German on Labour travails and the power of protest

Anas Sarwar is following Sir Keir Starmer’s footsteps in expunging every vestige of progressive thought in the Labour Party, reports Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

A few increases in state spending shouldn’t disguise a budget which offers nothing for working class people, argues Alex Snowdon

By opposing an increase in corporation tax, Kier Starmer’s failure to offer an alternative to the Tories has become farcical, writes Terina Hine

Preoccupied with burying the politics of the Corbyn era, Starmer’s vacuous leadership is failing to offer a coherent alternative to the Tories, argues Alex Snowdon.

Chris Nineham argues Starmer's poor polling can't be blamed on vaccine success

The nightmarish return of spectres from Labour’s past is the last thing the party needs, writes Sean Ledwith

Rather than Starmer’s bland patriotic appeal, Kevin Ovenden argues for the revolutionary tradition of winning broad support for socialists through building mass movements

The last refuge of a scoundrel will never be fertile territory for the left, writes Sean Ledwith

Sir Keir Starmer’s lack of opposition and support for the spy cops bill is letting the government get away with murder, writes Terina Hine

Shabbir Lakha reflects on a tumultuous year and what we must remember for the fight ahead

Mike Wayne unpicks Liz Truss’s recent speech on inequality and finds that it scores some hits against parts of the left

We need to dig deep for the roots of Labour’s failures, argues Dragan Plavšić

The ongoing attack on the left in Labour is increasingly targeting those who are vocal in support for Palestine, writes Sybil Cock

The Labour right has always been hostile to the left, but the ferocity of Starmer’s attacks is exceptional, argues Martin Hall

Alex Snowdon on Starmer’s offensive on the left and the fight for zero Covid

In our continuing series on left strategy, Chris Nineham from Counterfire responds to Laura Smith and John McInally

Instead of opposing Johnson's shambolic tiers, Starmer's abstention is letting the anti-lockdown Tory rebels and scotch eggs dominate the debate, writes Terina Hine

Lindsey German on the idiocy of Tory pandemic policy and Starmer’s witch-hunt on the march

Starmer has confirmed that his manoeuvring on Brexit and a second referendum was always an anti-left operation used to attack Corbyn, argues Kevin Ovenden

Starmer is sidelining the left in the NEC as his purge continues, writes Terina Hine

Boris Johnson wants to return to an ineffective tier system to save profits for shops instead of people’s lives, writes Caitlin Southern

Alex Snowdon on second wave austerity, Starmer’s Labour party and Friedrich Engels

Natalie Strecker describes her political journey, why she joined Labour under Corbyn and has since left, and what she thinks are the next steps for the left

Boris Johnson has chosen to up defence spending over the necessary measures to protect lives during a pandemic, writes Lindsey German

Whichever way the prime minister looks, he is presented with a circle of problems that is becoming increasingly difficult to square, argues Martin Hall

Withholding the whip from Corbyn is unjustifiable. The left must unite and fight back against Starmer's war on the left, argues Chris Nineham

If the left doesn’t get on the front foot, the attacks will only keep coming, argues Shabbir Lakha

Labour members in Bristol West have been suspended for confronting Starmer’s witch hunt against the left. This is a fight for all of us, argues Tom Whittaker

Dragan Plavšić explains why the Labour Party fails as a party that was founded to represent the working class

Lindsey German on Trump’s departure as POTUS and the reality of Starmer’s Labour party

The question isn't 'stay or leave', it's whether or not the left inside and outside the Labour party is going to fight back, argues John McInally

Lindsey German speaks at a mass online rally in defence of Jeremy Corbyn

Corbyn's anti-war principles and their popular appeal are the biggest threat to the establishment, says Chris Nineham

You can't win a war if you don't realise you're in one. Time to fight, argues Shabbir Lakha

John Rees looks at what we’ve learnt so far from the response to the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party

We shouldn’t imagine that we are powerless and have to accept this assault on our civil liberties lying down, argues Shabbir Lakha

The whole of the left must unite to defend Jeremy Corbyn from this outrageous attack

The EHRC report does not uphold claims that Labour under Corbyn was institutionally antisemitic and does not justify the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, argues Chris Nineham

Lindsey German's statement ahead of the EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party

Lindsey German on the Tories’ ever-escalating Covid crisis, anti-austerity and Labour’s warped security values

Starmer's tacit support for government legislation that will allow undercover police to commit crimes is a dangerous new low, argues Lucy Nichols

Why we need a zero-Covid strategy, resistance on the frontline, carnage in America and a new direction for the left in this month's Counterfire bulletin

Lindsey German on systemic inequality and Labour’s identity problem

The Labour Leader is jeopardising civil liberties in his pursuit of approval from the establishment, argues Sean Ledwith

Lindsey German on a Tory party that cannot cope and a pitiful pseudo-opposition

A left in thrall to Starmer's Labour risks irrelevance, argues Chris Nineham

The passing of the Overseas Operations bill which Labour abstained on is a disservice to victims of torture and undermines international law, argues Lindsey German

Keir Starmer's conference speech in Doncaster isn't convincing anybody, writes John Westmoreland after speaking to people in the area

Starmer's policy-stricken, Corbyn-bashing conference speech confirms that opposition to the Tories is only going to come from outside parliament, argues Terina Hine

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left, Lindsey German looks at the election defeat, the coronavirus crisis and how socialists should organise

Dragan Plavsic considers what we should we make of Labour’s new slogan

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left after the rightward shift of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, looks at Tory failures during the pandemic and the role of union and movement organising

As part of a discussion on the next steps for the left after the rightward shift of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer, Mike Wayne looks at the need for a new party of the left and the importance of revolutionary organising

Lindsey German on the return of Conservative sleaze and Keir Starmer’s unfit-for-purpose Labour Party

While the government is in disarray and Starmer fumbles, the opposition is building in workplaces, writes Chris Nineham

Lindsey German on faux opposition, media sickness and Britain’s oldest colony

John McInally, long-standing activist and former member of the PCS executive, contributes to the ongoing discussion on the future of the Labour Party and the prospects for the wider left

Boris Johnson’s Tory government should be held responsible for the scale of the coronavirus crisis, not ordinary people, argues Alex Snowdon

McCluskey is right. Union subs should not be paying off those who helped the Tories win power, argues Chris Neville

As the UK reels under the double impact of the pandemic and recession, the Brexit deadline is coming over the horizon, argues Martin Hall

We repost Anna Southern's article in The Left Berlin on the continued attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and the left

Starmer's stampede to the right means that socialists will need to reach beyond the Labour Party to build a fighting left, argues Chris Nineham

Starmer isn't fighting racism, he's fighting the left, writes Lucy Nichols

Starmer's transformation of the Labour Party by attacking the left and pulling the party to the right is only just beginning, argues Kevin Ovenden

Labour’s decision to settle with former party officials looks like a politically motivated attack on the left, writes Alex Snowdon

Starmer refusing to back a wealth tax shows he’s not going to fight against the Tories putting the cost of the crisis on working people, argues Shabbir Lakha

Lindsey German on government idiocy, Black Lives Matter and Starmer’s Thermidor

Socialists should focus their energies on building the extra-parliamentary left, argues Terina Hine in her statement resigning as Cities of London and Westminster CLP secretary