‘Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour is treading water while the rest of us face a tidal wave of reaction’ 

• I DON’T know how long Elizabeth Wilson has been a member of the Labour Party or how deep her experience of the party runs, but I joined in 1980 and I’ve been a member ever since, holding pretty much every position within the constituency from chair of the party downwards, (Can factionalism be the way to rid Labour of its factions? August 11).

The difference between the party under Sir Keir Starmer is how blatantly and brutally procedures are being used not (merely) to promote one faction of the party but to eradicate all trace of their opponents.

It’s not about having a discussion about an issue and winning the vote, it’s about stopping your political opponents from holding office, standing for selection, removing them from lists of potential candidates, and blocking their access to democracy.

This is profoundly different from the way politics has previously been conducted.

The Forde Report explained in detail how anti-Semitism had been weaponised by the right to attack Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters, how unelected officers used their position to undermine policies, divert funds, and deliberately sabotage the campaign to get Labour into power.

Again this undemocratic behaviour is of a very different order from the cut and thrust of democratic conduct.

Meanwhile the Tory leadership contest continues with Sir Keir (and his Labour) missing in action. In the absence of opposition, the discussion moves inexorably to the right. The fact of the matter is that Sir Keir’s Labour is treading water while the rest of us face a tidal wave of reaction.

Not just energy prices and food inflation, but wage cuts and the collapse of public services. While the trade unions are bringing people together and showing solidarity across the workplace and communities, Sir Keir’s Labour are expelling members, closing down discussion, and narrowing the agenda to financial austerity. That’s it. In the face of everything, Labour is proposing financial austerity.

I agree with Ms Wilson, it would be almost funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

Sir Keir doesn’t deserve us. He’s not only useless. He’s appalling.

STEVEN TAYLOR
Kilburn & Hampstead Constituency Labour Party