Labour Together faces revived accusations that it used unreported donor cash to help make Keir Starmer leader, and its busy Liverpool conference schedule shows how reliant the centrist group now is on sponsorship from banks, corporations and lobbyists.

Full story in the new Private Eye, out now.

The memo reads very much like it was written by Jonathan Rutherford (69) or the relatively youthful Maurice Glasman (64)

Surely what Labour need to do faced with an (exaggerated but not unreal) 'spectacle of decay' is create a 'spectacle of renewal' by doing public investment, then Ministers publicly visit brushed up high st., new social housing, breakfast clubs etc (they do too little investment + visits rn)

Its not one Team Starmer see. They want Reform to be the main opposition because they want to say 'all liberals, lefts must accept our Centrism & get Reform" and "we must also be Reform-lite to head them off' - its the Macron strategy

Because the alternative- try beat Farage by taxing the rich/investing in the public real/rallying liberals against bigots- is anathema to them, a hateful idea. They are very committed to the Macron-y strategy - Vote for us & our centrism or get Reform , while we have to be a bit Reformy anyway -

Isn't the issue you are avoiding here is how did this supposed 'admirable fighter for underdogs' become so vacuously right wing? -maybe cos that would mean admitting the media (inc.Guardian) pushed Starmer on his supposed decent-underdog-vibes, ignoring the left saying he was a foil for the right ?

Cabinet reshuffle latest

When Labour tried to move left, you sided with Tom Watson and his fake document claiming it was all "Trotsky entryists" . I hope you learn the lesson that if you don't want a "moral vacuum" you need to back Labour's left ( or parties to the left of Labour or Polanski in the Greens etc if you prefer)

If you want the "Progressives on the pitch", the kind who might back ANL/RAR type pushbacks John wants, then you both surely need to back "Progressives" like Zack Polanski in the Greens, Left Labour or left-of-Labour MPs etc. Backing Chowns/ Ramsay or Tom Watson respectively got you here

Peter Mandelson still holds millions of pounds worth of shares in Global Counsel - the lobbying company he founded which represents firms including Palantir - months after Mandelson became UK Ambassador to Washington inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Oh for sure , the BBC banned anarchy in the UK & God Save the Queen, while some local councils banned the Sex Pistols playing (by licensing laws), but no input from Govt or MPs

Indeed , but also the "censor punk rock " thing was mostly done by local councillors, not the actual Prime Minister

Ex-CIA officer running Gaza aid security advised Boston Consulting Group Phil Reilly, who leads a private security company guarding food distribution sites in Gaza, was a senior advisor for US consultancy that has withdrawn from controversial aid project

Boston Consulting Group are backing away from their role creating the militarised, privatised "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (GHF) . But the CIA agent running the mercenary firm created to guard GHF was ...a Boston Consulting adviser www.middleeasteye.net/news/ex-cia-...

Keir Starmer has a new fave Defence & Tech firm, with Team Starmer showing lots of love to Anduril : Like Palantir, Anduril are named after a Lord of The Rings object, and their chief attraction to Starmer seems to be their boss is close to Trump. In current @PrivateEyeNews

The Government Watchdog supposed to guard against anti-Terrorism laws being too repressive announced he wants to "save democracy from itself" with Cold War style "anti subversion " laws, at a right wing Think Tank funded by arms firms , in current @PrivateEyeNews

‘Counterproductive and silly’: 30 years since the end of the bizarre Irish political voice ban A new film looks at the restriction of broadcasting on named political groups in Northern Ireland – and the actors and comedians who benefited

The Police should only allow Kneecap to perform in public if the band agree to have their vocals dubbed by Stephen Rea www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Just 6% of homes approved in Labour’s first six months were for social rent Data from 119 English councils shows that council houses made up just 6% of planning approvals in Labour’s first half-year in office

🔴 Big exclusive leading Hyphen this morning – data from 119 councils shows half didn't greenlight a SINGLE social rent home in Labour's first six months.

Some of these councils have waiting lists for social housing well over 10k.

Full story here 👇

hyphenonline.com/2025/05/19/h...

Isn't it misleading readers to claim Starmer has abandoned good policies because he 'mislaid' his vision through 'nervousness ' etc ? When Starmer backed left policies it was just a ruse, a fake: This 'crackdowns'+benefit cuts is the real face of the Labour Right/Team Starmer + shouldn't we say so?

If they aren't (effectively) chasing votes , but are 'confirming their biases' , then doesnt that mean what's driving Team Starmer is what they want - and they really do want minimal social 'reform' and maximum flag waving anti migrant noises - this is who they really are ?

They are embodied in the Plan For Change, which is subject to Sir Keir Starmer's promise to go "Further and Faster" to "deliver the Change", is I think the official answer

From the Guardian: Reform Voters like nationalisation, interventionist left economics, taxing corporations- so why don't Labour try win Reform voters with this stuff, that Labour members, voters also like ? Instead of trying to copy Reform ? It's a headscratcher

Arguably Starmer did have another set of coherent solutions in both the 'Soft Left' '10 Pledges', only they turned out to be a deliberate lie concocted by McSweeney designed to be jettisoned. He also had another coherent solution w/"£28bn investment ", also largely jettisoned

For sure

? How is this different from when Sister Souljah or Ice T or even the Sex Pistols faced right wing political figures trying to 'take different meanings '/paint them as violent scary types . The only difference here is the Guardian/Lynskey trying some 'both sides are bad' nonsense.

Mmm - where the consequences lesser for Ice T or Sister Souljah or even the Sex Pistols? - all of whom faced harsh bans thanks to reactionaries . I don't think so. The only difference here is The Guardian/Dorian Lynskey trying to equivocate with a 'both sides are bad' equivocation

How does it show things have changed ? These paras show that there have longtime been reactionaries who try hard to get offended by radical, mouthy musicians. The only change here is the author trying to equivocate and suggest Kneecap's fans/friends are somehow "hypocrites"

Gary, a sales manager from Boston, told the Lincolnshire group: "I've given up on the system. You go from one bunch of lying so-and-so's to the best lot." He thought radical change was required. "This is going to sound extreme but the country almost noods a coup d'etat - somebody to come in and say, "Right, this is what we're doing and you will conform."

I know hacks lose their minds 15 seconds into every a focus group & decide it’s revealing Real People’s True Thoughts, but LOL mate you’re literally quoting a man demanding a coup to “make everyone conform” here

If Gary, a sales manager from Boston, Lincolnshire, demands a coup to build a British Estado Novo, then a coup must be made.

It might seem mad from the outside, but Ministers in a permanently right wing Labour govt can (a) expect nice corporate jobs when they lose elections (b) expect to get their 'turn' back in govt every now and then when the Tories totally screw up. It works for the careerist right

Defence Secretary John Healey said he was boosting British firms with his extra Defence spending- while announcing a £30m drone contract with a US firm , named after a Lord of The Rings sword, run by a Trump supporting Tech Bro - in current @privateeyenews.bsky.social