tom-blackburn

52 Articles by:

Tom Blackburn

Tom Blackburn is a Tribune columnist. He is a founding editor of New Socialist and lives in Greater Manchester.

The ‘Kinnock Moment’ Myth

In the run-up to party conference, Labour right-wingers are salivating at the prospect of another public war on the Left – but Neil Kinnock’s actual record as leader demonstrates why that is a dead end.

Keir Starmer’s Patsy Pipeline

Keir Starmer’s Future Candidates Programme promises to bring ‘normal’ people into politics – but in reality, it is designed to produce handpicked MPs with no sense of connection to the party membership.

Labour’s Self-Flagellation Tour

The Labour leadership’s ‘listening tour’ will do little to rebuild relationships with postindustrial communities – but it will provide plenty of opportunities to repeat right-wing attacks on the party’s progressive base.

Starmer’s Blairite Bunch

Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of his top staff is an attempt to shift the blame for the party’s ongoing poor performance – but bringing in more Blair-era right-wingers will only make Labour’s problems worse.

Starmer’s Latest Lurch to the Right

Starmer’s response to last week’s election disaster has been to push further rightwards in messaging and personnel – a move that will make it even harder for Labour to articulate a progressive alternative.

The Dark Prince Returns

The Labour leadership’s decision to lean on Peter Mandelson in Hartlepool is just the latest sign that it is running out of ideas – and instead turning to discredited establishment hacks to bail it out.

Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

The Labour leadership’s efforts to appear more Royalist than the Tories is a symptom of their sycophantic politics – if you won’t utter a critical word about the royal family, you’re not serious about challenging power.

How Labour Is Failing Liverpool

Allegations of corruption in the Caller Report are grim, but Labour’s failure to oppose the takeover of Liverpool by an equally corrupt Tory government threatens to plunge a left-wing heartland into years of right-wing policies.

The Last Neoliberal

Elected on a promise to modernise France, Emmanuel Macron has revealed what the political centre looks like in practice – a war on workers, authoritarian demagogy and a further emboldening of the far-right.

Capital’s Safe Pair of Hands

Labour’s opposition to tax increases for major corporations isn’t popular or even good economics – but it is a signal that the days when the party challenged big business interests are over.

Playing by the Rules

Anneliese Dodds’ speech was not as bad as advertised – but it demonstrated the fundamental problem with Labour’s new leadership: it is more concerned with appearing respectable to elites than with representing popular interests.

2020: A View from the Left

2020 has been a difficult year for the socialist movement, with significant defeats in many countries – but the Left’s answers to the crises we face remain far more compelling than any offered by the Right or Centre.