As for Lawson he has been given a chance to defend himself, and much like Johnson did with parliament he is refusing the opportunity.
The point about Neal Lawson is that he had advocated for Lab-Lib and Lab-Lib-Green cooperation as a Labour member for literally several decades. I’ve got a twenty year old book by him arguing the case for a Lab-Lib ‘progressive century’. For all the criticism New Labour got for its control freakery, Blair and Brown never tried to stifle people like Lawson or suggest what he was calling for was at odds with Labour’s values or goals.
So for Starmer to now go after him - for retweeting two years ago that progressive voters could vote Green in places where the Greens can win and Labour can’t - seems like an enormous overreaction by the Labour leadership and a sign of really deep insecurity.
Also, there’s still a good chance that Labour won’t get a majority. They’re polling huge vote shares but their FPTP starting position from 2019 is so weak (e.g. relative to what Blair inherited) that we shouldn’t assume a Labour majority is anything like inevitable. So Starmer’s Labour may find themselves needing to work with other parties, yet he’s purging the very people who advocate for pluralism and cooperation.
The point about Neal Lawson is that he had advocated for Lab-Lib and Lab-Lib-Green cooperation as a Labour member for literally several decades. I’ve got a twenty year old book by him arguing the case for a Lab-Lib ‘progressive century’. For all the criticism New Labour got for its control freakery, Blair and Brown never tried to stifle people like Lawson or suggest what he was calling for was at odds with Labour’s values or goals.
So for Starmer to now go after him - for retweeting two years ago that progressive voters could vote Green in places where the Greens can win and Labour can’t - seems like an enormous overreaction by the Labour leadership and a sign of really deep insecurity.
Also, there’s still a good chance that Labour won’t get a majority. They’re polling huge vote shares but their FPTP starting position from 2019 is so weak (e.g. relative to what Blair inherited) that we shouldn’t assume a Labour majority is anything like inevitable. So Starmer’s Labour may find themselves needing to work with other parties, yet he’s purging the very people who advocate for pluralism and cooperation.