The Mandelson scandal reveals a political settlement in which democratic choice is curtailed and the power of markets eclipses the will of voters – only the left can challenge this, writes JON TRICKETT MP
YOU don’t have to look far to see that — 200 years since the first big battles for the vote — our democracy is in trouble.
Dissatisfaction with our political system is rife. A recent Hansard study found that over half of people think that what the country needs is a “strong leader who is willing to break the rules.” In the eyes of many of his supporters, Johnson, who has so far in his career shown scant regard for rules, conventions and accountability, is filling that space.
Despite being cut from the same establishment cloth as the wider political elite, he’s pitched himself as the man to take on the “vested interests” and restore faith in democracy by delivering Brexit.
Former Labour MP LAURA SMITH makes the case for The Many slate in the elections to Your Party’s new executive
In the final part of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY explains how in 2018, after years spent rebuilding the PCS into a leading force against austerity, a damaging rupture emerged from within the union’s own left wing
Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP
The charter emerged from a profoundly democratic process where people across South Africa answered ‘What kind of country do we want?’ — but imperial backlash and neoliberal compromise deferred its deepest transformations, argues RONNIE KASRILS



