THE Green victory  in the Gorton and Denton by-election shows Labour risk  losing millions of votes to their left.

Lots of Labour members and voters think the obvious response would be  Labour moving leftward to stop that happening: Labour is supposed to support policies the Greens are using to win votes from them, like  wealth taxes, increased public spending, and nationalisation, so the party would surely enjoy regaining this obviously popular electoral ground?

This calculation would make sense if Labour’s leaders really were the pragmatic, leftish, vote-seeking people they claim.

The resistance among Labour MPs to moving left to stop the Green surge looks odd: centrist Labour MPs might be happy to abandon Labour principles, but are they really happy to lose their jobs?  Unfortunately, the big picture shows there are in fact big rewards for abandoning any remaining principles and pushing the party right, even after electoral losses.

Take, for example, Thangam Debbonaire. She lost her seat to the Greens’ Carla Denyer in the 2024 election on a massive Green swing: Debbonaire’s loss was an early sign of Labour losing votes on its left.

Logically, you might expect Debbonaire to learn the lesson voters were trying to teach her and warn her party not to take progressive votes for granted.

But she seems to be doing the opposite. Debbonaire is still both politically active and friends with Labour’s leadership – Keir Starmer put her in the House of Lords as compensation for losing her seat. She is also pushing for Labour to stick with the vote-losing, stay-centrist plan.

When Andy Burnham tried to persuade Starmer to adopt more leftish policies last year, Debbonaire went on TV to demand he “stop sticking his oar in.” The vote-losing Debbonaire telling the vote-winning Burnham to shut up looks odd, but Labour’s leadership listened to her, not him.

Is Debbonaire unable to learn from her personal experience? Or is she actually shaped by that experience? The voters sacked Debbonaire in favour of a more progressive Green MP. But Debbonaire got given more jobs anyway.

Last year Debbonaire became a “senior policy adviser” to FGS Global. This lobbying company, formerly known as Finsbury, was founded by its current chair, Roland Rudd (brother of former Tory minister Amber Rudd).

FGS Global say they are “helping our clients to deliver the right messages to the right people to influence policy in decisive moments” thanks to a team that “has operated at the highest levels of government and international politics” including “Downing Street.”  

FGS London’s “public affairs” team is led by ex-David Cameron comms chief Sir Craig Oliver and former Liz Truss chief of staff Ruth Porter.

The Tory-heavy FGS hired Debbonaire to increase their links to Starmer’s government.  

FGS Global’s recent clients include privatiser Serco, South-West Water owner Pennon Group and Optum, a US- owned firm running NHS patient records.

So Debbonaire may have lost her MP’s job because her rivals were pushing against Team Starmer’s pro-corporate stances, their acceptance of public-sector outsourcing and water privatisation. But Debbonaire has a new job where the clients encourage that kind of thing.

Debbonaire has a second job with another lobbying company. She is also employed by Forward Global, which she describes as a “risk management consultancy.”

This French multinational firm, led by former civil servant Matthieu Creux, work for major multinationals, offering  “government relations & public affairs” and “outreach to decision-makers.”

In the UK Forward Global are registered as a lobbyist for firms including electric car battery maker AESC.

Debbonaire is also a paid adviser for UKAI, the British trade body for AI firms : Labour’s enthusiasm for “AI-fixes-everything” looks naive, but maybe ministers are wisely seeing that AI firms will give them all jobs when they lose an election.

Debbonaire is also a paid adviser  to management consultants Newton.

This firm  very actively seeks public-sector contracts, both from central government and local authorities. It is especially keen on winning contracts to get “better value” in central and local government for special needs education support: parents of kids with special needs often suspect Newton is trying to cut spending on support for their kids.

Labour might be at risk of losing votes because they look to corporate, too pro-privatisation, too often claiming that AI or management consultants will fill holes left by cuts  and so on — but MPs who lose their seats for these reasons get replacement jobs for the very same reasons.  

There is a pressure from Labour voters and Labour members to move back left, but this revolving door from ex-minister or ex-shadow minister to the corporate sector is just one way the corporations create a counter-pressure to push back right.

It’s something that took off during the Blair years and looks politically corrupt – this is, after all, the Peter Mandelson Manouevre.

The Faulding Trajectory
Starmer’s government is still young and hasn’t lost many personnel. But those that are going often follow Mandelson’s career plan. For another example, take Matt  Faulding, a key member of “Team Starmer.”

Matt Faulding was secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 2023-5. A key ally of Morgan McSweeney, he was in charge of selecting  MPs in the 2024 election, making sure we have a big bloc of centrist members sitting on the Labour benches.

But last November Faulding left Labour to become “senior counsel” at Anacta, an Australian lobbying firm which has used its Labour links to expand significantly in Britain since Starmer became PM.

Anacta boasts about Faulding’s role shaping Labour’s backbenches, telling their clients he “oversaw Labour’s selection process and supported candidates through the general election, building lasting relationships with MPs”  and so  “brings the most extensive network in the public affairs space and unmatched insight into how government decisions are made.”

Anacta’s recent clients include BACTA, trade body for “adult gaming centres” like Merkur Slots, Pearson Engineering, a British arms company owned by the Israeli government, private rail and bus firm Go-Ahead Group, the Association of Airlines UK and Visa.

Faulding’s move from Labour to lobbying is another example of how the “revolving door” gives the pro-privatisation, pro-deregulation corporate sector influence over the party.