Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
The Reds no longer under the bed
Crude scaremongering by the Tories is in tune with Labour right's prevailing paranoias
Labour turncoat John Woodcock speaks at the opening session of the Progress annual conference, in central London, in March 2015

“FAR-LEFT” influence on Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion to be probed,” read the “exclusive” headline in the Daily Telegraph.

“Attempts by far-left activists to ‘hijack’ movements including Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion are being investigated in a review ordered by Boris Johnson,” it said, with the review led by turncoat ex-Labour MP John Woodcock.

The idea of reds stirring up black activists sounded familiar, so I looked back at some old issues of The Times.

Huntercombe: a case for nationalisation

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Google
Features / 3 October 2025
3 October 2025

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a VJ Day commemorative reception in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, August 14, 2025
Features / 5 September 2025
5 September 2025

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of  Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Defence Secretary John Healey (third left) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu (second left) view a long-range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, during a visit to MDBA in Hertfordshire, July 9, 2025
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Malcolm X, the militant leader and former member of the Nati
Features / 25 February 2025
25 February 2025
Sixty years after his murder, it is up to all of us to defy ruling-class attempts to sanitise or distort his revolutionary legacy by upholding his deep understanding of capitalism’s ties to racism and empire, writes ISAAC SANEY
CLEAR THINKING: International Red Aid propaganda poster in R
Book Review / 12 December 2024
12 December 2024
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a left-wing account of the cleavage between class-based politics and culture-based politics
SHARP activists (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) partici
Book Review / 7 November 2024
7 November 2024
RON JACOBS recommends a new collection of essays that examine the presence of fascism in the US and the struggle against it
RACIST RAGE: Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, Staffordshire
Features / 26 October 2024
26 October 2024
Western social democracy's timidity has emboldened the fascists. TONY CONWAY looks at the far right's resurgence in Britain