The Broad Church of Labour is something much referred to but never defined. Ralph Miliband argued that it was a Church where the right determined the order of service but the left could lurk in the pews at the back provided they didn’t make too much noise.
Keir Starmer has effectively ended services at the Labour Broad Church and in the run up to Election several left-wing candidates have been purged and replaced by Starmerites. A central focus has been on Diane Abbott in Hackney North and Stoke Newington (the Constituency that borders my own of Tottenham). Suspended in 2023 and left in a political void she was reinstated this week after a campaign. While her candidacy at the Election was a matter for Labour’s NEC, Starmer controls the NEC and determined that she could be a candidate.
Its good news that Dianne Abbott through determination, resilience & sticking to her principles has seen off the Starmerites and will be the Labour candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Meanwhile in an interview with his biographer Tom Baldwin in the Observer (2nd June) Starmer clarified further his position. Diane Abbott is an ‘exception’. Presumably she is welcome at the Starmer Narrow Church as an observer or possibly an emeritus member
Starmer argues that Abbott is worth treating as an exception. “Although I disagree with some of what she says, in terms of the battles she’s been through and the terrible insults she has had to rise above, I’ve actually got more respect for Diane than she probably realises,” he says. “She was the first Black woman MP and has always had to fight for everything. She’s not like any other candidate.”… “I don’t usually get involved in individual selections Observer 2nd June
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