Labour Left Podcast

In the Labour Conference 2025 Labour Left Podcast edition Bryn Griffiths speaks to the Labour left leader John McDonnell of the Socialist Campaign Group.The in-depth interview with John explores what thinking lies behind his decades of socialist activity.  It arguably gives us the deepest understanding yet of John’s political practice as a truly organic intellectual.We start by talking about his podcast A People’s History which echoes the themes of a previous Labour Left Podcast with Prof Harvey J Kaye. We then discuss a range of socialist authors such as Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Ernest Mandel and Ralph Miliband.The figure that keeps coming up again and again in the interview is the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci. It’s fascinating to hear how John’s political practice draws upon concepts such as the war of position and the organic intellectual.  I think you’ll conclude that Fergal Kinney, the Tribune culture editor, was spot on when he dubbed John the “Gramscian back-bencher”.John McDonnell is known for his excellent work on Ireland.  So, we talk about his role in the dialogue with Sinn Fein in the 1980s and he take up Geoff Bell’s call for truth and conciliation based on the actions of the British state in the Troubles.Keeping on the subject of the British State we have a fascinating discussion about George Osborne’s recent podcast where he referred to Chris Mullin’s 1980s book A Very British Coup.  We find out what light the left’s erstwhile ally Reg Race threw upon the murky goings on in the Parliamentary Labour Party. What would the British establishment and Parliamentary Labour Party have done if Jeremy Corbyn had got those few extra votes and got us over the line in 2017? John has the answers.As you would expect the interview then gets contemporary.  John talks about Gaza and Atlanticism; considers the kind of Left we need; expands upon his argument that Labour faces an existential threat; gives his view on PR; pronounces on the Mandelson scandal;  and, laments the paucity of choice in the Deputy Leadership campaign.Finally, John comes up with an inspirational Class Hero of the Month and leaves us with a great reading list to get stuck into. Next up in our October episode will be Mark Perryman the editor of the excellent new book the Starmer Symptom. Hit subscribe on YouTube, Substack or your favourite podcast platform.You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Audible , Substack and listen to it on Spotify.  You can even ask Alexa to play the Labour Left Podcast. If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.  Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  

In the latest episode of the Labour Left Podcast Bryn Griffiths speaks to the prominent socialist feminist Lynne Segal. Veteran socialists will remember the huge impact that Beyond the Fragments, published in 1979 and co-authored by Lynne Segal and her socialist sisters Hilary Wainright and Sheila Rowbotham, had upon us.  Many of us would count the book amongst those which politically formed us. So, what Lynne has to say on the current political situation is of huge interest. Making Trouble, the title of the podcast, comes from Lynne’s book of the same title in 2007.  So, the podcast starts with a look back at the trouble Lynne was making back in the 1970s and 1980s. Last year was the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Beyond the Fragments and as Lynne points out its ideas and the challenging problems it was grappling with are still as relevant today as the day it was written. Ash Sarkar, of Novara Media, has recently published Minority Rule -  Adventures in the Culture War to grapple with the challenges of inter-sectionality, identity politics and the culture war.  The terms may have changed but a quick re-read of Beyond the Fragments confirms that she is re-treading the path of the socialist feminists who went before her. Lynne gives her views on the new publication. Back in 1979 Lynne and the Beyond the Fragments authors cast a critical eye over the internal workings of the British left.   Today, we have a surplus of left projects: our own - the organisations of the labour left such as Momentum and Labour Hub; an emergent green left around Polanski’s leadership challenge; and, those embarking on the unenviable task of starting yet another new left party from scratch. All three of these projects in their different ways are trying to move ‘beyond the fragments’.   Lynne drawing upon the ideas of the seminal book asks: what  kind of left organisation do we need and how can we avoid our historic failures? The interview moves on to tackle contemporary issues. Lynne certainly doesn’t duck the difficult ones as there’s a big focus on supporting trans-rights and consideration of her enthusiastic involvement in the pro-Palestinian Jewish Bloc. On trans rights Lynne grapples with the relationship between today’s trans rights disputes within the feminist movement and the earlier debates between socialist feminists on the one side and the radical or cultural feminists on the other.  She also touches on sex positive feminism and seeks to answer the question – why does the trans rights’ debate differ so much between the United States and the United Kingdom? The podcast looks at the formation and politics of Jews for Justice for Palestine.  Finally, we look at the need for boycott, divestment and sanctions as a means to secure a Palestine state. But are we aiming for a two state or single state solution? You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts here, Audible here and listen to it on Spotify here  If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  You can find all the episodes of the podcast here  or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast

 In the latest episode of the Labour Left Podcast Bryn Griffiths speaks to Richard Burgon, the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, on the theme of the class struggle in Parliament and the historical role of the Labour Left.  The podcast frames Richard Burgon’s politics with the title of the late Eric Heffer MP’s fine book The Class Struggle in Parliament written in 1973. The interview starts with Bryn Griffiths, the podcast host, congratulating Richard on Leeds United’s recent promotion to the Premiership. A discussion that immediately segways into praise for football historian Anthony Clavane’s A Yorkshire Strategy  a football history book.  Clavane’s book is one of the best pieces of writing about how over thirty year’s Yorkshire’s Northern voters were left behind so it’s an excellent launch pad for a discussion about the future of the Labour Left.  The first part of the podcast looks at the making of Richard Burgon’s political thinking and the huge debt he owes to Tony Benn. The podcast reflects on Westminster University’s recent seminar on the Benn legacy. It’s fitting that a key figure of Labour’s socialist wing should place himself in this historical context. Before getting stuck into more contemporary material the podcast reflects on recent historical events surrounding the elections in 2017, 2019 and last year in 2014. Each episode of the Labour Left Podcast ends with the class hero of the month feature. The idea is that the guest introduces the listener to a figure in their life that has had a big influence on their political thinking.  Richard chooses Dennis Skinner, the former MP for Bolsover 1970 to 2019.  A discussion ensues about Skinner’s role in the Clay Cross Council rent struggle in 1972 and the great miners’ strike of 1984-85.   If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of more people by sharing, following, liking, rating and commenting on every episode you watch.If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast, please take a look at our back catalogue as there are lots of episodes to interest students of modern history.  The last episode looked at Ireland since the 1970s with historian Geoff Bell; Previous episodes have included Prof Harvey J Kaye on the legacy of the Communist Historians; Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Andrew Fisher telling the story behind For the Many Not the Few Labour’s 2017 manifesto; Jeremy Gilbert, a Prof of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci, talking about Thatcherism;  Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine in the 1980s.Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  You can find all the episodes of the podcast on You Tube or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast.

Geoff Bell Labour for Irish Unity on the Labour Left PodcastThe Fight For a United Ireland Geoff Bell is an outstanding historian of the troubles; but more than that he has many decades of experience as an Irish activist in Britain fighting for a united Ireland.  His most famous book, published in 1976, and reprinted five times is the Protestants of Ulster.  More recently he has published Hesitant Comrades and The Twilight of Unionism. He is an organic intellectual in the truly Gramscian sense of the term. The podcast will give socialists an excellent grounding in modern Irish history and along the way you’ll hear stories of minding Vanessa Redgrave, fighting in the Bogside alongside Bernadette Devlin, carrying Eamon McCann’s megaphone, Kinnock trying to torpedo Geoff’s Channel Four Documentary and being followed by police spies whilst driving Gerry Adams.Geoff explained in Michael Farrell’s Twenty Years On, published in 1988, that during the events in Derry of the late sixties and early seventies he “gained a political education the like of which few contemporary European Socialists have had the privilege of receiving”.  In this episode of the Labour Left Podcast, you find out why. Towards the end of the podcast Geoff talks about what could be the final stages of the struggle for Irish Unity.  Geoff ends by setting British socialists some important tasks to help make sure that both Geoff and myself get to see a United Ireland in our lifetimes.If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast, please take a look at our back catalogue.  Previous episodes have included Rachel Shabi talking about her book The Truth About Antisemitism;  Bernard Regan author of The Balfour Declaration: Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine;  Prof Harvey J Kaye on the legacy of the Communist Historians; Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Andrew Fisher telling the story behind For the Many Not the Few Labour’s 2017 manifesto; Jeremy Gilbert, a Prof of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci, talking about Thatcherism; Mike Phipps, author of Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, taking a long term look at the Labour Left;  Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine of the 1980s.If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of more people by sharing, following, liking, rating and commenting on every episode you watch.Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  You can find all the episodes on YouTube or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast.#Ireland #GeoffBell #UnitedIreland #TroopsOut #SinnFein #Republican #IrishUnity #Palestine #BernadetteDevlin #GerryAdams #LabourLeftPodcast #LabourCommitteeonIreland #Unionism #UnitedIreland #Loyalism #Bloody Sunday

Since the 1980s, the Labour left has been divided by a split between its hard and soft wings.  In the light of the Labour right’s new and brutal ascendancy, is it time for the two sides to think the unthinkable and at least have a conversation?  Bryn Griffiths, the presenter of the Labour Left Podcast sits down with Neal Lawson, of Compass, to ask: has the time come to try and heal some of the old wounds and work together?In 1981 the Labour left split asunder when Neil Kinnock abstained during Tony Benn’s bid for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party and delivered a wafer-thin victory to Dennis Healey, an Atlanticist of the Labour right.  As a result, the Tribune Group split between the Bennite Socialist Campaign Group and leadership loyalists.  The fighting got worse when the local government left split over the need for councillors to join the miners, at the time of their historic, year-long strike, and open up a second front over ratecapping to defeat Margaret Thatcher, the neoliberal Conservative Prime Minister.Our conversation got off to a wobbly start when we discovered that we both played prominent roles in Labour Students in the early 1980s where the left in-fighting was at its bloodiest. But, surprisingly, what comes over throughout the podcast is a clear-headed determination to get over our old wounds and focus on the struggle today to save the very essence of the Labour Party.We discussed how the ‘playground bullies’ in Labour HQ had tried to expel Neal. It certainly felt at this point of the discussion that our enemies’ enemy might possibly become a nice new friend. Have a listen and see what you think. During the course of the podcast, we discuss the political culture which Keir Starmer and his Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney have established within Labour and ask is it a culture fit for Government?  We are both enthusiastic advocates of proportional representation so we had a robust debate about how we secure the prize and what role Liberal Democrats might play. Looking in our rear-view mirror, we discussed what Labour should learn from Corbynism and the 2017 General Election campaign.  We of course discuss Gaza and the Labour Right’s Atlanticism.As the interview unfolded, we found lots to agree about so we discussed what organisational form a pluralist Labour Left might take and what we need to do to get there.Regardless of whether you’re reading this article as someone who comes from the soft left or the hard left of the Labour Party, I think you might be pleasantly surprised about how the discussion unfolds. If you feel delighted or provoked from either side of the historic divide, the pages of Labour Hub are open to you to explain why.If you’re on the right of the Labour Party the podcast might make you uncomfortable.  Your behaviour over Gaza, the capping of third child benefits, the winter fuel allowance and now disability benefits cuts are breaking up your internal Labour Party alliances and we’re beginning to see new ones form.  The podcast demonstrates the opportunities before us and we’re serious.We trust that you will find the latest Labour Left Podcast an invaluable resource.  If you do, please help us get the episode to more people by sharing, following, liking, rating and commenting on it wherever you see it.You can get the podcast on YouTube, Substack, Apple Podcasts and Audible. In fact, you can listen to it on all good podcast sites just search for the Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast. 

It is more important than ever, for the Labour Left, to have a route map to navigate the issue of antisemitism.  Bryn Griffiths, the presenter of the Labour Left Podcast sat down with Rachel Shabi to consider the truth about antisemitism. Some readers might be desperate to move on from antisemitism, the issue that bedevilled the Labour Left during the Corbyn period, but they would be very wrong.  It can never be right to back away from antisemitism and abandon our Jewish siblings, and Israel’s actions in Gaza make it more important than ever for us to get this issue right. So, discuss the matter of antisemitism we must, and Rachel Shabi is the ideal person to explain what antisemitism is and how the left should go about fighting it.Rachel Shabi has just published a new book - Off White the Truth About Antisemitism.  She’s a journalist, broadcaster and pundit who appears in papers such as the Guardian, the New York Times, Independent and the New York Review of Books. During the Left’s ascendancy in the Labour Party, she was an important ally. In her book, which is more than anything a guide to action, she offers an urgent analysis of one of the most divisive issues of our time.In the podcast, Rachel Shabi, addresses the truth about antisemitism.  She considers an Arab Jewish perspective; the contingency of whiteness; how the extreme right has managed to camp out on our anti-racist territory; how antisemitism so often derails the left; and, finally considers what a socialist antiracist approach to fighting antisemitism must look like.Rachel rises to the challenge set by +972 Magazine, a publication run by a group of Israeli and Palestinian journalists, that:“We need a serious, honest commitment to fighting antisemitism, in a leftist fashion, from a left perspective, both internally when we find it in our own ranks and also doubling down in fighting it on the right and not allowing the Israeli laundry machine to whitewash antisemitism on the right”.If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast, please take a look at our back catalogue.  Previous episodes have included Bernard Regan from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Executive; Prof Harvey J Kaye on the legacy of the Communist Historians; Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Andrew Fisher telling the story behind For the Many Not the Few Labour’s 2017 manifesto; Jeremy Gilbert, a Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci, talking about Thatcherism; episodes with Mish Rahman, Rachel Godfrey Wood and Hilary Schan on the contemporary Labour Left; Mike Phipps, author of Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, taking a longer term look at the Labour Left;  Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine of the 1980s.If you are enjoying the show please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of as many people as possible by sharing, following, liking, rating and commenting on every episode you watch.You can get the podcast on YouTube, Substack, Apple Podcasts and Audible. In fact, you can listen to it on all good podcast sites just search for the ‘Labour Left Podcast’. Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  

The first episode of the Labour Left Podcast, in 2025, takes a deep dive into the subject of Gaza with Bernard Regan of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.   We ask the big question: how do we build the broadest possible solidarity with the Palestinian people in 2025? We could not be asking the question at a better time as the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign AGM takes place on Saturday 1st February. As we publish this episode it is good news to learn that, at last, we have a ceasefire in Gaza.  Donald Trump is seeking to make the ceasefire about himself and is claiming all the credit. However, Trump is already telling us that he’s not confident that the ceasefire will hold! We will find out the truth in the coming weeks.  What is absolutely certain is that in 2025 we must continue our support for the Palestinian people and to do that we need to deepen our understanding of their struggle.  We must also redouble our solidarity activities in 2025.  That is the subject matter of this podcast. Listen to it and use it.   Our guest on the Labour Hub podcast spin off, to consider the tasks ahead, is Bernard Regan a leading member of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.  Bernard served for twenty-five years on the National Executive Committee of the National Education Union (NEU) where he received the Steve Sinnott Award in recognition of his contribution to international solidarity.  In 2006 he was instrumental in a teachers’ union pro-Palestinian motion which carried the TUC. Since the last episode the Labour Left Podcast has had some generous coverage in the Morning Star.  The newspaper published a feature on the show by the journalist Solomon Hughes under the hilarious title In a sea of centrist dross, try the Labour Left Podcast. Solomon went on to say “… it’s a podcast which manages to combine the grit of the grassroots with the surprising, entertaining and informative”. Thanks to Solomon. If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast, please take a look at our back catalogue.  Previous episodes have included Prof Harvey J Kaye on the legacy of the Communist Historians; Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Andrew Fisher telling the story behind For the Many Not the Few Labour’s 2017 manifesto; Jeremy Gilbert, a Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci, talking about Thatcherism; episodes with Mish Rahman, Rachel Godfrey Wood and Hilary Schan on the contemporary Labour Left; Mike Phipps, author of Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, taking a long term look at the Labour Left;  Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine of the 1980s. If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of more people by sharing, following, liking, rating and commenting on every episode you watch. You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts here, Audible here and listen to it on Spotify here  If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast.  Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. 

In a treat for socialist historians the latest Labour Left Podcast explores why we need a bottom-up history with Prof Harvey J Kaye - who wrote the important book The British Marxist Historians.  Harvey J Kaye is an important socialist figure, Christopher Hill described him as “easily the world’s greatest authority on the British Marxist historians” the group that actually coined the important phrase – a history from below.  The British Marxist historians included Rodney Hilton who wrote about the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 and introduced us to the likes of Watt Tyler and Colchester’s John Ball; Christopher Hill himself who wrote about the English Revolution of the 17th Century and introduced us to the Levellers and the Diggers; Eric Hobsbawm whose best-known works spanned the long 19th Century; and, EP Thompson who wrote the seminal Making of the English Working Class. The podcast considers why the ruling classes fear history which takes us straight back to a podcast in which Corinne Fowler, who was inspired by EP Thompson, and helped us consider how our colonial and labour histories are very much two sides of the same coin. The podcast includes some fascinating insights into the history of the British Left.  Harvey describes the pivotal moment of 1956 when Soviet tanks destroyed a workers’ uprising and the British Marxists broke from the Stalinist Communist Party. The British Marxists went on to play an important role in the creation of a New Left and later the introduction of Antonio Gramsci to our country.  The leaders of what we might call a humanitarian Marxism or New Left went on to play a decisive role in the formation of a mass movement against the siting of American nuclear weapons in the 1980s.  It is impossible to understand the story of the British Left without grasping the intellectual contribution made by the subjects of this podcast.   To accompany our deep dive into our history from below we’ve created a Spotify playlist with songs from the likes of Norma Waterson, the Young Uns, Chumbawamba, Leon Rosselson and of course Billy Bragg.  Just go to Spotify and search for ‘history from below’. If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast and want to find more about Britain’s history, please have a look at our back catalogue.  Previous episodes have included historian Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Jeremy Gilbert, a Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci talking about Thatcherism; Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine in the early 1980s. If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of more people by sharing, following, rating and commenting on every episode you watch. You can watch the podcast on YouTube and listen on just about every podcast platform you can think of.  Just go to your podcast provider and search for the Labour Left Podcast.  Credits: Cartoons: Letterhack on Twitter @TheLetterhack and Bluesky as @theletterhack.bsky.social Singers; Emma and Tom Hardy Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is a member of both Momentum’s National Coordinating Group and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.  Bryn is the host of Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.

Our latest guest on Labour Hub’s Labour Left Podcast is Mish Rahman and you can watch it https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1 . Mish is a Momentum supporter,  a working-class socialist of Bangladeshi heritage and he was elected to Labour’s National Executive back in 2020. Unfortunately, he lost his seat to the right wing of the Labour Party at this year’s Conference but now he has a big story to tell.  We’ve heard from Liz Davies, the dissenter within Blair’s National Executive, and Andrew Fisher from the heart of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership group. Now it’s time to hear Mish Rahman’s fascinating story from the inside of Labour’s top governance team.  Mish doesn’t pull any punches as he describes how he was well and truly stitched up by the Labour Right when he stood to be selected as the Labour parliamentary candidate in Wolverhampton West.  Feedback has suggested that some of you find the long form of  the Labour Left Podcast a little hard to digest all in one go.  So, the  latest podcast is a show of two parts.  In the first half we discuss Mish’s political formation and his fight within the Labour Party.  After the break (28 minutes in) the podcast well and truly warms up as it comes right up to date and we discuss Labour’s torrid record on racism.   The most important passage of the interview is where Mish talks about Labour and Palestine. He tells us all about how our motions on behalf of the Gazan people are often disregarded by the National Executive Committee.  But his view, as an insider, is that the way to move our Labour Government’s stance is to campaign hard as we are already seeing a slow shift in Starmer and Lammy’s position.  The Palestinian solidarity movement must step up the pressure in all countries within the NATO alliance.   So, take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the Forde Report, Islamophobia and Labour’s terrible record on Gaza which will shame our party for generations to come!  Finally, Mish comes up with a truly inspirational anti racist figure to join our class hero hall of fame.. If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is doing, please help us to get the podcast in front of  more people by sharing, following, rating and commenting on every episode you watch. You can watch the podcast on YouTube , Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/labour-left-podcast/id1710229282 ,  Audible https://www.audible.co.uk/podcast/Labour-Left-Podcast/B0CK2NFT65?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp  and listen to it on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5RvCZlxhoYh45PUJjavAEY?si=c3b6a39e4ef84094  If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast as it’s on every podcast site we know about.   Bryn Griffiths is the host of https://labourhub.org.uk/  spin off the https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1&si=YVuALqyBwhfBz2Hn  He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and he World Transformed in North Essex. He also sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s National Committee. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1  or if you prefer audio platforms (e.g. Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) just search for Labour Left Podcast.

On it’s first birthday the Labour Left Podcast, produced in association with Labour Hub, interviewed Andrew Fisher the man behind the iconic 2017 Labour Manifesto. The interview began by exploring the inside story behind For the Many Not the Few - the manifesto that Keir Starmer called our ‘foundational document.’ Andrew reveals to us how he ended up writing the manifesto, what was in his mind when he wrote it and the moment when the Labour right leaked it.In the second half of the interview, we moved onto Starmer for some fascinating insights into what makes the man tick. Find out why Starmer popped into Jeremy Corbyn’s leader’s office whilst Owen Smith’s Leadership coup was still in full swing. What did he want? Andrew sat alongside Starmer during the Brexit negotiations with Prime Minister May. What was Starmer like as a lead negotiator? Later we discuss the Oliver Eagleton thesis that there was always a Project Starmer. We explored to what extent was Eagleton right about the project with the recollections of an insider who saw it all.Moving on we looked at Reevonomics. Having drawn upon Andrew’s excellent book, The Failed Experiment, to help us define neo-liberalism we considered to what extent Rachel Reeves is planning to depart from the economic orthodoxy. Is the Macro Dose, left economics podcaster, James Meadway on the right track when he says Labour Will End Neoliberalism. Just Not in a Good Way?As we approached the latter stages of the interview, we dissected the prospects for a Labour Left revival, the future of the Campaign Groups Magnificent Seven and the role of the soft left. Andrew had some thoughts and advice for Left MPs and Trade Union leaders on how they might help hasten the arrival of a much-needed comeback. Finally, Andrew revealed who he wanted to put in the Labour Left Podcast Class Hero Hall of Fame. I think the readers of Labour Hub will approve of his choice.If you enjoy the Labour Left Podcast 2024 conference special, please have a look at the whole year back catalogue. Previous episodes have included historian, Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, talking about Thatcherism; Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for labour democracy; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing a local labour left magazine in the early 1980s.If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode . If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of more people by sharing, following, rating and commenting on every episode you watch.

Our guest Corinne Fowler, Professor of Colonialism and Heritage at the University of Leicester,  specialises in colonial history, decolonisation and the British countryside’s relationship with the Empire. It’s fair to say that her most recent books Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections  and Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain have well and truly triggered Britain’s emergent populist right. The Spectator and the Daily Telegraph historians where so quick off the mark that they didn’t even bother to read Corinne’s new book. In a departure from academic orthodoxy, they launched their attacks before publication.  So, why did Professor Corrine Fowler boil their blood?  Back in 2019, Corinne was seconded to the National Trust to lay the foundations for a new training and interpretation programme about country houses’ colonial connections. As part of her secondment, she co-authored an academic report for the National Trust which brought together much of the existing academic and peer appraised writing on the Trust’s  properties many links to colonialism. To say that the populist right weren’t quite ready to embrace the filling of gaps in our history doesn’t quite capture the moment.  The ‘war on woke’ warriors kicked off to defend their history from above and make sure that everybody else’s history remained silenced. Nigel Farage talked of the ‘trashing of our nation’ and the Daily Telegraph responded to the, peer appraised, academic report  by announcing that the National Trust was ‘at war with the past’.  As if that wasn’t enough the unfortunately named Tory Common Sense Group declared the ‘Battle of Britain’.   Corinne Fowler’s patient telling of our history is a compelling story.  You can listen to the podcast here,   find out about her new book and hear what it’s like to find yourself on the front line of the war on woke.    Our Island Stories has ten carefully curated walks and it is our book of the summer for 2024. If you want to know why Britain’s colonial history abroad and its labour history at home count as “two sides of the same coin” this is the book for you. You can watch the podcast on YouTube here , If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast.  Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hub's spin off the Labour Left Podcast.  He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here  or if you prefer audio platforms (e.g. Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) just search for Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is standing for the National Policy Forum CLP Representatives  Eastern Region Division 1.  He is standing as part of the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance team and you can find all your left candidates across the country here.  When the General Election is over, please campaign for all the left candidates.

The Labour Left Podcast General Election Special with Momentum’s Rachel Godfrey Wood. Between now and the 4 July politics will be dominated by election fever.  Millions of people will be drawn into political discussion and thousands of Labour Movement activists will be involved in the campaign to get rid of the Tories.  Bryn Griffiths, of the Labour Left Podcast, spoke to Rachel Godfrey Wood of Momentum to consider how the Labour Left must get its intervention right and act to put the left in a better position for the post-election period.  In the future you can watch our podcast on your favourite audio podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast. The podcast starts with a discussion of how socialists should approach the 2024 General Election. Drawing on the precedent of the 1983 General Election, when socialists were unhappy with Neil Kinnock, the discussion turns to what we should do now that we are even less content with Keir Starmer.   The podcast considers how Momentum will campaign in 2024 and most importantly focusses on how the Labour Left must prepare for the post-election opportunities which will inevitably come. It is not an easy at the moment to be a socialist in the British Labour Movement.  Since our General Election defeat in 2019 we have suffered serious setbacks.  So, we talked about two related issues that are emblematic of the challenges we face.  Firstly, the treatment of socialists in Labour’s selection processes most notably Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott;  and, then secondly the disappointing departure from Labour of thousands of grass roots left wing activists including our own former Chair Hilary Schan who was a recent guest on the Labour Left Podcast. You can watch Hilary’s podcast here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9fAZ-aUpIU The podcast was not all doom and gloom we ended by mapping out a positive socialist case for staying within Labour. The Labour right is behaving more factionally than ever before so we need to get organised.   Voting Labour to get rid of the Tories is a decent start but we think you need to do much more than that.  We hope that when you have listened to the podcast you will be convinced by Rachel’s case for Momentum.  We trust you’ll be keeping your Labour Party card and that you can see that our task ahead, if we are to influence a Labour Government’s direction, is far too big to tackle al one.  If you want to get organised as part of Britain’s biggest socialist group you can join us  https://join.peoplesmomentum.com/ If you want to get involved in Momentum’s election campaign, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9fAZ-aUpIU Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hub's spin off the Labour Left Podcast.  He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn Griffiths is standing for the National Policy Forum CLP Representatives  Eastern Region Division 1.  He is standing as part of the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance team and you can find all your left candidates across the country here.  When the General Election is over, please campaign for all the left candidates.

The Birth of Thatcherism Jeremy Gilbert Interview with the Labour Left Podcast Forty-five years ago, on 3 May 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected. To mark the anniversary of the birth of Thatcherism Bryn Griffiths, the presenter of the Labour Left Podcast, sat down with Jeremy Gilbert to consider the birth of Thatcherism and Thatcher’s legacy. You can watch the Thatcherism Podcast on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41MpWil6hgg or go to your favourite Podcast provider and search for Labour Left Podcast. Jeremy Gilbert is a Professor of Cultural and Political Theory at the University of East London and a prolific podcaster currently hosting Culture Power and Politics. Many of you will know him because of his work with Momentum, Novara and the World Transformed so you will realise that he was an ideal guest to help us consider why Thatcherism was important, still casts a dark shadow over British politics today and needs to be understood so we can learn from history and be stronger as a Labour left. Other Labour Left Podcasts of interest to historians include Mike Jackson of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners discussing the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; a history of Brighton Labour Briefing in the early eighties; Liz Davies, a former Labour National Executive member, sharing her story as a dissenter in Blair’s New Labour; Mike Phipps on the recent Labour history of Corbyn’s leadership; and, Rachel Garnham on the history of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. If you’re enjoying the Labour Left Podcast, please like, comment, follow and share the podcast with fellow historians. If you are moved to respond to our podcast, please contact labourhubsite@gmail.com to submit an article and have your say. Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hub's spin off the Labour Left Podcast. He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1 or if you prefer audio platforms (e.g. Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) just search for Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is standing for the National Policy Forum CLP Representatives Eastern Region Division 1. He is standing as part of the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance team and you can find all the details of the campaign here https://labourhub.org.uk/2024/04/09/preparing-for-a-labour-government-why-labours-national-policy-forum-elections-matter/

British politics in 2024 will be increasingly dominated by the General Election. In the latest Labour Left Podcast Bryn Griffiths speaks to the Labour Hub co-editor Mike Phipps and they consider what a strategic left approach to the big year in the Labour calendar and beyond must look like. Dr Mike Phipps is a member of Queens Park and Maida Vale Labour Party who sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Executive. He is the author of Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow – the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn and before that in 2018 he edited For the Many – Preparing for Power. The podcast inevitably starts by casting its eye back over its shoulder to ask how the Corbyn leadership did so well in the 2017 General Election only for it to go so badly wrong in 2019? But what characterises the interview in the words of Mike’s book is a determination to never stop thinking about tomorrow. As we considered the political landscape Michael Chessum’s book, This is Only the Beginning, gets a complimentary examination due to its determination to learn and not blame as we engage in self-criticism to dissect the Corbyn moment. The tone of the interview is self-critical considering blunt questions such as were the Labour Right correct when under Corbyn they said “any other leader would be 20% ahead?”. Inevitably we turned to the bombshell dropped by former Labour Left stalwart Owen Jones. Was he right to decide that Gaza was a red line for socialists and promptly leave by Keir Starmer’s open door? The discussion ranged across Momentum’s approach to the coming General Election and looked further forward to map a route back to Labour Left power. What role can trades unions and social movements play in our revival? We also considered what we could learn from the painful demise of social democratic parties across the rest of Europe. The Mike Phipps podcast interview is an important start and a contribution to our strategic thinking but we need your contributions and help to stimulate the revival of a pluralist and thinking Labour Left. If you would like to contribute to the debate, please drop us a line. So that’s the challenge - how do you think we can rebuild the left? Listen to the end to find out who Mike has selected as his class hero of the month and added to the Labour Left Podcast Hall of Fame. Who could it be? Finally, please help us to build the podcast’s following by subscribing, liking, sharing and commenting whenever you have a watch or listen. Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hub’s spin off the Labour Left Podcast. He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast on You Tube or if you prefer audio platforms (e.g. Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) just search for Labour Left Podcast. Bryn Griffiths is standing for the National Policy Forum CLP Representatives Eastern Region Division 1. He is standing as part of the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance team and you can find all your left candidates across the country here https://peoplesmomentum.com/transforming-labour/internal-labour-party-elections-2024/ #labour #LabourLeft #labourparty #momentum #CLPD #MikePhipps #BrynGriffiths #LabourHub #MichaelChessum #corbyn #generalelection2024 #owenjones #starmer #tradeunion #classHero #LabourBriefing

It is hard for veteran socialists amongst us to believe that March brings us to the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Miners’ strike when Thatcher sought to close Cortonwood.  What followed was the Great Strike which defined and framed the political development of so many of us. You can watch the Labour Left Podcast on the anniversary of the strike on You Tube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1&si=tNCdaXmXm7sbTCom The Labour Left Podcast is marking the strike anniversary with Mike Jackson the co-founder and secretary of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.  Mike Jackson is an excellent guest to take us through the political, cultural and industrial legacy of the strike. Join us for a long form interview with Mike in which we explore Mark Ashton’s legacy, compare Kinnock and Starmer, re-examine the awful Clause 28, consider the importance of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign today and share our deep-seated loathing of Margaret Thatcher. Many readers will recall how Mike Jackson was portrayed so well by Joe Gilgun in the iconic film Pride.  Back in 2014 I attended the film with one of my daughters and a gang of their teenage friends.  As we left the film it became clear that the consensus was that the film was fantastic but then one of them turned to me and asked pointedly “…but did it really happen?”  Now ten years later, I have interviewed Mike Jackson because his Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners story is part of our labour movement history and the story needs to be remembered and told again and again to new generations so they know it really happened.  Not only did it happen but if we fight together, we can make big change happen again.  Click here to watch it on https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1&si=tNCdaXmXm7sbTCom  and you can also listen to it on all your favourite podcast platforms such as Amazon, Audible, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify etc Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hubs spin off the Labour Left podcast which he produces with Luke Robinson the podcast editor.  They are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here  Bryn Griffiths will be speaking at a University of Sussex, UNITE and Sussex UCU event on Wednesday 20 March  to consider How Sussex Supported the Miners. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-sussex-supported-the-miners-tickets-847092034077?aff=erellivmlt#:~:text=But%20Shoreham%20Docks%20was%20a,building%20a%20broader%20solidarity%20campaign.

The latest Labour Left Podcast catches up with Rachel Garnham, the Co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD), whilst she prepares for their fiftieth Annual General Meeting on 11 February 2024.  Most of the content is timeless and of general interest to anyone who wishes to find out more about the CLPD. You can also watch the podcast on You Tube https://youtu.be/bibtVyTHrz0?si=w0uaxQLBTbr24huO The purpose of the podcast is to draw on the CLPD story so we can understand our Labour Left history and most importantly consider how we can rebuild our power. The podcast starts with a fantastic BBC news clip from the 1983 Labour Conference featuring the late socialist veterans Eric Heffer and Tony Benn who  sum up the very essence of CLPD.  Newer party activists can learn about why CLPD is such an important component of the Labour Left. The podcast looks at Vladimir and Verer Derer’s creation of the CLPD back in 1973, Vladimir’s support of East European socialists during the Cold War, the Labour Party trade union link, the economy, left strategy and the struggle for equality within the Labour Party. Comrades will have the opportunity to discuss the issues and themes raised at the CLPD Annual General Meeting on 11 February 2024 and at the Arise Day School on 17 February 2024. … Thank you for all your feedback in response to our second podcast with the Momentum Co-Chair Hilary Schan.  Pete Firmin thought the last podcast was a bit soft on Hilary and Momentum.  But Pete, with the Labour Left haemorrhaging support due to demoralisation, my motivation was to point to the positive things we are still doing in the Labour Party. I am not merely an interested commentator I am a Momentum activist.  I wanted to help Hilary show case the campaigning role a council Labour Group can have when it has an active left presence. As Jillian Guest said about the podcast ‘the more chances Hilary is given to speak the better it is for the ‘many’ and not the ‘few’”. Finally, if you are enjoying the podcast give us a like and a follow.  Please, please share it with your friends.  Each time you do something to promote our podcast and the other great podcasts on the Left you help create our own alternative media. Let us all work together to voice alternative opinions from the front line and escape the grip of Britain’s legacy media. Next time, on 6 March 2024,  to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Miners’ strike we have got a real treat in store for you.  I will be joined by the legendary Mike Jackson, the founder and secretary of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, to discuss the Great Strike’s legacy. Subscribe now to make sure you do not miss the next episode of the Labour Left Podcast. The Labour Left Podcast is brought to you by Bryn Griffiths, the podcast host, and Luke Robinson, the podcast editor.  We are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub. You can find All future podcasts here. Episodes to date have included a look at the 1980s Labour left through the lens of Brighton Labour Briefing and episodes with both Liz Davies and Momentum Co-Chair Hilary Schan

This episode of the Labour Left Podcast is an interview with Hilary Schan, the Co-Chair of Momentum and a Worthing Councillor. Dave Lewney, a recent Chair of Hilary’s local Constituency Labour Party, described her as  “the centre of gravity of the East Worthing and Shoreham Left.”  I think we can safely say Hilary is one of the key figures on the Labour Left today. The interview starts with Hilary’s political awakening during Jeremy Corbyn’s first leadership campaign. Key passages of the podcast include: ·     Why Momentum is so important to a thriving left? (5 min 17 secs in). ·     How did Worthing Labour Party deliver a political earthquake and seize control of Worthing Council for Labour? (21 min 21 secs in). ·     Was it all a bit too good to be true? Enter the Labour machine and the march of the cookie cutter Starmerites (32 min 58 secs in). ·     Momentum’s campaign for a ceasefire now in Palestine (41 mins 37 secs in). ·     Find out who Hilary has appointed as the Labour Left Podcast’s latest class hero. Do not miss out on our class hero’s poem as it is hilarious (49 mins 32 secs in). ·     Feedback from listeners and watchers of the last Labour Left Podcast with the indefatigable Liz Davies (53 mins 36 secs in). Can I thank you all for your feedback in response to our first proper podcast with the Labour left activist Liz Davies.  If you didn’t catch the last episode you can watch it on YouTube or listen to it on Spotify here.    Jeremy Gilbert described the Liz Davies episode as “a valuable resource to the Labour Left.”  If you have not listened to Jeremy’s podcasts, look him up on your favourite podcast provider or click here because he is brilliant.   Can I thank Andrew Fisher, Jeremy Corbyn’s former Director of Policy, for plugging our podcast show on his way to October’s Labour Conference.   Finola Brophy who worked alongside Liz Davies in Islington Council’s Women’s Unit fed back that it was “a real honour to contribute to this powerful podcast.”  I think both Liz and I would agree that the honour was all ours. The last comment goes to Pete Firmin who reported that our Glastonbury clip with Jeremy Corbyn had him “welling up about the hope inspired at that time and the hope Starmer and his friends are determined to kill.” Me to Pete.  I am sure we would both agree that the point is do not mourn organise. And I hope the Labour Left podcast can make a continuing contribution to that all important task. If you are enjoying the podcast, give the podcast a like and a follow.  Please, please share it with your friends. If you are moved to do so comment on the podcast to keep the debate going. Each time you do something to promote our podcast and the other great podcasts on the Labour Left you help create our own alternative media. Let us all work together to voice alternative opinions from the front line and escape the grip of Britain’s legacy media. We are hoping to publish a Labour Left Podcast every month. If you have got a left figure or radical author you would like to see interviewed in 2024 drop me a line at LabourLeftPodcast@gmail.com The new podcast is brought to you by Bryn Griffiths, the podcast host, and Luke Robinson, the podcast editor.  We are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub. You can follow Bryn on social media here

Labour Hub is supporting the launch of the Labour Left podcast.  You can watch the podcast on You Tube or listen to it as a podcast here. We have submitted the podcast to all the main podcast channels so we hope to see it there soon as well. The Labour Party Conference edition of the Labour Left Podcast is a long form interview with the Labour Hub writer and former Labour National Executive Committee member Liz Davies. Liz talks about her experience as a dissenter in Blair’s New Labour drawing on her excellent book Through the Looking Glass, A Dissenter in New Labour. If you like what you hear please help us promote the podcast by subscribing, hitting the like button, and giving us feedback in the comments section. Get comfortable for a Labour Left roller coaster ride.  Prepare to find out how Liz helped take socialist feminism into the heart of local government, re-live the Battle of Leeds North East, find out how Liz then rose like a phoenix from the ashes to face Tony Blair across the table at Labour’s National Executive Committee, question Clare Short’s recent rehabilitation, hear Liz’s views on Corbyn and Labour today. Finally, find out who Liz has appointed as the very first Labour Left Podcast class hero of the month. As we said last time debate and argument is the lifeblood of Labour democracy so get stuck in on social media wherever you see the podcast posted. Finally, when you have watched it, please follow, like and omment on your provider platform. If you could give the show a plug on your own social media that would be lovely. Solidarity. The new podcast is brought to you by Bryn Griffiths the podcast host, and Luke Robinson the podcast editor.  We are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub.

Labour Hub is supporting the launch of the Labour Left Podcast which will appear on all your favourite podcast providers’ platforms and as a video on YouTube.  Bryn Griffiths, a regular Labour Hub contributor, sets out below what it is all about and how you can get to listen to it. We started the trial episode by setting out our stall in the opening introduction.  “Are you desperate to kick out the Tories in 2024. Have you got behind every trade union dispute that has declared Enough is Enough? But despite your anger do you despair daily at Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party and his hostility to socialists? Are you angry about Labour’s lack of support for those such as refugees and the LGBTQ+ community who need our support the most? To know what you are against is a good start but it is not good enough we also need a strategy to rebuild a socialist left in British politics. If you share our anger and despair, we hope you will like the Labour Left Podcast produced in association with Labour Hub. By interviewing a wide range of socialists on the front line we plan to delve deep into what is wrong with British politics but most of all we want, to badly misquote Keir Starmer, to have a laser like focus on what we need to do to rebuild a mass socialist movement in British Politics. First up is a trial episode where we look at the history of Brighton Labour Briefing based on an earlier Labour Hub article.  We think the magazine was a rich seam of gold which the Labour Left can mine for lessons today. The trial episode is effectively a journey back into the Bennite 1980s to see what lessons, we can mine from our opposition to the Falklands War; the disastrous 1983 General Election; the Miners’ Great Strike of 1984 85; and, the Labour Left’s response to the Adams-McGuiness wing of the Irish Republican Movement”. You will also in the future be able to search for the Labour Left Podcast on your favourite podcast provider channels: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, and Stitcher. If when you have had a listen, you like what you hear please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast channel so you can hear our future episodes. Hit like and most of all tell us what you think. Debate and argument are the lifeblood of the socialist movement so please get stuck in on social media! After our trial our first podcast proper will be an interview with our comrade Liz Davies who will talk about her experience as a dissenter in Blair’s New Labour.  We hope activists will learn a lot from her experience and be able to take what they learn into Starmer’s Party today. The podcast will be available on Saturday 6 October when we launch the podcast on the first day of Labour conference. The new podcast is brought to you by Bryn Griffiths, and Luke Robinson the podcast editor.  We are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum, and the World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub. You can follow Bryn on social media here https://linktr.ee/brynhgriffiths Labour Hub can be found here https://labourhub.org.uk/