A really good thread and this does matter- it’s the same reason why assisted dying became unpopular and why the bill was a mess.

🌹 BREAKING: exclusive @survation.bsky.social and LabourList polling shows Lucy Powell leads Bridget Phillipson in the race to be Labour deputy leader by 17 points. labourlist.org/2025/09/excl...

This is so important; in particular Heath knew what he was doing was unpopular but he did it because he had seen the horrors of fascism and detested ‘racialism’. Powellism is back in a New form

Labour NEC have announced the deputy leader timetable- only two days to get nominations from MPs, and two weeks for CLPs to nominate. Quite obviously an attempt to make it a one person contest.

I really am not surprised that a group of people who struggled to run the Labour Party are now desperately struggling to launch a new party. I really do not understand why they don’t just fold into the greens.

Here’s a characteristically well sourced @siennarodgers.bsky.social feature on the founding of Corbyn’s new party www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Being a former council leader will help but I can’t say I have seen anything over the past year (or beyond) that suggests SR will be a radical SoS

"There have been no counter narratives from Labour. There have been no attempts to fact check some of this stuff." Rylan's TV rant about migrant hotels was packed full of right-wing misinformation – and our government have done nothing to stop its spread

It is easier to fight Farage on Brexit - an acknowledged disaster - than immigration - which is a nebulous problem where Farage can move the goalposts. If he bring up immigration, point out that migrants can be sent back to Europe when you're a member, but Farage argued to give up that facility. 7

that "VPN ban" story - I'd probably want better sourcing than the King of Reach (derogatory), James Rodger, content editor of Birmingham Live especially since, after saying that "Labour could ban the use of Virtual Private Networks", the article doesn't include any govt source suggesting it

My new Constitution Society report on compulsory voting has now been published. I argue that low turnout has left the UK with an unrepresentative electorate. This is creating warped incentives for politicians, and contributing to low growth, high inequality, and rising democratic discontent.

I wonder how much praise this will get from the right wing YIMBY cohort- it’s great news!

I’ve never understood the irrational opposition to universal ID in this country so very happy to see this in my inbox today

I am curious for thoughts on why the sector has been so bad at both lobbying and also getting people who used its product to lobby their MP or care about the sector. It is extremely important and needs support but there seems to be a lack of self criticism from the sector

I do not disagree with Dylan but the problem is and remains Starmer- he had the same problem in opposition even with MM was not running the show.

A comment I would make about today’s immigration stuff is that for years the right banged on about how we needed a points system and it would be great- we rarely hear about how much of a difference our ‘points system’ has made.

New post just out: "The Liberal Saviour?" How important was the "Trump Effect" in Canada and Australia? Is there any evidence of it elsewhere? What does it mean for UK politics? (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

I know academics are anxious and angry, but I'm sorry its impossible to read this and think HE can anyway continue in this way

Labour must avoid ‘naive’ lurch to right after Reform success, Haigh warns Exclusive from @alethaadu.bsky.social - the former transport minister criticises party’s direction and calls on Starmer to focus on issues like taxation and welfare reform www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

These vacous people, who by any measure have got exactly the government they were asking for in 2013, but who are so detached from both policy thought and the people they ventriloquise that they simply have not noticed and never will:

No matter the year it is still 2010 for some people.

The underlying problem is always the principal, it is never the staff and never the comms, but as a shorthand, part of the government's problem is that they did need to change their chief of staff, but the way they did it was to skip ahead to the change they ought to have made in 2027.

Exciting news for me. Pre-orders are open. www.hachette.co.uk/titles/dunca...

I'm in @labourlist.bsky.social before locals later this week, arguing that drawing the right lessons from a result is almost as important as whether you won or lost – and that the party has been stuck over-correcting from losing the Uxbridge by-election for 2 years: labourlist.org/2025/04/loca...

A great post. The warnings from the lobby were just as ridiculous as those in 1999 about the minimum wage but even worse they didn’t know how out of touch they sounded

Some of the things you'd need to believe for the national-security case on nationalising British steel to hold up—not an impossible set of premises, but a weightier than advocates typically acknowledge. Link ➡️ notes.archie-hall.com/p/some-quest...

This is genuinely mental and a sign of how little this unnamed advisor knows- both the whisky and car industry was relatively strong when we were in the EU!

US tariffs are being imposed because President Trump likes tariffs. There is no economic logic. There are many stated reasons including encouraging US manufacturing, narrowing the trade deficit, due to unfairness of others, and raising revenue. None are convincing.

This is good and a reminder that politicians should ignore endless obsessions with ‘comms’ ‘message’ and ‘narratives’ and just do things that make a difference

Hi All, just sent out my weekend update, free as always. This is arguably the most momentous week in European history since 1991 or even 1945. The US pivoted this week to be a friend of dictators who is forcing unilateral concessions on democracies. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

I agree that what Vance said was wrong. But the days when calling such views "extreme" was sufficient are over. Progressives need to get better at explaining *why* their opponents are wrong - & making that case to the public - rather than just declaring them outside some long-vanished "mainstream".