John Smith, who sadly died thirty years ago, is paradoxically a past Labour leader who is both highly revered but also often overlooked. He held the leadership for just under…
10 May, 2024
Electoral Reform
20 Dec, 2022
The Ideology problem and how Proportional Representation can fix this
It is unlikely that you will find anyone who disagrees that the premiership of Liz Truss was a turbulent affair. As a lived experience, it was a mess bereft of…
24 Oct, 2022
This Is Only The Beginning: the making of a new left, from anti-austerity to the fall of Corbyn
This Is Only The Beginning: the making of a new left, from anti-austerity to the fall of Corbyn, A new book by Michael Chessum, charts the revival of left politics…
30 Sep, 2022
Green Party Conference: Eat the Greens
As the news round focused on the Labour conference and PM Liz Truss this week, you could be forgiven for not realising that the Green Party conference is taking place…
15 Oct, 2021
Labour and electoral reform: rage against the machine
Labour's high command is living in the past, and British progressives of every stripe will soon pay the price. At its recent conference in Brighton, Labour narrowly rejected a motion…
20 Oct, 2020
How the system hurts UK democracy
Shortly after the UK general election of December 2019 I wrote a policy article for the spring 2020 edition of Global Discourse, setting out what my involvement in politics has taught…
20 Jul, 2020
Corbynism and Electoral Reform: will Labour ever back PR?
June 2020 saw voting reform take place. This reform was not a change to the voting system for Westminster elections, but how one third of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC)…
09 Jan, 2020
Labour and Proportional Representation
For the first time someone pitching to lead the Labour Party is demanding that it embrace proportional voting. Clive Lewis has not yet set out his stall in full. But…