In a powerful and damning indictment of Sir Keir Starmer's leadership, Labour MP Zarah Sultana has accused the party of "purging socialists" and betraying the grassroots movement that propelled it under Jeremy Corbyn.
Speaking at a conference organised by the Socialist Campaign Group, the Coventry South MP didn't hold back. She claimed the current leadership is more focused on appeasing the Conservative-supporting media barons than on representing the working-class communities that form Labour's heartland.
A Party Purge Under Starmer?
Sultana's speech painted a picture of a party in the midst of an ideological cleansing. She asserted that the leadership's strategy involves "ditching our principles, purging socialists, and promising to be tougher than the Tories on... migration." This, she argued, is a transparent attempt to win favour with powerful right-wing newspapers, a tactic she believes is destined to fail and will only demoralise the party's core vote.
The Ghost of Corbyn's Labour
The address was a full-throated defence of the Corbyn project. Sultana credited the former leader's 2017 manifesto for inspiring her own political journey and bringing a new generation of activists into the fold. She lamented that the current leadership has not only abandoned these popular policies but has actively sidelined those who still champion them.
Her comments underscore the deep and ongoing rift within the Labour Party between the socialist left and the centrist wing now led by Starmer. The speech signals that despite the leadership's attempts to move on, the ideological battle for the soul of the Labour Party is far from over.
