Gray’s a goner

“I’m in control”, said Keir Starmer back in September when it emerged his then chief of staff Sue Gray was being paid more than him.

Just weeks later, Gray has ‘stood down’. Not that her departure will save Starmer from donations scandals, or working-class anger over support for Israeli state terror and attacks on pensioners.

If you thought instability, scandal and infighting were confined to the Tory party, you’ve got another think coming! Those tensions are part and parcel of attempting to govern Britain, with its ailing economy, in the interests of the capitalist bosses.

Starmer was elected with Labour receiving votes from just one in five people eligible to vote in the general election. Most people didn’t vote for his party. In fact, no one voted for Sue Gray, and no one voted for her successor Morgan McSweeney.

Unelected senior staff and advisors have their fingers pulling all sorts of strings behind the scenes. But in whose interests are they acting – the bosses or the working class?

McSweeney was a central figure in the Labour Together ‘think tank’ with the objective to do in Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. It received a fine of £14,250 from the Electoral Commission in 2021 for 20 breaches of electoral law. £730,000 of funds it received were not reported correctly. Since, its biggest backers are a private equity firm bosses, and hedge fund managers.

Whose interests are these advisors acting in again?

Big-bucks breakfast

For £30,000 you would expect a very, very big breakfast. If not, then much more for your money than sausage, bacon and eggs. Labour had been offering the chance, for those willing to pay, to ‘dine’ with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds: “A unique opportunity to become a commercial partner at our business policy round table discussion”.

Workers’ rights

Who will Labour ministers be dining with before drawing up the final draft of the Workers’ Rights Bill, due to be tabled after the Socialist goes to press?

One business leader told the Financial Times: “I don’t think we’re seeing a lot of this before 2026… The mood is to use secondary legislation on anything contentious to give time for consultation.” To give time for big business to try to water things down further then. The mood of workers is to get things done now!

A workers’ voice

Instead of parties and politicians that take orders from unelected, unaccountable advisors paid for by the super-rich, we need a party that fights in our interests, against those of the bosses. One which has politicians accountable to the working-class communities they represent, subject to recall and paid the average workers’ wage – with no perks and privileges.