Jamie Lowe

The revelations in this article are shocking and unacceptable. From Mandelson in Washington to Blair’s TBI writing NHS data policy with Oracle’s billions, to corporate lobbyists sitting on departmental boards - we are watching a state quietly repurposed to a degree not seen under any previous Labour govt - to serve the boardroom, not the public. This is a political culture where dissent is pathologised, ideas policed, policy pre-cooked by private interests and presented as “inevitable.” In this hollowing-out of govt, we face the danger of a politics so cowed by vested interests that it cannot stand up to them. And when that happens, it is the authoritarian right who reap the rewards. People aren’t fooled. They can feel the country is being run for “them” not “us.” And unless Labour changes course - embracing pluralism, democracy and genuine debate - it will deliver power straight into Farage and Trump’s waiting hands. Perhaps we’re in need of a bit of ‘Manchesterism’ - a different way of doing govt and one not afraid of giving control of public services to the very people that use and run them; Us!