Today’s government is unrecognisable from the party I joined as a young man. If we don’t act now, it might be lost for ever
I joined the Labour party 50 years ago. Back then, as a young man, I was proud that I was becoming part of a movement motivated by the highest ideals. I felt I was joining a group of like-minded people who wanted to change the world for the better and that, whatever setbacks might occur, we were on the right side of history.
I devoted my life to securing the election of Labour governments that would transform our society. I was a working-class kid, born in the slums of Liverpool to a father who was a docker and a mother who was a cleaner, and I gained all the benefits of Labour’s policies: the security of a Parker Morris-standard council house and the care of the NHS when I was sick. As a trade union branch secretary, my dad and his fellow members exercised their rights and their solidarity to secure the wage levels that lifted the families of workers out of poverty.
John McDonnell is the independent MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020
Today’s government is unrecognisable from the party I joined as a young man. If we don’t act now, it might be lost for everJohn McDonnell calls for grassroots leadership challenge to Starmer’s governmentI joined the Labour party 50 years ago. Back then, as a young man, I was proud that I was becoming part of a movement motivated by the highest ideals. I felt I was joining a group of like-minded people who wanted to change the world for the better and that, whatever setbacks might occur, we were on the right side of history.I devoted my life to securing the election of Labour governments that would transform our society. I was a working-class kid, born in the slums of Liverpool to a father who was a docker and a mother who was a cleaner, and I gained all the benefits of Labour’s policies: the security of a Parker Morris-standard council house and the care of the NHS when I was sick. As a trade union branch secretary, my dad and his fellow members exercised their rights and their solidarity to secure the wage levels that lifted the families of workers out of poverty.John McDonnell is the independent MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020 Continue reading… Labour, Politics, UK news, Keir Starmer Business | The Guardian
