Labour did very badly in the recent national council elections because since 1997 they have been busy trying to impress the right-wing media in this country, instead of sticking to their more traditional working-class base.

They shunned their own supporters in Hartlepool and thought that by being quiet and bland with inoffensive ‘woke’ reactions they could sleepwalk the electorate into following them. Keir Starmer is probably more at home at a NW10 dinner party than a Trade Union meeting in Northern England.

There’s no money in working-class voters, so target affluent middle-class instead and don’t upset the parties’ major donors whose idea of socialism is to market re-hashed Tory policy into Labour manifesto and also chuck in a few ‘woke’ issues like sexual identity, mental health or social media bullying into the mix.

The truth is, a major party would incorporate these issues into their manifesto and stick to their guns too, remembering their roots and history. Of course, it does not help when the steering group helps to split the Jeremy Corbyn party up with their Blairite adherence and their lack of support for Corbyn. Next thing you know membership was reduced to £3 a throw and this attracts all the conspiracy theorists.

By the time the last election was lost and the Blairite faction had got the party to drop all of its socialist policy and got back to chasing the money again the voters had lost all interest in Labour. Johnson and Goves’ party trick on the side of buses promised if you vote Leave there’d be an extra £350 million a week to save the NHS.

Working class people were being fobbed off and Boris Johnson took advantage by bribery, false promises and empty words. Where were the Labour Party? Working on impressing Rupert Murdoch rather than working on a decent policy that suits all.

Gary Crowe

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