 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
Labour Briefing was a monthly political magazine produced by members of the British Labour Party.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
Labour Briefing was a monthly political magazine produced by members of the British Labour Party.
The magazine began in 1980 as London Labour Briefing. [1] The founders were the members of the Chartist Minority Tendency, which was a former Trotskyist part of the Chartist Collective. [1] It was edited by (among others) Graham Bash, Chris Knight and Keith Veness and counted Ken Livingstone, Tony Benn and other prominent Labour councillors and MPs among its supporters. Throughout the early period, its masthead slogan was "Labour – take the power!" While the magazine's followers often acted as a political faction, its internal politics were non-sectarian and open, ranging from democratic socialist backers of the former Labour MP Tony Benn to some of the Trotskyist groups. [1]
Jeremy Corbyn, later Leader of the Labour Party, became a regular contributor to London Labour Briefing in the 1980s, and was described by The Times in 1981 as "Briefing's founder". [2] In a 1982 article published by The Economist , Corbyn was named as "Briefing's general secretary figure", [3] as he also was in a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographer Andrew Roth in 2004, [4] [5] which alleges that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979. [6] Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his book Militant, says that Corbyn was "a member of the editorial board" in the "mid 1980s", [7] as does Lansley, Goss and Wolmar's The Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left in 1989. [8] The Times also said that Corbyn was still "closely linked" with the group in 1995. [9] However, in 2017, Corbyn claimed these reports were inaccurate, telling Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge, "Andrew Roth has a wonderful reputation for having the most inaccurate parliamentary profiles known to anyone", [4] and that "I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it." [5]
The group campaigned for left-wing policies and greater democracy in the Labour Party, and focused on issues relating to municipal affairs. [2] The paper also emphasised sexual and personal politics and anti-racism campaigns. London Labour Briefing was also prominent in supporting Irish Republicanism and the UK miners' strike of 1984–1985. In due course, London Labour Briefing spawned local papers around Britain, such as Devon Labour Briefing . In July 1982, Corbyn argued against expulsions of Militant in Briefing. [10]
Following the Brighton hotel bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the editorial board of London Labour Briefing said the bombings showed that "the British only sit up and take notice [of Ireland] when they are bombed into it". In December 1984, the magazine carried a reader's letter praising the "audacity" of the IRA attack and stating: "What do you call four dead Tories? A start." [11] It mocked Norman Tebbit, the trade secretary who was dug out of the rubble of the Grand Hotel and whose wife was left permanently paralysed, saying: "Try riding your bike now, Norman" (in reference to an earlier speech made by Tebbit). [11] The same issue carried a piece from the editorial board which "disassociated itself" from an article the previous month criticising the bombing, saying the criticism was a "serious political misjudgment". [11]
Throughout the 1990s, Briefing lost supporters and influence as New Labour's hold over the Labour Party increased. Liz Davies was vetoed by Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Leeds North East in 1995, [12] in part for her association with Briefing. [9] Corbyn called the decision of the NEC "totally unacceptable" at the time. [6] In 1995, Central Books, a left-wing publisher which used to distribute the magazine, said: "It used to be wacky and even amusing. Now it's neo-Trotskyite rubbish." [9]
London Labour Briefing was renamed Labour Briefing and was then known as Labour Left Briefing in 1995. [9] In 2008, upon merging with Voice of the Unions, it reverted to Labour Briefing. It supports the Socialist Campaign Group of Members of Parliament, and aims to promote and build the network of local Campaign Groups.[ citation needed ]
Following a contested vote at the July 2012 AGM, some supporters of Labour Briefing decided to transfer control of the magazine to the Labour Representation Committee. Other Editorial Board members, including Labour Party NEC member Christine Shawcroft, opposed the move, and continued to publish their own independent Labour Briefing magazine (sometimes known as 'Original Briefing').
In February 2023, the Labour Briefing Editorial Board announced the closure of the magazine.
There have been a number of notable contributors and members of the magazine's editorial board. Most contributors in the 1980s were prominent members of London's "outside left". [13]
They included:
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly Leeds Central, since 1999. He has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. Benn previously served as Development Secretary (2003–2007) and Environment Secretary (2007–2010) and as Chairman of the Brexit Select Committee (2016–2021).
Socialist Appeal was the British section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), founded in 1992 alongside the IMT by supporters of Ted Grant and Alan Woods after they were expelled from the Militant tendency of the Labour Party. In 2024 the Great Britain-based elements of the IMT were relaunched as the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. An independent, Corbyn was a member of the Labour Party from 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. He served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as a socialist on the political left.
The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party including Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The group also includes some MPs who formerly represented Labour in Parliament but have had the whip withdrawn or been expelled from the party.
Tribune is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left. Previous editors at the magazine have included Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health who spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, former Labour leader Michael Foot, and writer George Orwell, who served as Literary Editor.
The soft left, also known as the open left, inside left and historically as the Tribunite left, is a faction within the British Labour Party. The term "soft left" was coined to distinguish the mainstream left, represented by former leader Michael Foot, from the hard left, represented by Tony Benn. People belonging to the soft left may be called soft leftists or Tribunites.
A by-election was held in the Bermondsey constituency in South London, on 24 February 1983, following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish. Peter Tatchell stood as the candidate for the Labour Party, and Simon Hughes stood for the Liberal Party. Following a bitter campaign, the Liberals made huge gains and took the seat, with a majority of votes cast. Labour's vote fell from 63.6 per cent in May 1979 to 26.1 per cent as Tatchell came a distant second, while the Conservative candidate, Robert Hughes, managed only fourth place, losing his deposit. With a swing of 44.2%, the 1983 Bermondsey by-election remains the largest by-election swing in British political history.
Eric Samuel Heffer was a British socialist politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Walton from 1964 until his death. Due to his experience as a professional joiner, he made a speciality of the construction industry and its employment practices, but was also concerned with trade union issues in general. He changed his view on the European Common Market from being an outspoken supporter to an outspoken opponent, and served a brief period in government in the mid-1970s. His later career was dominated by his contribution to debates within the Labour Party and he defended the Liverpool City Council.
Straight Left was a left-wing newspaper published from 1979. The phrase was also the generic name given to a political faction of the Communist Party of Great Britain who disagreed with the leadership's emerging Eurocommunist politics, and were responsible for the production of the newspaper. The origins of this faction within the CPGB go back earlier, but it emerged under this name in 1977.
The Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) is a centre-left group of elected members on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee, founded in 1998. They represent members from a broad spectrum of the Labour membership, ranging from the centre-left to those on the left-wing.
The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott, the previous deputy leader, announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy prime minister about the same time that Tony Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister.
Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn is an English politician, who has represented the Ward of Bread Street on the Court of Common Council of the City of London since 2022.
The Militant tendency, or Militant, was a Trotskyist group in the British Labour Party, organised around the Militant newspaper, which launched in 1964.
Momentum is a British left-wing political organisation which has been described as a grassroots movement supportive of the Labour Party; since January 2017, all Momentum members must be members of the party. It was founded in 2015 by Jon Lansman, Adam Klug, Emma Rees and James Schneider after Jeremy Corbyn's successful campaign to become Labour Party leader and it was reported to have between 20,000 and 30,000 members in 2021.
Jonathan Lansman is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party and subsequently founded the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum. He is a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. Lansman has worked for both Tony Benn and Michael Meacher, and was a prominent supporter of Benn in the early 1980s.
The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and questions about his leadership of the party.
There have been instances of antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) since its establishment. One such example is canards about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War. In the 2000s, controversies arose over comments made by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby", a comparison by London Labour politician Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.
Peter Rupert William Willsman is a British political activist who was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and the secretary of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW) was a group formed in late 2017 to campaign against what it regards as politically motivated allegations of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party, which it calls a “witchhunt”. It also campaigns against what it regards as unfair disciplinary action taken by the Labour Party against its members, particularly in relation to such allegations of antisemitism. The group supports individual members facing disciplinary action and has called for changes to the party's disciplinary procedures and code of conduct.
Iits[ sic ] guiding spirit is Mr Jeremy Corbyn, aged 31, Briefing's founder, an official of the National Union of Public Employees.
... Briefing's general secretary figure, Mr Jeremy Corbyn, will be Labour's candidate in Islington North.
An article in the July 1982 edition of London Labour Briefing illustrated Corbyn's public stance: 'If expulsions are in order for Militant,' he wrote, 'they should apply to us too.' And Corbyn, a year before he became an MP, announced himself as 'provisional convenor' of the new 'Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign'. It was based at an address in Lausanne Road in Hornsey, north London, Corbyn's own home at that time.