5 the Labour Party

• The labor party was founded in 1900 by a group of socialist societies and trade unions with the original purpose of getting more working-class MPS into Parliament
• Clause 4 of the 1918 labor party Constitution


  committed the party to advocate for collective ownership of production, distribution, and exchange, embodying socialist principles.
• The labor party had two minority governments in the interwar period in 1924 and 1929 to 31 under Ramsay McDonald
• Old labor (social democracy)


  • Key to Labor's post-war social democratic government
  • Introduced nationalization of key industries
  • Comprehensive system of Social Security and the NHS
• Old labor governments between 1945 and 79 described themselves as socialists but were a more moderate version of socialism known as social democracy
• Social democracy


  Emphasized the importance of redistributing wealth and creating a fairer Society, but didn't try to abolish capitalism
• The 1983 labor party Manifesto under Michael Foot was very hard-line socialist, proposing increased nationalization, tax and spending
• New labor


  • Moved away from hard left position in 1983 to broaden support, appealing to middle classes as well as working classes
  • Dropped unpopular policy proposals like nationalization
  • Revised Clause 4 to no longer be committed to nationalization and redistribution of wealth
  • Downgraded power of trade unions
  • Developed links with business community
  • Became more pro-European
• New labor under Tony Blair was very successful, winning three elections in 1997, 2001 and 2005
• In response to the 2008 financial crash, the Brown government pumped money into the banking system and nationalized or part nationalized vulnerable banks
• Brown proposed to maintain public spending, arguing that the drastic cuts suggested by the conservatives would prolong the downturn
• Many traditional socialists rejected new Labor's modernizing efforts as a betrayal of their Heritage, feeling Blair was too connected with the Business Leaders and the business community
• Austerity cuts suggested and ultimately imposed by the conservatives reduced resources and worsened the economic slowdown.
• These measures led to claims that new laborers had been abandoned
• It wasn't like they were nationalizing the banks because they thought it was the best approach, it was the best approach at the particular time in relation to the global financial crisis
• Blair's building a close link to the US government leading to the Iraq War further damaged his credentials as a progressive figure
• The move to New labour was really necessary, it was a necessary adaptation to a changing society in which labor could no longer get elected by just appealing to working-class voters
• Ed Miliband beat his brother David Miliband in the labor leadership election in 2010
• Miliband maintained some of new Labor's policies but also shifted slightly to the left
• Miliband tried to combine new labor support for business with defense of the working class
• Miliband, nicknamed ‘Red Dead’ by the media, lost in 2015 due to perceptions of being against the private sector and supporting tax-and-spend policies.
• Jeremy Corbyn, a staunchly socialist backbencher, won the labor leadership in September 2015
• Corbyn struggled to unite his Shadow Cabinet during his leadership
• Corbyn moved the labor party to the left to a significant extent under the slogan for the many not the few
• Corbyn's left-wing Manifesto and his own weak leadership led to the labor party's worst electoral performance since 1935 in the 2019 election
• Keir Starmer was elected as labor leader instead of the more left-wing candidate Rebecca Long Bailey
• Starmer has progressively moved the labor party closer to the center ground since coming to power
• Starmer suspended Corbyn from the labor party in October 2020 after the UK's human rights Watchdog concluded that the labor party broke the law by failing to Stamp Out anti-jewish racism
• Economic policies


  • New Labor: Aimed to separate itself from earlier Social Democratic and old labor administrations by not increasing taxes and conserving resources before investing more in key Public Services
  • Corbyn: Pledged to significantly increase taxes by introducing a new 50 tax rate for those earning over 125,000 pounds and raising corporation tax from 21 to 26
  • Starmer: Has progressively moved the labor party closer to the center ground
• Law and Order policies


  • New Labor: Imposed conditions on the receipt of welfare benefits and brought in anti-social behavioral orders to deal with anti-social Behavior
  • Corbyn: Opposed cuts to police numbers
  • Starmer: tackling violent crime
• Welfare policies


  • New Labor: Consistently increased spending on the NHS and education, introduced the winter fuel payment for pensioners and free off-peak travel for over 65s
  • Corbyn: Strongly opposed benefit cuts
  • Starmer: improving public services like the NHS
• Foreign policies

  • New Labor: Blair's Premiership became largely defined by foreign policy especially his decision to support George Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003
  • Corbyn: Accused of being close to terrorist groups in the past
  • Starmer: Strengthening alliances with NATO
• If Private Finance Initiatives would had been used more in law and order policies, the value of public assets could have increased by over £200 billion.
• Corbyn opposed police cuts, similar to Blair and New Labour policies, believing they risked public safety.
• Corbyn moved away from a tough on crime approach to a focus on the causes of crime, dealing with poverty and inequality
• Corbyn rejected the new labor strong tough on crime approach
• In 2017 and 2019, Labour promised to control immigration, similar to what the Conservatives wanted.
• Corbyn strongly opposed benefit cuts and also pledged in 2019 to replace the Universal Credit benefit system
• Corbyn opposed the use of private sector to deliver Public Services
• New labor used the private sector in the delivering of Public Services With Private Financial initiatives