Zarah Sultana

Morning Star Editorial: Purge of dissenting MPs is a sign of Starmer’s weakness

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/purge-dissenting-mps-sign-starmers-weakness

 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in Downing Street, London, on his first official visit to Britain, July 17, 2025

…

Just 12 per cent of the public approve of the government’s record, a historic low. Current polling shows the great majority of Labour MPs losing their seats at the next election, either to Reform, or to the new left party struggling to be born, or in Scotland and Wales to nationalist parties.

Certainly, at present it is as easy to see the suspended four — and the already-whipless John McDonnell and Apsana Begum who rebelled a year ago against the two-child benefit cap — securing re-election as independents than as candidates of the Starmer regime.

It is certainly hard to see this move breaking resistance to the new austerity agenda going forward. Only successful leaders can hope to get away with this sort of crackdown.

So this latest exercise in authoritarianism speaks only to Starmer’s loss of capacity to advance his right-wing agenda, as well as to his consigliere Morgan McSweeney’s blinkered view that whatever the problem is the answer lies in attacking the left.

But it is also a challenge to the Labour left. Over the last five years it has consistently failed to find the means to arrest the Starmer-McSweeney purge of the left, often for want of the simple virtue of sticking together when under attack.

The response to the latest suspensions has been robust, in words at least. The left has shown it can inflict defeats on the government, reversing specific policy proposals.

But it is now beyond obvious that only a fighting plan to actually oust Starmer himself has any prospect of reversing Labour’s dismal prospects in time to save the next election. They should take every opportunity — and even create them — to express no-confidence in this government of austerity, war and authoritarianism.

Failure to do so will certainly turbocharge the case for the new socialist party being promoted by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn. The appeal of that venture rests in part on the perception that Labour is a lost cause.

Starmer’s latest sanctions against dissent tend to make that case. He has flung down the gauntlet — the left in the PLP, the affiliated unions and the membership must pick it up.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/purge-dissenting-mps-sign-starmers-weakness

Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Purge of dissenting MPs is a sign of Starmer’s weakness

Starmer plunges Labour into crisis as he axes rebel MPs

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-plunges-labour-crisis-he-axes-rebel-mps

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, July 16, 2025

… KEIR STARMER suspended four left Labour MPs from the party whip last night in a desperate attempt to restore his floundering and diminished authority.

Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Rachael Maskell and Chris Hinchcliffe will now sit as independent MPs.

Left MP Zarah Sultana, commenting to the Star, told the MPs to “come and join us” in the new socialist party she has committed to launching with Jeremy Corbyn after resigning from Labour two weeks ago.

The MPs have been sanctioned by the Starmer regime because of alleged “persistent rebelliousness”. All voted against the government’s disability benefit cuts, along with a large number of other backbenchers.

More suspensions may follow as Sir Keir seeks to recover from a series of enforced U-turns as his “make the poor pay for war” political strategy unravels.

…

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Continue ReadingStarmer plunges Labour into crisis as he axes rebel MPs

With Sultana and Corbyn united, we finally have Britain’s new left party

Spread the love

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sultana-and-corbyn-united-we-finally-have-britains-new-left-party

The suspended Labour MP’s historic resignation to found a working-class party has lit up social media with excitement as thousands knock at the door wanting involvement in the desperately needed project, writes ANDREW BURGIN


LAST THURSDAY, the suspended Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, took a historic political step. She resigned from Labour, the party that she joined as a young teenager; in doing so, she declared her intention to work with others to found a new working-class party — a new party of the left.

Many Labour MPs have resigned before when moving to the right, yet who now remembers Change UK or even the SDP? But in Labour’s entire history, no MP has taken the decisive step that Sultana has — leaving to help found a party of the left. But surely it’s no surprise: Sultana has already established her reputation as a class fighter and a leader both in Parliament and beyond. This is a courageous initiative that is to be celebrated.

By taking this bold and necessary step, she has not only opened up left politics, by encouraging tens of thousands of people to engage and join her on this political journey. She has also created a live debate over the nature of the party of the left, that so many have demanded for so long — and with increasing urgency over the last five years.

It is no surprise that the committee brought together by Jeremy Corbyn, uniting all those who have been working to create a new socialist party, voted overwhelmingly to ask Sultana and Corbyn to lead the initiative together.

This project stands on the inspiring legacy of Corbyn’s leadership of Labour from 2015 to 2020. Since then, there has been indecision on the left about whether and how to bring about a new party. Certainly, the first discussions that I was involved with, in the last days of 2019, came to nothing. And plans to fight back within the Labour Party likewise have led to little.

…

When Sultana resigned, she was not acting as a lone individual. She had been in serious discussion in recent weeks with those planning for a new party of the left. She took the decision to resign after an agreement with those involved in this long-running process; hence the overwhelming support from its organising committee.

The meeting, which I attended, believed the party would work best with both Corbyn and Sultana at the helm. It did not take up a separate proposal for Corbyn to be sole leader.

Sultana’s resignation and her announcement of the new leadership were putting into practice that collective decision, which she had told the meeting she would do.

This is a very exciting — and urgently necessary — development, and we must welcome it. And we must also understand its political significance: that even the preparation for founding such a party creates a new political situation. Perhaps, of necessity, there has been a certain level of secrecy in the discussions up to this point.

Taking the decision to form such a party is not easy — there are many loyalties and political commitments, some over many decades. But the time for secrecy — and foot-dragging — is now past. Labour’s right-wing trajectory is now plain for all to see: in its support for the genocide in Gaza, its use of draconian legislation against the right to protest, its attack on disabled people, and much more.

We need to get organised now. We cannot afford to miss yet another boat.

…

Contrary to some extremely disappointing and unprincipled briefing of the capitalist media by some involved, Sultana neither launched the new party nor sought to usurp the process. She did not “overplay her hand” nor “jump the gun to get the data and the donations.” Such statements are unworthy of anyone in our movement, and I, for one, do not believe that the anonymous briefers acted in Corbyn’s name.

What Sultana did was to give expression to a decision democratically arrived at by the organising committee, that she and Corbyn would together guide the process to its founding conference.

My hope is that now this has been agreed, and is out in the open, the organising committee will make its membership publicly known, open itself up and include others, to broaden and strengthen its work and increase the chances of initiating the party that is so desperately needed.

…

Original article at https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sultana-and-corbyn-united-we-finally-have-britains-new-left-party

dizzy: Despite the corporate media all seem to be supporting climate-denying Neo-Fascist Farage there is plenty of time before the next election for that and other things related to him to change.

Continue ReadingWith Sultana and Corbyn united, we finally have Britain’s new left party

Morning Star Editorial: Zarah Sultana: if Palestine Action are banned as ‘terrorists’ who will be next?

Spread the love

dizzy: I hope that Morning Star will excuse me quoting this article in it’s entirety.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/zarah-sultana-if-palestine-action-are-banned-terrorists-who-will-be-next

 Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025
This week, MPs shamefully approved the proscription of Palestine Action. Several challenged the move in the Commons. Zarah Sultana, Independent MP for Coventry South, gave an outstanding speech in condemnation. Because of the exceptional gravity of the issue, we reproduce her speech, lightly edited, here.

TWENTY-ONE years ago, a human rights barrister … defended an activist who broke into RAF Fairford trying to disable a bomber to prevent war crimes in Iraq. That became a landmark case in lawful, non-violent direct action against an illegal war. That barrister is now our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer KC. He argued that it was not terrorism, but conscience.

Fast-forward to June 20 2025: two Palestine Action activists entered RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint — red paint, not fire — on aircraft linked to surveillance flights over Gaza. Instead of prosecuting them for criminal damage, the Home Secretary is using the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group.

This is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach of the state. Never before in Britain has it been a crime to simply support a group.

Palestine Action’s real crime is shutting down Elbit Systems sites that arm the Israeli military; its true offence is being audacious enough to expose the blood-soaked ties between this government and the genocidal Israeli apartheid state and its war machine.

Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb is not just absurd; it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.

Amnesty International, Liberty, over 266 senior lawyers and UN special rapporteurs have all opposed these draconian measures. Under this order, anyone expressing moral support for a proscribed group could face 14 years in prison. That includes wearing a badge, wearing a T-shirt, sharing a post or calling for de-proscription.

And journalists have no exemption either: there is no legal protection for reporting favourably, even factually, about Palestine Action.

Let us not forget what is happening in Gaza, where the real crimes are being ignored: hospitals bombed, children starved, and tens of thousands of people killed. Palestinian children now suffer more amputations per capita than children anywhere else on Earth.

Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the Israeli Prime Minister faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, yet the government’s response is to criminalise solidarity and to continue exporting lethal F-35 jets that are decimating Gaza.

We also have to understand the history of this country and what built our democracy: the tradition of civil disobedience that includes the suffragettes, without whom I would not have the vote, let alone the privilege of being here as an MP.

Even those who oppose Palestine Action’s tactics must recognise the vast gulf between criminal damage and terrorism. If this order passes, what and who is next — climate protesters, striking workers, feminists in the street?

Already we have seen a wider crackdown on our civil liberties — musicians censored, journalists arrested, and demonstrators, including MPs sitting here, harassed — and now this government want to use anti-terror laws to make peaceful protest itself a crime. If our democratic institutions functioned as they should, none of this would be necessary.

If this proscription passes, we have to understand that no campaign will be safe tomorrow. We have to recognise that this will go down as a dark day in our country’s history … People will ask, “Which side were you on?” and I stand with the millions of people who oppose genocide, because I am one of them. I oppose the blood-soaked hands of this government trying to silence us. So I say this loudly and proudly: we are all Palestine…

Deputy Speaker intervened here with “Order!”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/zarah-sultana-if-palestine-action-are-banned-terrorists-who-will-be-next

UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Zarah Sultana: if Palestine Action are banned as ‘terrorists’ who will be next?

Sultana warns that the next election will be a fight between ‘socialism and barbarism’

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sultana-warns-next-election-will-be-fight-between-socialism-and-barbarism

 Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025

ZARAH SULTANA has warned that Labour aping right-wing slogans will only see what has happened in the US, Brazil and India happen in Britain.

The Independent MP told the “confronting the rise of the far-right” panel at Glastonbury festival’s Left Field stage on Saturday warned that the next election will be a fight between “socialism and barbarism.”

“We have to ensure that we defeat Nigel Farage or any kind of fascist incarnation we have at the time,” she said.

…

“It’s a politics that punches down and not up, a politics that scapegoats the most marginalised people.”

She added: “The answer to the politics of hate is the politics of solidarity.

“We have to fight in every possible way — electorally, in our communities, through our trade unions.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sultana-warns-next-election-will-be-fight-between-socialism-and-barbarism

Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir Starmer chases Nigel Farage's racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer chases Nigel Farage’s racist bigot vote.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he's the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Continue ReadingSultana warns that the next election will be a fight between ‘socialism and barbarism’