The British Labour Party (BLP) was never a political party dedicated to replacing capitalism with socialism. For a time, as a social-democratic party, it proclaimed a commitment to full employment, the nationalisation of 20 percent of the economy and the establishment of a comprehensive system of state-provided social security - all within a “reformed” capitalism.

Increasingly during its history, the BLP abandoned even its limited promises to the working class under the chimera of “modernisation” – surrendering the principle of common ownership of the means of production embodied in Clause Four of its Constitution, repudiating the notion of increased taxation for the wealthy, state intervention in the economy and the restoration of full trade union rights.

Starmer, following in the footsteps of Blair and others, moved even further in pursuit of the interests of capital and the betrayal of the working class. The British Labour Party now stands at a crossroads of its own making. It has charted a course that has distanced itself even from its own self-proclaimed mission to represent the working class.

Burnham, the opportunist and political chameleon, offers no solution. This is someone who backs the imperialist NATO alliance; who last year said he wanted to see Britain rejoin the EU; who at a time of deep poverty and inequality stated he would cut Britain’s welfare bill to pay for increased spending on defence; who backs tighter immigration policies recently introduced by Labour ⁠Minister, Shabana Mahmood, and has vowed to keep her in place despite her repressive campaign against Palestine Action protestors, and he himself has declined to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.