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Conference shows Labour's left is unbowed
Despite the almost comically regressive agenda of the party leader, the last four days have seen major blows struck for the Labour left resistance against apartheid Israel and for a £15 minimum wage and it remains the major political vehicle for the working class, argues NICK WRIGHT

IT WAS a bold move by Keir Starmer to offer Labour Party members a pre-conference distillation of his most profound thoughts. And in setting them out at such length he has made it clear that any Labour accession to government under his leadership will not be driven by innovation or clear thinking but rather by a complete submission to capitalist financial orthodoxy.

The £15 minimum wage policy, to which former shadow employment minister Andy McDonald is committed, was casually abandoned in a routine parade of Treasury dogma designed to underline the truth that Labour is back under corporate control.

Cabinet collective responsibility would have put him in the impossible position of arguing against his own policy in a key meeting with union leaders and this, to his great credit, he would not do.

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