LAST week Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long Bailey raised the issue of “progressive patriotism” as part of her pitch to the party members and affiliated supporters.
For some of us in Scotland this sent us into cold sweats with flashbacks to Jim Murphy’s tenure at the helm of the Scottish Labour Party.
Murphy, fresh from his Irn Bru crate tour of Scotland during the independence referendum, secured the leadership defeating Sarah Boyack and me in the process and soon thereafter delved into the new Labour recipe book to propose a new Clause IV for the Scottish party constitution, inserting the following phrase: “We work for the patriotic interest of the people of Scotland.”
Despite the screeching from the right-wing media, Burnham’s speech chimed with the public mood - and socialists should take advantage, says Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO
Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko about the PM-in-waiting, the threat of Reform and the radical change of direction this country needs
Burnham’s Makerfield triumph offers the party the opportunity to reconnect with working people, but only if it rejects business as usual, says CAROL MOCHAN MSP
Apart from a bright spark of hope in the victory of the Gaza motion, this year’s conference lacked vision and purpose — we need to urgently reconnect Labour with its roots rather than weakly aping the flag-waving right, argues KIM JOHNSON MP


