Labour leadership 1964-2024. A tendency to the authoritarian

Labour Party Leadership 1964-2024

Labour won the 1964 General Election defeating a Tory Party that had been in Office for 13 years but only narrowly so.

Harold Wilson who had come from the Party’s Left became Prime Minister and held Office from 1964-70 (winning another Election in 1966) and 1974-76 (winning two Elections in 1974).

The late Tom Nairn wrote a series of articles on the Labour Party in New Left Review. Below is an extract from his assessment of Harold Wilson in 1964:

His domination over the movement became complete. As never before in the (Labour) Party’s history it practically became one man, the faintest whispers of criticism spontaneously obliterated

(Tom Nairn, The Nature of the Labour Party 11. New Left Review 1/28 Nov/Dec 1964)

It sounds rather like Keir Starmer and his My Labour Party. A man who appeared to come from the left and became an authoritarian right-wing leader.

Such comparisons are too easy. Wilson did actually come from the Bevanite left, and he was an experienced and able politician when he became leader. The same can’t be said of Starmer.

However this doesn’t mean a comparison is worthless. There is a structural point. Labour leaders often come or appear to come from the left and then adapt to win Office which if the focus is entirely on a Parliamentary Road to change (socialism being somewhat distant)is a process which if not inevitable is common