On Labour Party Reform - my submission to the Collins Review
How we do things is who we are The Labour Party’s internal problems are largely down to a lack of ethical standards in the party culture. I joined Labour around three years ago and it has become clear to me that conflicts of interest are rife in party organisation, seemingly at all levels, and are exploited widely by those in positions of responsibility. The way we do things is who we are, and the way we organise processes is often dominated by group- and self-interests rather than commitment to any values or ethics . There is a culture of fixing which encompasses all factions and all powerful groupings within the party, not just the major unions. The ethical framework this relies upon is anti-ethical, the justification being that it is right to fix and manipulate processes in order to secure the right result. This is anti-democratic and indicative of the poor state of democratic culture and practice within the party. Also, positive discrimination proc...