The Starmer Symptom: An Afternoon of Participative Discussion

The Starmer Symptom navigates the seismic shift in British politics Labour's 2024 General Election landslide sparked.

The Tories' collapse, a record number of Lib-Dem MPs, the Reform UK breakthrough , the Green Party quadrupling their number of MPs, the success of pro-Gaza independents. Under the cover of Labour's 'landslide' the traditional two-party system was brought to a crashing end and Keir Starmer's government elected on a record low share of the vote

Mark Perryman will seek to make sense of all this via an outline of 'The Limiits of Labourism' his keynote chapter in The Starmer Symptom . Mark combines firstly a historical account of Labourism from 1945's 'Now win the Peace' to Keir Starmer's one word 2024 promise 'Change'. With secondly an explanation of how the ideas of Antonio Gramsci and Stuart Hall help us understand Labourism today. Folllowed by an extended Q&A.

To complete the afternoon three of the book's contributors add their very different perspectives in a closing roundtable .

Eunice Goes author Social Democracy : A Short History argues that if Keir Starmer is not to disappoint he has to find the ways and means to combine the pragmatic, the social democratic snd the radical.

Joe Mulhall Director of Research at the anti-fascist campaigning organisation Hope not Hate details the resistible rise of of Nigel Farage and Reform UK as part of a Europpean and trans-Atlantic far right with a mass electoral base

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown columnist for the i Paper. explores how Gaza and an increasingly hard line on immigration has sparked collapsing support for Labour from communities which for far too long it took for granted.

With our Lewes Labour pop-up bookshop, Keir Hardie Café and afters at the Lewes Arms.

Saturday 28 February 2pm to 5pm.All welcome, our only entry qualification an open mind

Tickets £6 solidarity rate ( if you can, please pay the solidarity rate to enable us to offer low-price standard rate tickets) £4 standard rate.

Presented by Lewes Area Labour Party branch in association with Pluto Press.