Clive Lewis MP

‘I Never Thought I’d Hear Myself Say I Think My Party is Making this Country Weaker in Preparation for an Authoritarian-Right Government’

What happened to Keir Starmer’s pledge that Labour would return to power with a ‘government of service’? Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu speak to the backbench Labour MP to understand why the Government is focusing on how to ‘stop the boats’ rather than fixing people’s everyday lives

‘It is playing a part in the mainstreaming of racism. Both in opposition and in Government, the Labour frontbench has, in my view, with its language and policies, directly contributed to the resurgence of authoritarian politics in this country’

PJ: Your party has been in power for a year now. What’s your personal reading of the temperature of where the country is at?

There are so many factors involved. But, generally speaking, as a student of history, I’m aware that so many of us walk through life assuming that the kind of the world we see around us, the mundanity of it, is the way it will always be. That democracy is an inevitability, that it will always be there, rather than understanding that it has to be fought for. It’s something we’ve become complacent about.

You only have to look at the United States to see what’s happening. I think that’s been a bit of a wake-up call to people but, at the same time, I don’t think it’s received the coverage that it really deserves. When you look, in detail, at what Donald Trump is doing – the fact that judges are now openly discussing setting up their own security service to protect themselves – it is really dark stuff. So the temperature at the moment, for me – and I think for some of my constituents – is one of deep discomfort and concern.

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