The Fraud: The Paul Holden Interview

In the latest Labour Left Podcast, introduced here by Bryn Griffiths, Paul Holden the author of The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy explains what the shadowy Labour Together group did to the Labour Party and how they inflicted their big fraud on the Labour membership.Ten PledgesIn 2020 Keir Starmer stood for the Labour Party leadership and made ten excellent democratic socialist pledges to the Party membership and the thousands of trades unionists who had enthusiastically voted for him. On 4th April 2020 Starmer was elected Labour Leader.  But all was not as it seemed. Starmer had committed a fraud. In the podcast Paul Holden reveals exactly what Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together had planned for the Labour membership and it certainly wasn’t the democratic socialism they’d voted for!Antisemitism allegationsEven before the book was published Steve Reed, Labour’s Housing Secretary, suggested in Politico that the book “would whitewash” the antisemitism crisis that happened under Jeremy Corbyn.  In the podcast Paul Holden give’s his response to Reed’s horrible allegation.“This is the Machine that now rules us”In the second half of the podcast, Paul Holden explores the suggestion that Labour Together’s internal authoritarianism is spilling over into Government.  Could Labour Together’s factionalism have created the conditions that explain the removal of Sue Gray, the Downing Street Chief of Staff? The appointment of Peter Mandelson as the US Ambassador? The proscription of Palestine Action? The attacks on refugee status?  and, even the undermining of jury trials? Labour Together’s Response to The FraudEvery Labour supporter needs to know the story of what Labour Together did when they learnt Paul was to publish The Fraud.  Paul tells us a chilling story of GCHQ involvement, spy allegations, Russian scare stories and ministerial resignations.How do we fightback?Here, as suggested in the podcast are the actions you can take and the links to find out more: Firstly, we need to restore democracy to our party so please join Sharon Graham and Andrea Egan, the Leaders of Britain’s biggest unions, in signing the Restore Labour Democracy Statement.To sign up to the Restore Labour Democracy statement click hereSecondly, we have some important internal Labour elections this year.  If we’re going to begin to change things we need people committed to democracy in key places, so please this year vote for the Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance (CLGA) in the National Executive, National Constitutional Committee, National Policy Forum and National Women’s Committee Elections.Here are the details of how to support the Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance internal elections campaign: click here for campaign details.The CLGA candidates for Labour’s National Executive Committee constituency section. This year the stakes are so high we need to work together with others in the party who want to see democracy. So, when you’ve voted for the CLGA candidates I urge you to use any remaining votes you’ve got to support Mainstream, the new soft left group.  Watch more Labour Left PodcastsIf you subscribe you can catch up on all our 20-plus episodes back catalogue.  The top episode of 2025 was the former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP. Other big hits have included Andrew Fisher, the man behind the 2017 manifesto For the Many and not the Few, and Rachel Shabi, the author of The Truth Behind Antisemitism. To reflect more on Starmer’s leadership, check out the episode where Mark Perryman discusses his excellent book The Starmer Symptom.You can buy The Fraud here.Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.