Will the Labour left challenge Brown?
By Colin Foster IT is eighteen years now since the last open and direct challenge to the ever-more-right-wing leadership in the Labour Party. We have paid a very high price – in lack of overall political perspective for struggles on different issues, in demobilisation of activists, and in the growth among the general public of the idea that all politics is a waste of time — for those 18 years of deference. Now the long deference is ending. The conference, on 22 July, of the Labour Representation Committee, a significant minority in the Labour and trade union movement, is set to launch a new bid. John McDonnell MP, the most determined of the growing group of persistent rebels in the Parliamentary Labour Party, has indicated that he is willing to be a candidate to replace Tony Blair, and many LRC activists are keen to support him. The LRC has the affiliation of four unions – the Communication Workers, the Bakers, the RMT rail union (expelled by the Labour Party), and the Fire Brigades Un
