UK

Andrew Fisher: the man behind For the Many Not the Few

Labour Hub Editor

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

In it’s first birthday, the Labour Left Podcast, produced in association with Labour Hub, interviewed Andrew Fisher, the man behind the iconic 2017 Labour Manifesto. Here is the You Tube link.

The interview begins by exploring the inside story behind For the Many Not the Few – the manifesto that Keir Starmer called our “foundational document.”  Andrew reveals to us how he ended up writing the manifesto, what was in his mind when he wrote it and the moment when the Labour right leaked it.

In the second half of the interview, we move onto Starmer for some fascinating insights into what makes the man tick.  Find out why Starmer popped into Jeremy Corbyn’s leader’s office while Owen Smith’s attempted leadership coup was still in full swing. What did he want?  Andrew sat alongside Starmer during the Brexit negotiations with Prime Minister May. What was Starmer like as a lead negotiator?

Later we discuss the Oliver Eagleton thesis that there was always a Project Starmer.  We explore to what extent was Eagleton right about the project with the recollections of an insider who saw it all.

Moving on, we look at Reevonomics.  Drawing upon Andrew’s excellent book, The Failed Experiment, to help us define neo-liberalism, we consider to what extent Rachel Reeves is planning to depart from the economic orthodoxy.  Is the Macro Dose, left economics podcaster, James Meadway on the right track when he says Labour Will End Neoliberalism, Just Not in a Good Way?

As we approach the latter stages of the interview, we dissect the prospects for a Labour left revival, the future of the Campaign Groups Magnificent Seven and the role of the soft left.  Andrew has some thoughts and advice for left MPs and trade union leaders on how they might help hasten the arrival of a much-needed comeback.

Finally, Andrew reveals who he wants to put in the Labour Left Podcast Class Hero Hall of Fame.  I think the readers of Labour Hub will approve of his choice.

If you enjoy the Labour Left Podcast 2024 conference special, please have a look at the whole year back catalogue.  Previous episodes have included historian Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain;  Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, talking about Thatcherism; Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for Labour democracy; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Labour left magazine in the early 1980s.

If you are enjoying the podcast please subscribe on YouTube or your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a future episode.  If you like what the Labour Left Podcast is trying to achieve, please help us to get the podcast in front of  more people by sharing, following, rating and commenting on every episode you watch.

You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple podcasts here, Audible here and listen to it on Spotify here  If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast. 

Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hub’s spin off the Labour Left Podcast.  He is an activist in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here  or if you prefer audio platforms (for example, Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) just search for Labour Left Podcast.