What does Starmer’s ‘changed’ Labour party look like on the ground? In Brighton, I found out | Andy Beckett

A controversial deselection has rocked the local party, and campaigners are divided over the leadership

In many ways, Keir Starmer’s makeover of the Labour party has been a deeply conventional project. Since the 1950s, a decade his buttoned-up style would have suited well, the majority of Labour leaders have moved the party rightwards. It’s what the mainstream media and big business usually advise these leaders to do, arguing that a less leftwing Labour is more politically and economically realistic – while not so readily acknowledging that such a party also offers less of a threat to their interests.

Labour’s rightward shifts don’t always work. Neil Kinnock, Jim Callaghan, Harold Wilson and Hugh Gaitskell all led the party to painful defeats. But on 4 July, Starmer’s orthodox approach looks likely to be vindicated, in electoral terms at least.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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