Campaign group Compass are hosting an online meeting on the findings and implications of the Forde Inquiry on the Labour Party which last year reported that factionalism within the party “undermined the UK’s democratic process”.
‘
Post-Fordeism: Party and political culture in a perma-crisis age’ will be held on Monday 20 March and feature Martin Forde KC (left) who chaired the inquiry, hosted by Baroness Ruth Lister, one of the inquiry team.
Other speakers include Jennifer Nadel, director of Compassion in Politics, human rights professor Francesca Klug, and Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project.
The meeting will examine what the report uncovered about what was going on and its recommendations for building a more tolerant and effective political culture.
The Forde Inquiry was commissioned by Labour’s HQ into allegations – in an infamous ‘leaked report’ – of “deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes expressed by many of the Party’s most senior staff”.
After sifting through thousands of pages of submissions, it found “little evidence of mutual respect and a great deal of evidence of factionalism so deep-rooted that the Party has found itself dysfunctional”. Subtlety and nuance “all but disappeared”, it said.
“This factional and short-term, centralised culture within our political parties is stifling any chance we have at the change our country desperately needs,” says Compass.
“In an age of permanent, compounding crises, such a political culture will cost us our democracy, and our future.
“So why have the Labour Party all but ignored the recommendations of The Forde Report?
“Little if anything has happened other than the Party machine ruling out many left-wing candidates in selections locally and nationally, often on the thinnest grounds.
“And where is Labour now in terms of the polarising views about anti-semitism?
“If Labour continues to lead with control and exclusion, instead of heeding the lessons of the Forde report it will become a narrow clique with no authentic claim or ability to build the new democratic and political settlement our country desperately needs.”
Billed as an event for “everyone who wants to work together with tolerance and respect for a good society”, it is also the first chance to hear Martin Forde himself talk about his findings.
You can register for the event here.
—-