In a wide ranging conversation with Adrian Goldberg, left0wing Labour MP Clive Lewis urges his party leader and PM Keir Starmer to pivot away from the United States and towards the EU in light of Trump’s trade wars .
Starmer has fought shy of - in his words - “re-litigating Brexit”, but Lewis argues that circumstances have changed, and Labour needs to change with them.
He says there’s a risk the UK position towards Trump looks “sycophantic” and points out that, “we've had to pivot other points in history. It's what happens, history shows us that change is inevitable.”.
That doesn’t mean backing away from the US altogether: “You can't just say goodbye to 80 years of deep dependency on the United States for all your defence needs.
“There’s an interconnectivity on various technological equipment, for the Trident programme, for the new Dreadnought class submarines, the nuclear reactors. We're actually technologically dependent on the United States. It's not going to work without them.”
But he says that Labour should now lead the country’s reorientation towards Europe: “We can't just leave it to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. The Labour movement needs to take a stand on where it's going, what it's doing.
“Who are we culturally close to? Do we want to move towards the tech bro oligarchy of the United States - deregulation, lower food standards, attacks on courts, on universities, on the legal system?”
Lewis also has strong words for Tony Blair’s intervention on Net Zero and explains why, at a time of rightward drift in the Labour party, it’s important for socialists like him to stay on board.
“My membership of the Labour Party isn't a gym membership. It's not like I go to the reception and say, ‘I don't like the way that you've rearranged the weights room and I'm moving to the other gym down the road.’
“The Labour Party is the best vehicle we've had to make changes. It's made fantastic changes to the material conditions of people in this country. We must never forget that.
“It might have lost its way slightly. I'm confident it can find its way back again. It will do that easier when there are voices like mine and others who are pushing it in that direction.
“If we all up and leave, we're leaving one of the best historical and potential vehicles for enacting social and economic change in this country, and one that's currently in government. Why would you walk away from that?”.
The Byline podcast is produced by Adrian Goldberg in Birmingham.
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