‘Are you here to seek political asylum?’ asked a clever young student after my lecture at the National University of Singapore. It has certainly not been a great start to the political year: the Boundary Commission abolished my constituency and Jeremy Corbyn’s office declared me a ‘non-person’ by placing me on a list of 13 undesirable MPs deemed to have insulted the Dear Leader. In many ways, Singapore felt a good place to be. Here the role of the Workers’ party is not really to challenge the ruling People’s Action party for power: they play the part of perpetual opposition. Which is eerily close to where Labour is heading.
The ‘Liverpool of the East’ was the colonial nickname for Singapore — partly for its shipping economy, but also for its Edwardian waterfront architecture. The real, true Liverpool is the setting for next week’s Labour party conference. Trepidation surrounds this year’s gathering — what with memories of Derek Hatton and the Militant Tendency reignited, with local parties in Wallasey and Riverside being infiltrated by far-left activists, and with Unite’s Burg Hohenwerfen-like regional headquarters overlooking it all.
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