young Labour

Are you a member of the Labour party? We want to interview you about the direction you think the party should take. Contact us and we'll call you.

You can read Labour young socialists' views on the Labour party's future here
You can read Labour young moderates' views on the Labour party's future here

The young Blairites. More interviews to come on all

Legendary online Blairite Shamik Das, 27, thinks a contest for the Labour party leadership is vital for the party, but implies that no sane man toys with the notion that John McDonnell will be anywhere near it. 'Arrrrgh,' he laughs, placing a hand on a pained forehead. 'Arrrrggh. Arrrrrrrgh. No.'

Das would prefer the debate about the party's future to take place at the deputy-leadership level, with the centre-left's Jon Cruddas at the plate for party members of a socialist bent, and Hilary Benn doing whatever it is that he does for the right. Das will support Benn, but he thinks he can probably stand Cruddas, at least for the duration of a contest. It's true, Das says, that Cruddas has made a few socialist noises in his campaign, but he's so far steered clear of serious fruitcake rhetoric. 'He [Cruddas] is not as barking as some of them are,' Das laughs. 'His [voting] record is quite sound from my point of view.'

Are you a member of the Labour party? We want to interview you about the direction you think the party should take. Contact us and we'll call you.

-----

Active young Labour party members on joining, staying in, and making a future for the party in these grim times of falling party membership, faltering ideology and other well-documented horrors.

First up: the young socialists

Owen Jones, 22, Marsha-Jane Thompson, 26, Tim Flatman, 22, Mary Partington, 22 and Vino Sangarapillai, 25, are extremely clear about the party's options, or option: socialism is Labour's future. Blairism, on the other hand, strikes them as tantamount to political suicide, what with its thousands of dead Iraqis, collapsed party membership, flaming thirst for a lengthy rape of the public sector by the private one, burgeoning list of cash-for-honours delinquents, et cetera. Everybody normal, they say, knows that they're seeing the end when they look at Blairism.