In the latest Labour Left Podcast, introduced here by Bryn Griffiths, Paul Holden the author of The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy explains what the shadowy Labour Together group did to the Labour Party and how they inflicted their big fraud on the Labour membership.

Ten Pledges

In 2020 Keir Starmer stood for the Labour Party leadership and made ten excellent democratic socialist pledges to the Party membership and the thousands of trades unionists who had enthusiastically voted for him. On 4th April 2020 Starmer was elected Labour Leader. But all was not as it seemed. Starmer had committed a fraud. In the podcast Paul Holden reveals exactly what Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together had planned for the Labour membership and it certainly wasn’t the democratic socialism they’d voted for!

Antisemitism allegations

Even before the book was published Steve Reed, Labour’s Housing Secretary, suggested in Politico that the book “would whitewash” the antisemitism crisis that happened under Jeremy Corbyn. In the podcast Paul Holden give’s his response to Reed’s horrible allegation.

“This is the Machine that now rules us”

In the second half of the podcast, Paul Holden explores the suggestion that Labour Together’s internal authoritarianism is spilling over into Government. Could Labour Together’s factionalism have created the conditions that explain the removal of Sue Gray, the Downing Street Chief of Staff? The appointment of Peter Mandelson as the US Ambassador? The proscription of Palestine Action? The attacks on refugee status? and, even the undermining of jury trials?

Labour Together’s Response to The Fraud

Every Labour supporter needs to know the story of what Labour Together did when they learnt Paul was to publish The Fraud. Paul tells us a chilling story of GCHQ involvement, spy allegations, Russian scare stories and ministerial resignations.

How do we fightback?

Here, as suggested in the podcast are the actions you can take and the links to find out more: Firstly, we need to restore democracy to our party so please join Sharon Graham and Andrea Egan, the Leaders of Britain’s biggest unions, in signing the Restore Labour Democracy Statement.

To sign up to the Restore Labour Democracy statement click here

Secondly, we have some important internal Labour elections this year. If we’re going to begin to change things we need people committed to democracy in key places, so please this year vote for the Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance (CLGA) in the National Executive, National Constitutional Committee, National Policy Forum and National Women’s Committee Elections.

Here are the details of how to support the Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance internal elections campaign: click here for campaign details.

The CLGA candidates for Labour’s National Executive Committee constituency section.

This year the stakes are so high we need to work together with others in the party who want to see democracy. So, when you’ve voted for the CLGA candidates I urge you to use any remaining votes you’ve got to support Mainstream, the new soft left group.

Watch more Labour Left Podcasts

If you subscribe you can catch up on all our 20-plus episodes back catalogue. The top episode of 2025 was the former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP. Other big hits have included Andrew Fisher, the man behind the 2017 manifesto For the Many and not the Few, and Rachel Shabi, the author of The Truth Behind Antisemitism. To reflect more on Starmer’s leadership, check out the episode where Mark Perryman discusses his excellent book The Starmer Symptom.

You can buy The Fraud here.

Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.

Zohran Mamdani

On the 1 January 2026 Zohran Mamdani takes office as New York’s first ever Democratic Socialist Mayor. Bryn Griffiths of the Labour Left Podcast sat down with Professor Theodore Hamm to ask him how Zohran got elected and to consider what will happen next.

To help us answer these questions, about possibly the biggest success of the international left in 2025, Bryn interviewed Professor Theodore Hamm, aka Ted, the Chair of Journalism at New York’s St Joseph’s University. He writes for the New York City based Indypendent, Jacobin and most importantly of all he’s just published the book Run Zohran Run!

Ted Hamm and OR Books spotted Zohran Mamdani’s potential before he made his breakthrough in the Democratic Primary in the summer of 2025. So, Ted, based in New York, had exclusive Access to Zohran before he became an international celebrity. He also spoke to many Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activists about their amazing campaign.

In the interview we speak about Zohran’s background and political evolution.

We consider how the DSA’s success was based on an approach to coalition building and clear campaigning objectives that the whole of the international left would do well to learn from.

Inevitably Zohran’s campaign, like Corbyn’s Labour Leadership in the United Kingdom, was subject to vicious and unjust smears of antisemitism. But this time the smears didn’t work because Zohran’s campaign was what Rachel Shabi, a previous Labour Left Podcast guest, called in her recent Substack The Mamdani Masterclass on Antisemitism. The podcast takes an in depth look at how Zohran held his ground and what lessons the international left can learn from his example.

It will not be lost on our English readers that a democratic socialist seizing office in a major western city is not without precedent. In the podcast we look at the Ken Livingstone precedent and how, as John McDonnell put it when he appeared on the podcast, elected socialists must see themselves as both In and Against the State. What could Zohran learn from the Greater London Council? What should Zohran expect from Trump and how might he resist the inevitable attacks?

2025 has been a good year for the Labour Left Podcast. Our largest number of viewers and listeners is still on You Tube but you can now subscribe to watch us on Substack and we are of course on every podcast site you can think of. Spotify tell me that our listeners in the podcast audio format are on the up. In 2025 the podcast audience was up 999% and we have 1.8k new listeners. Reassuringly for a long form podcast Spotify tell me that subscribers listen to the Labour Left Podcast for longer than 92% of other shows. During 2025 we added a video format choice for our Spotify subscribers and they tell me that the show was in the top 10% of videos on Spotify.

You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts Audible, Substack and listen to it on Spotify You can even ask Alexa to play the Labour Left Podcast. If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast.

If you subscribe you can catch up on our 20 plus episodes back catalogue. The top episode of 2025 was the former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. Other big hits have included Andrew Fisher the man behind the 2017 manifesto For the Many and not the Few and Rachel Shabi the author of The Truth Behind Antisemitism.

Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.

Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast. You can find all the episodes of the podcast or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast.

You can purchase Ted Hamm’s excellent book Run Zohran Runat OR Books for the reduced price of £12 at orbooks.com.