Keir Starmer’s attempt to select compliant MPs has backfired, producing a rebellious and ill-informed parliamentary party that has already successfully vetoed its own government’s economic policy, says Paul Ormerod

A fundamental feature of the social and economic world is that intentions are not the same as outcomes.

Morgan McSweeney and his colleagues exercised very close supervision over the selection of Labour Parliamentary candidates in the run up to the July 2024 general election.

Where a sitting MP was retiring or a candidate was being chosen in a winnable seat, apparatchiks believed they were excluding anyone who might exercise independence from the shortlist. Social media posts were closely interrogated and those thought to have left-wing views, or even contact with known leftists, were usually excluded.

The intention was to produce a set of MPs who would be compliant. A variant of the Stepford wives, without a single thought or purpose except to show devotion to the Leader, or Keir Starmer to give him his real life name.

The outcome has now been shown to be completely different. It turns out........

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