Britain | Brotherly love

The harmony between Labour and Britain’s trade unions

They agree on the labour market above all

Illustration: Nate Kitch
|Brighton

SIR TONY BLAIR, a former Labour prime minister, had a joke about critics on the party’s left flank. “An old colleague of mine said: ‘Come on Tony, now we’ve won again, can’t we drop all this New Labour and do what we believe in?’ I said: ‘It’s worse than you think. I really do believe in it.’”

Explore more

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Brotherly love”

From the September 14th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Someone with their eyes blindfolded

Are British voters as clueless as Labour’s intelligentsia thinks? 

How the idea of false consciousness conquered the governing party

A nurse attending to a pateient behind curtains, the light coming through the blinds

Blighty newsletter: Starmer’s silence puts the assisted-dying bill at risk


The best British companies to work for to get ahead

A new ranking of firms by pay, promotions and hiring practices


How the best British employers find and promote their staff

No degree? Some employers care much less than others

A tiny island fights the scourge of plastic on the beach

A Northern Irish experiment in recycling

A sticking-plaster policy for Britain’s strained courts

Magistrates get more power. Will they get punch-drunk on it?