Labour has always been a big-tent party. But ever since its inception, it has been riven by factionalism and endless militant struggles. Now, new research paints a clearer picture of exactly who these competing groups are. A research paper published by David Jeffery et al. shows that there are six separate groupings, all of which use markedly different language on social media and during parliamentary debates.
🚨New open-access article in British Politics where I try something new: we generate clusters of Labour MPs based on group membership & then test whether MPs from these different clusters use different types of language in the HoC and Twitter – they do!https://t.co/yLBLrSWTs8 pic.twitter.com/M4O3rsfYS5
— Dr David Jeffery (@DrDavidJeffery) April 8, 2024
The researchers outlined six factions: the Left, Tribune Soft Left, Labour Friends of Palestine, Middle East Soft Left, Unaligned Centrists and the Right. The research found that there are stark divisions particularly between “the Left” and “the Right”, including that they are significantly less likely to retweet one another. Members of “the Left” are also much more likely to tweet about union affairs and social causes while “the Right” is more likely to share posts about the NHS and the economy. Good luck defining Starmer’s beliefs…
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