Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal, replies to sectarian slanders and points the way forward for the unions in the fight to reclaim the Labour Party, defend Jeremy Corbyn, and fight for socialist policies.

At the recent annual general meeting of the RMT, the rail union, the question of affiliation to the Labour Party was discussed, after being rejected last year. At a packed conference fringe meeting John McDonnell, the shadow Labour chancellor, made a personal appeal for the union to “come home” to Labour.

Nigh on ten years from the initial announcement of the building of two aircraft carriers, the first behemoth, HMS Queen Elizabeth, inched towards the sea under the Forth Bridge on its way to its first sea trials.

As the election results came in after the polls closed in June, expressions of shock were to be seen not only on the faces of the Tories and press commentators (who had all expected a large Tory win), but also on the faces of the Labour right wing. They had spent months arguing that Jeremy Corbyn and the ideas he stood for were huge vote losers and that a thrashing for Labour was on the cards come a general election. How wrong they all were.

The mood was jubilant and euphoric in central London on Saturday 1st July, as chants of “Oh Jer-e-my Cor-byn!” rang out through the streets of Whitehall and Westminster.

After a thin Queen’s Speech and long negotiations, Theresa May and DUP leader Arlene Foster finally appeared outside Downing Street earlier this week to shake hands on the deal that will keep May in power - for now.

“In developments of such magnitude twenty years are more than a day - though later on days may come again in which twenty years are embedded.” (Karl Marx, 9 April 1863)

“With the rise of Corbyn, the SNP government needed to move to the left. Given the actual rise of a Frankenstein Tory right in Scotland, we were hardly risking anything. Besides, this morning we might have been celebrating a Corbyn government backed by the votes of nearly 59 SNP MPs.” - SNP MP, George Kerevan

The criminal disaster of the Grenfell Tower fire has brought to the surface all the horror, injustice, and inequality of Tory Britain. All the anger and discontent within working class communities has now exploded into plain view, with a series of militant protests taking place in the last week.

Britain’s political turmoil has become entrenched. Ever since the general election – a mere week ago - Theresa May has been desperately fighting for her political survival. With each passing day, her political authority is being relentlessly drained away. In the last throw of the dice, she has turned to the sectarian DUP, a reactionary outfit, to haggle for support and a parliamentary lifeline.

Poco antes de la 1 de la madrugada del miércoles se producía un incendio en el segundo piso de la torre Grenfell, un edificio de viviendas del distrito londinense de Kensington y Chelsea. El incendio alcanzó proporciones descomunales, que acabó devorando las 24 plantas del edificio. El departamento de bomberos desplazó al lugar unos 200 efectivos en 40 camiones, que tardaron más de siete horas en extinguir el fuego.

London and the whole of the UK are in a state of shock and visceral anger at the tragedy and crime that is the Grenfell fire. All the accumulated rage within the local working class community has exploded to the surface, as more and more details emerge showing how the Tories and profiteering management companies are culpable for the murder of the tower's residents.

“The Blair era truly ended on June 8th.”

“Corbyn’s triumph was the final nail in New Labour’s coffin.”

These are the words, not of any socialist or Momentum member, but of some of Jeremy Corbyn’s harshest critics - in these cases,