Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

It is a truism in Labour’s broad church that all too often its party faithful do the ­Tories’ work for them.

Mikhail Prokhorov, one of Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs, has announced his intention to run for the post of president – against Vladimir Putin – next year. Mr Prokhorov, who stands 6ft 8in tall and is said to be worth $18 billion, ­announced his candidature for the 2012 presidential election after the recent parliamentary elections which saw [...]

One of the notable aspects of Eastern European politics in the last 20 years is how politically clumsy many of the former dissidents have been when tasked with political office. Lech Walesa, for example, is not remembered fondly as a President of Poland, picking up only 1 per cent of the vote in the 2000 [...]

Britain enters 2012 facing a “material risk” of recession, the Bank of England warned in the face of growing financial pressures on the ­eurozone and a gloomy global outlook. Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean confirmed the Bank fears that a double-dip downturn is more likely than not. But he confirmed contingencies have been [...]

Within days of accusing Ken Livingstone, his main rival in the London mayoral election next May “reckless vote-grabbing” for promising to cut fares in the capital, Boris Johnson dangled the prospect of cut-rate red-eye fares for early morning commuters before 7.30 am. Early polling has shown Mr Johnson and his Labour predecessor Mr Livingstone frequently [...]

Labour is in danger of slipping into a policy “black hole” with activists excluded from the decision-making process as announcements are made “on the hoof” by Shadow Cabinet members. A recent meeting of the party’s Joint ­Policy Committee failed to set any future date for a meeting of the National Policy Forum, which is meant [...]