Labour’s Gaza row has roots in ancient dispute
The party has long been split over defence, armed conflict and the Atlantic alliance — and that will continue in office
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Narrated by Daniel Finkelstein
It is “not a policy but an emotional spasm”, declared Nye Bevan to the Labour Party conference of 1957, attacking a motion proposing unilateral nuclear disarmament. It risked, said this leader of the left, sending a foreign secretary “naked into the conference chamber”.
With this speech Bevan broke the hearts of his natural supporters, who heckled him from the front rows. “Don’t do it, Nye!” they yelled. He won the day. And he strengthened his own position as a foreign secretary in waiting (although he died before Labour held office again). What he did not do was end the internal argument.
Soon Labour was back debating unilateralism. It approved the policy, prompting the leader Hugh Gaitskell’s pledge to “fight, fight and fight again” against it.
