The British state is in something of a pickle. Its democratic façade, the notion that politicians are public servants and ultimately we have the power to determine how the country is to run, is starting to slip.

The Labour Party in Trouble

Andy Burnham, taking over from the vastly unpopular Keir Starmer, is now the fifth prime minister in four years, the seventh since the Brexit referendum 10 years ago. For those who already forgot, Starmer initially ousted the faltering Conservative administration elected in 2019 under Boris Johnson, who was replaced by Liz Truss, who was replaced by Rishi Sunak. At the time, Labour took advantage of the complete collapse of the Tory party, which went from 14 million votes, 43.6% of the vote, under Johnson to 6.8 million votes, 23.7% of the vote, under Sunak. Now it is Reform UK which is aiming to capitalise on this collapse, by replacing the Tories as the new party of the right.

Since the 2024 general election, there have been five by-elections – these have been won by Reform UK from Labour (Runcorn and Helsby in May 2025), Green from Labour (Gorton and Denton in February 2026), an SNP hold (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry in June 2026), Conservatives from SNP (June 2026) and a Labour hold (Makerfield in June 2026). Two of these were due to MPs also serving as MSPs, which is now against the rules of the Scottish Parliament. Two others were due – at least in part – to the misbehaviour of MPs. One was blatant political manoeuvring to get Burnham (blocked by the Labour machine from standing in Gorton and Denton in February) into Parliament so he could be anointed successor to Starmer. This has, subsequently, happened, and on Monday 20 July, Burnham became Labour Leader and Prime Minister.

Only two years after his victory, Starmer is out. Only two Prime Ministers have survived an election since the Brexit referendum – May (just) in 2017 and Johnson in 2019 – and no British PM has served a complete term since Cameron in 2010. British democracy, often held up as being among the most stable, has been in a crisis for some time.

A Farcical By-Election

And now, Nigel Farage has resigned as MP for Clacton, triggering another by-election. This was to try and draw a line under investigations by Parliamentary watchdogs into undisclosed ‘gifts’ of £5 million pounds from crypto-millionaire Christopher Harborne. We’ve all had those sort of gifts, no need to declare them, obviously. Since his resignation – and announcement that he will re-stand – the main parties (and the Greens) have announced they will not stand against him. The main challenger is a character called Count Binface, a joke candidate, who may actually win – though there is a cavalcade of 32 other candidates standing.

There is a tradition of outsider candidates standing against disgraced MPs – Martin Bell did it in Tatton in 1997, winning against Neil Hamilton – and also of joke candidates standing for election. In Hartlepool, H’Angus the Monkey (the local football team’s mascot) was elected mayor three times between 2000-2013. Neither acted in office particularly differently to other office-holders. H’Angus the Monkey, as mayor of Hartlepool, gave bananas to schoolchildren, but didn’t tackle in any meaningful way poverty among children in his town. Martin Bell ousted a corrupt MP but as we have seen in the 25 years since he left parliament, it was only one particular symptom he was fighting – Westminster is just as corrupt now as it was in the dying days of the Major administration.

We Need a Workers’ Democracy!

Workers can’t use the electoral circus to advance their interests. The enthroning of Burnham after his by-election stunt will not change things materially for workers in Britain. It’s not about finding better policies, it’s about spinning a new face for a Labour government in deep trouble. The farce of the by-election in Clacton will give the media something to talk about over the summer, but nothing substantial will change whether Farage is re-elected or Count Binface unseats him. The problem for our rulers is they have no answers to the ongoing capitalist crisis – shifting the personnel in charge will not save the sinking ship. Whether the new captain worked in the engine room, the purser’s office, or was the comedy act in the passengers’ lounge, the ship is in serious trouble.

Only the working class has the power to change the system and end the ridiculous pantomime at Westminster. When it does so, it will need its own decision-making organs. Throughout the history of the working class movement we see the same organisational forms emerge: mass assemblies, strike committees, and ultimately workers’ councils. It is through such bodies that workers can truly take back control from the politicians, bosses and the rich who take us for fools. That is workers’ democracy. But we also need an organisation of class-conscious revolutionaries across the world – not to engage in political games but to put forward the perspective of a new society and how to get there. We are not that organisation nor its sole nucleus but we hope to be part of the process and urge those who agree with us to be part of the dialogue now that can bring about the tool that the working class will need in its task of radically reconstituting society.

The above article is taken from the current edition (No. 76) of Aurora, bulletin of the Communist Workers’ Organisation.

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Image: Jpdfive (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org