Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Why should we be governed like this?
May’s government is just as corrupt as Major’s, but now there is a real chance that today’s anger could be channelled into radical change, writes KEVIN OVENDEN

THE comparisons between Theresa May’s decaying administration and John Major’s between 1992 and 1997 are now ubiquitous.

Many commentators are also pointing out that May is in a worse position, not least because of the state of the economy. The allegations of sexist abuse today also go right to the heart of the cabinet.

Less remarked upon is the cultural shift that took place 25 years ago, underlying the chaotic political dramas of the Tories, and its parallels today.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski AM speaking at the People's Assembly Against Austerity protest in central London. Picture date: Saturday June 7, 2025
Politics / 24 July 2025
24 July 2025

A lot of discussion about how the left should currently organise – including debate on whether the Green Party is a useful vehicle for advance – runs the risk of refusing to engage with or learn from the reasons the left was defeated previously, argues KEVIN OVENDEN

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking during a press conference on the Immigration White Paper in the Downing Street Briefing Room in London
Features / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

As Starmer flies to Albania seeking deportation camps while praising Giorgia Meloni, KEVIN OVENDEN warns that without massive campaigns rejecting this new overt government xenophobia, Britain faces a soaring hard right and emboldened fascist thugs on the streets

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP proposing the assisted dying B
Features / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
The shameful passage of the assisted dying Bill where safeguards have been all but jettisoned is symptomatic of a hyper-liberalised society where the cult of individualism reigns supreme, argues KEVIN OVENDEN
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to soldiers at
Features / 21 February 2025
21 February 2025
The proxy war in Ukraine is heading to a denouement with the US and Russia dividing the spoils while the European powers stand bewildered by events they have been wilfully blind to, says KEVIN OVENDEN
Similar stories
Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski AM speaking at the People's Assembly Against Austerity protest in central London. Picture date: Saturday June 7, 2025
Opinion / 4 July 2025
4 July 2025

Sixty Red-Green seats in a hung parliament could force Labour to choose between the death of centrism or accommodation with the left — but only if enough of us join the Greens by July 31 and support Zack Polanski’s leadership, writes JAMES MEADWAY

Sandie Peggie, a nurse at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunferm
Features / 8 March 2025
8 March 2025
The Sandie Peggie v NHS Fife tribunal shows unions need to get up to speed with where the law stands on the requirement for workplaces to provide single-sex spaces, writes JANE McLENACHAN
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, March 31, 2024
Features / 21 December 2024
21 December 2024
Behind headlines of bishops’ resignations and brutal abuse lies the deeper story of class privilege and power, as religious institutions face a stark choice between serving the elite or standing with the oppressed, writes SYMON HILL
Harold Wilson, Tony Blair and Keir Starmer
Features / 15 October 2024
15 October 2024
KEITH FLETT reflects on the 1964 and 1974 election victories, arguing that despite years in power, Labour failed to fundamentally reshape society in the way Thatcher later would — a pattern Blair and now Starmer would follow