“I would describe myself as a socialist. I describe myself as a progressive”. These were Labour leader Keir Starmer’s words in May 2024 shortly after his first speech of the election campaign. Labour’s constitution defines it as a democratic socialist party. So, in theory, Starmer is a socialist.
But what is socialism? One concept of socialism characterises it as being about collective ownership in pursuit of the public good, over private ownership for profit.
