Blairite Labour advisor’s appointment allegedly lasts less than 24 hours after Iraq apologist tweets found

Tony Blair and Keir Starmer
Joe Glenton


On 14 October, it was reported that Labour leader Keir Starmer had appointed hardcore Blairite Nita Clarke to fix Labour’s internal culture. However, the appointment allegedly lasted just hours after apologist tweets about the Iraq War were discovered from 2020

The appointment of Clarke, “a former aide to Tony Blair” and vocal opponent of Jeremy Corbyn, was announced on 14 October 2020.

Journalist Gabriel Pogrund reported that her role was set to be improving internal party culture and that Clarke had vocally opposed Labour during the Corbyn period.

Less than 24 hours later, Labour sources reported that her appointment had been cancelled:

The Canary contacted the Labour Party for confirmation that the appointment had been withdrawn. However, we had not received a response at the time of publication.

So what happened in those few hours?

Well, a little bit of Twitter archaeology – if digging up things from 2020 can be counted as archaeology.

Journalists and other Twitter users discovered that as recently as summer 2020, Clarke was still coming up with the usual centrist apologia for the devastating Iraq War. The conflict killed thousands of innocent people, displaced millions, and even led to the rise of Daesh (Isis/Isil).

The incident had people questioning Starmer’s judgment:

They also questioned the Labour leader’s supposed commitment to party unity in the post-Corbyn era:

It seems that while the socialists might not be leading the party anymore, the Blairites won’t be getting everything their own way.

Featured image via Wikimedia/Rwendland and Wikimedia/The Wolrd Affairs Council

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