Identity Politics: Why the Left Needs to Stop Fighting Culture Wars (Ash Sarkar)
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There are some new (and old) faces on the left of British politics hoping to challenge Keir Starmer’s struggling Labour government, but could a party to the left of Labour ever win power?
His predecessor Jeremy Corbyn has setup a new party with another former Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, who has declared that “Labour is dead”.
And the Green Party of England and Wales has elected eco-populist Zack Polanski, who is urging left-leaning voters to back him rather than waiting around for Corbyn’s party to get off the ground.
The journalist and political commentator Ash Sarkar has written a book called ‘Minority Rule’, which argues that the Left has become bogged down in identity politics and needs to stop fighting the culture wars so it can focus on building a broad coalition of support.
A contributing editor at left-wing media organisation Novara Media, Ash discusses the radical potential for a Marxist approach to contemporary British politics and why she thinks Karl Marx would’ve loved Twitter.
She also talks to Amol about why she can’t think of a ‘dumber group of people’ than Keir Starmer’s cabinet and what lies behind the recent success of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Grace Reeve and Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Mike Regaard and Dafydd Evans. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What you're about to hear is episode 14 of Radical. |
| 0:04.3 | And look, there are no two ways about it. |
| 0:06.2 | Radical is going really well. |
| 0:08.4 | We are getting fantastic engagement and feedback from you. |
| 0:11.6 | What really matters to me and the whole team behind this podcast is the connection between you and us. |
| 0:17.2 | And that connection seems to be strong and getting stronger. |
| 0:19.8 | And it seems to us that you are buying into our mission, |
| 0:22.6 | which is to make sense of this crazy era in human history. |
| 0:25.6 | And that is, you know, that is really pleasing, but it's also very humbling. |
| 0:28.6 | And look, part of what makes us different, what makes us, yes, challenging, |
| 0:32.6 | is that we do cover shamelessly the whole of the political spectrum |
| 0:36.6 | and we try to help you encounter ideas |
| 0:39.4 | that you might well disagree with. And I want to be really honest, really upfront and open about |
| 0:44.5 | this and say that we're very proud of that. It's part of our mission. So if you are a Marxist or |
| 0:49.3 | if you're on the left of politics listening to this, can I humbly encourage you to go back |
| 0:53.6 | and listen to the episode |
| 0:54.4 | that we did with Dr. James Orr, which really cut through with a lot of people, had a load of |
| 0:59.7 | messages from a lot of people who really appreciated that episode. He is the Cambridge Academic |
| 1:04.1 | who is a big influence on J.D. Vance and Reform. And similarly, if you are a conservative, |
| 1:10.6 | if you are someone who's thinking about voting for reform, |
| 1:13.3 | can I encourage you in particular to really engage with a case made by our guest today, who is a Marxist? |
| 1:20.2 | She is Ash Sarkar. |
... |
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