The David Renton interview

After the massive Together March in London, on 28th March 2026, it is  exactly the right moment for the Labour Left Podcast, introduced here by Bryn Griffiths, to interview David Renton and take a deep dive into the far right.

David Renton, our guest, is a barrister who specialises in trade union rights and free speech and he has appeared in the European Court of Human Rights. He is both a  socialist and a historian who writes for publications such as The London Review of Books, Tribune, and Jacobin. His academic specialism has always made a big contribution – of around ten books  – to our understanding of fascism, racism and the extreme right.

The UNITE delegation led by Sharon Graham was part of the impressive trade union bloc on 28th March 2026. Photo: Bryn Griffiths

David Renton has written a powerful trilogy of books. His book on Fascism is an excellent primer on what fascism is and just as importantly what it isn’t.  Never Again is a history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League. Finally, The New Authoritarians brings us right up to date to help us grapple with the new forms the extreme right is taking today. In the podcast, David guides us through his three books to leave us with an excellent grounding in this subject.

The three books by David Renton discussed in the podcast.

The one-hour long Labour Left Podcast asks: what is a fascist? How can we understand the different forms the right wing takes today?  How can we build a modern anti-racist movement which will win? And finally, most notably, how do we stop Farage?  We hope the podcast will prove invaluable to the political tasks that we must face up to in the next few years.

As we consider how we might defeat Farage today, we look back into the 1970s to consider what Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League might add to our contemporary tool box. To help you enjoy the 1970s, we’ve created a Rock Against Racism playlist on Spotify to accompany this episode – just search for ‘Carnival Against the Nazis 1978’ or click here.

Watch more Labour Left Podcasts

You can watch the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts here, Audible here, Substack here and listen to it on Spotify here.  You can even ask Alexa to play the Labour Left Podcast. If your favourite podcast site isn’t listed, just search for the Labour Left Podcast and it should be there. 

If you enjoy the David Renton interview, take a look at the Labour Left Podcast back catalogue to hear guests such as Rachel Shabi explaining the truth about antisemitism; Jeremy Gilbert on Stuart Hall’s analysis of Thatcherism; Bernard Regan, of Palestine Solidarity, on Netanyahu’s genocide; Corinne Fowler talking about Britain’s history of slavery and colonialism; and Bell Ribeiro-Addy telling us about the fight against racism in Parliament.

If you appreciate what we are doing, please give us a like and a follow.  Every comment draws the podcast to a wider potential audience. Please, please, please share it with your friends as it gets the podcast to a wider audience.

Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. 

Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast.  You can find all the episodes of the podcast here  or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple, etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast.

Later this year David Renton will publish Comrade Delta: The 2013 Crisis in Britain’s Largest Far Left Party with Ebb Books.

Photomontage and photographs: Bryn Griffiths.