Understanding the current 5 July 2024 Government
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George Bernard Shaw “Fabian Society”
I object to all punishment whatsoever. I don't want to punish anybody,
but there are an extraordinary number of people who I want to kill.. Not in any unkind or personal spirit.
- But it must be evident to all of you, you must all know half a dozen people at least, who are no use in this world; who are more trouble than they are worth.
- And I think it would be a good thing to make everybody come before a properly appointed board just as he might come before the income tax commissioners and say every 5 years or every 7 years, just put them there, and say, sir or madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence?
- If you can’t justify your existence; if you’re not pulling your weight in the social boat; if you are not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the big organisation of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us, and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.
Shaw's Influence on the Fabian Society
- Shaw joined the Fabian Society in September 1884 and quickly became an integral figure.
- He wrote the Society’s first manifesto (Fabian Tract No. 2), joined its executive in January 1885, and recruited other leading members such as Sidney Webb.
- Shaw edited and contributed to the influential Fabian Essays in Socialism (1889), which helped define the society's gradualist, non-revolutionary approach to socialism.
20th century
During the 20th century the group was always influential in Labour Party circles, with members including
- Ramsay MacDonald,
- Clement Attlee,
- Anthony Crosland,
- Roy Jenkins,
- Hugh Dalton,
- Richard Crossman,
- Ian Mikardo,
- Tony Benn,
- Harold Wilson, and more recently
- Shirley Williams,
- Tony Blair,
- Gordon Brown,
- Gordon Marsden and
- Ed Balls.
- 229 members of the Society were elected to the House of Commons at the 1945 general election.[37]
- Ben Pimlott was its chairman in the 1990s; a Pimlott Prize for Political Writing was organised in his memory by the Fabian Society and The Guardian in 2005 and continues annually.
The Society is affiliated to the party as a socialist society. In recent years the Young Fabian group, founded in 1960, has become a networking and discussion organisation for younger (under 31) Labour Party activists and played a role in the 1994 election of Blair as the leader of the Labour Party. Today there is also an active Fabian Women's Network and Scottish and Welsh Fabian groups.
Influence on Labour government
Following the election of a Labour Party government in 1997, the Fabian Society was a forum for New Labour ideas and for critical approaches from across the party.[38] The most significant Fabian contribution to Labour's policy agenda in government was Balls's 1992 discussion paper, advocating Bank of England independence. Balls had been a Financial Times journalist when he wrote this Fabian pamphlet, before going to work for Gordon Brown. Former BBC Business Editor Robert Peston, in his book Brown's Britain, calls this an "essential tract" and concludes that Balls "deserves as much credit – probably more – than anyone else for the creation of the modern Bank of England";[39] William Keegan offered a similar analysis of Balls's Fabian pamphlet in his book on Labour's economic policy,[40] which traces in detail the path leading up to this dramatic policy change after Labour's first week in office.
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Current Government Members of the Fabian Society
Many leading members of the current UK Labour Government, including the Prime Minister and numerous cabinet ministers, are members of the Fabian Society. Over half the cabinet, as well as hundreds of Labour MPs, are reportedly Fabian Society members, but specific public lists are rare due to privacy policies and broad membership.
Senior Labour Government Ministers (2025) Who Are Fabian Society Members
- Keir Starmer, Prime Minister: Confirmed Fabian Society member.
- Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister: Reported as a Fabian Society member.
- Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer: Publicly associated with the Society and a frequent conference speaker.
- Senior Cabinet Members: Official Society channels report "more than half" of the current Labour Cabinet are members, but not all names are listed for privacy.
- 141 Labour MPs (2024 Parliament): According to official Fabian Society and Parliamentary statements, at least 141 elected Labour MPs in 2024/2025 are registered members, including ministers and backbenchers.
- Georgia Gould, Parliamentary Secretary: Listed as a Fabian Society member in the official List of Ministers' Interests.
- Other Senior Labour Politicians: The Society's executive and vice presidents currently include Dame Margaret Hodge MP, Seema Malhotra MP, plus mayors and senior Labour peers as noted on the official Society site.
Notes on Other Current Labour Government Members
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- Many additional Labour front-benchers—including shadow or actual cabinet roles (often over half)—are confirmed Fabian members.
- Hundreds more Labour politicians (MPs, peers, mayors, local government leaders) are also Society members, per official statements
Important Caveat
The Fabian Society does not usually publish a full, current named list of its Labour parliamentarian members because of privacy rules and annual membership changes. Instead, summary numbers and the names of the most senior or public-facing politicians are regularly disclosed.
For more detailed or up-to-date individual listings, refer to official government disclosures (e.g., the List of Ministers' Interests) and Fabian Society annual reports, but comprehensive, always-current lists are not routinely made public.
Ref:
- https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/ (Fabian Society – About Us)
- https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/our-history/ (Fabian Society – Our History)
- https://fabians.org.uk/publication/summer-2025/ (Fabian Society – Summer 2025)
- https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/our-people/ (Fabian Society – Our People)
- https://fabians.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Final-ANNUAL-REPORT-2023-2024-compressed.pdf (Fabian Society – Annual Report 2023–2024)
- https://labourlist.org/2025/09/fabians-dromey-deputy-leadership-labour/ (LabourList – September 2025)
- https://labourlist.org/2025/01/labour-joe-dromey-fabian-society-conference/ (LabourList – January 2025)
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...sts/list-of-ministers-interests-may-2025-html
