New book lifts the lid on Lambeth Labour’s right wing – and Deputy Leader Cllr Danny Adilypour’s ‘racist banter’ messages

A new book charting Keir Starmer’s rise to power has levelled explosive allegations about Lambeth Labour’s right-wing faction – including claims that the council’s current Deputy Leader, Cllr Danny Adilypour, joked with a white staffer about “becoming racist” while working with Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Labour members.

The book, The Fraud, written by journalist Paul Holden, traces how Starmer’s inner circle – particularly his Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney and Streatham and Croydon North MP Steve Reed – built and maintained a network of party operators across South London.

The pair’s close professional and personal relationship stretches back nearly two decades to Lambeth Town Hall, where McSweeney first worked for Reed after he became council leader in 2006.

Holden’s investigation digs deep into the factional politics that shaped Lambeth Labour’s right wing – a bloc that has long been accused of ruthless internal control and questionable tactics.

Within this context, the book reproduces private messages allegedly exchanged between Cllr Adilypour and a white colleague during his time working within Labour.

According to the book, an unnamed staff member wrote:

“Today is a depressing day! I hate BAME Labour, I swear I wasn’t a racist before this job.”

To which Adilypour allegedly replied:

“Haha – I reckon there’s always been a racist within you waiting to break out.”

Later, Adilypour reportedly asked: “How are the BAME’s behaving today?” and received the reply, “Very naughty indeed.”

In further leaked comments, Adilypour allegedly called a male BAME staff member “such a dick”, and joked he would need “lots of both” wine and paneer to get through a BAME Labour reception.

Confronted with the messages, Adilypour – who describes himself as a “proud British-Asian Muslim” – issued a statement on Monday:

“These private messages from over a decade ago have been taken out of the wider context within which they were made, but nevertheless I apologise for the unprofessional nature of some of the comments made.”

The revelations have reignited long-standing concerns about race and equality inside Lambeth Council.

As The Guardian reported back in 2018, staff accused the borough’s leadership of institutional racism, warning that “racial tension is escalating, with devastating consequences”.

Workers described a “culture of fear”, in which senior managers ignored or retaliated against those who raised concerns about discrimination.

Adilypour himself has faced scrutiny before. Once a political adviser to Tom Watson, Labour’s former deputy leader, Adilypour was criticised in the leaked report into antisemitism within the Labour Party, which accused him of using “ableist and abusive language regarding Labour Party members.”

Among the examples cited was a message where he remarked, “It was scary how many Trots turned up for the Streatham meeting.”

Reed, McSweeney and the Croydon connection

Another major strand of The Fraud centres on the role of Steve Reed, whose political career has been closely intertwined with McSweeney’s since their Lambeth Council days.

The book claims that Reed’s influence in South London Labour politics extended well beyond the borough, particularly into Croydon – where he allegedly took a hands-on interest in silencing critical voices.

Holden recounts the case of Steven Downes, the editor of the independent news website Inside Croydon.

Downes was an active Labour member and prospective councillor in 2017. According to the book, Reed compiled a dossier of Inside Croydon articles and images, presenting them to the party’s Local Government Forum as grounds to have Downes removed as a council candidate and expelled from the party altogether.

A spokesman for Reed declined to comment when approached by Holden.

This story echoes a 2022 Inside Croydon exposé linking Reed and his allies to a long-running factional machine that used party disciplinary procedures and local power structures to suppress dissenting members and local journalists.

Email snooping allegations at Lambeth Town Hall

Reed’s tenure as Lambeth Council Leader was not without controversy. During his leadership, he authorised council staff to access the email account of fellow Labour councillor Kingsley Abrams, who Reed wrongly suspected of leaking internal Labour information.

The incident, viewed by some as an abuse of power, caused deep divisions within the local party – divisions that still reverberate in Lambeth politics today.

Factionalism and fallout

The Fraud paints a picture of a tightly knit, right-wing Labour faction in South London that prizes loyalty and internal control over open debate.

From Lambeth Town Hall to the corridors of Westminster, the same names recur – McSweeney, Reed, Adilypour – united by their strategic ambitions and an often-bruising approach to party management.

Holden’s account suggests that the tribalism and questionable culture that once defined Lambeth Labour has now scaled up to the national level under Starmer’s leadership.

The Fraud may focus on Keir Starmer’s climb to No 10, but it also exposes how the political habits of Lambeth Labour’s right wing have shaped the wider party – from whispered smears in Town Hall corridors to dossier-building in Croydon and factional message-threads that should have stayed buried.

For a borough that once prided itself on progressive values, the book offers an unflattering mirror: a reminder that beneath the branding and rhetoric, the same old political games – and the same players – are still running the show.

Meanwhile, Lambeth Town Hall continues to insist it “takes equality, diversity and inclusion very seriously” – though, judging by The Fraud, it might want to start by checking the Sent folder of a few of its own senior comrades before rolling out any more training workshops.

And in a coincidence that could make even the Town Hall’s PR team wince, Lambeth Council is this week asking residents for their views on hate crimes, racism and homophobia.

Perhaps before launching yet another consultation, the council might want to start a slightly shorter conversation – with its own Deputy Leader.