David Swift

David Swift (born 1987) is an English writer and historian. Swift studied history at Girton College, University of Cambridge. His work focuses on left-wing activism and on different 'identities', such as class, race and gender. Swift has written for a variety of newspapers and periodicals including the New Statesman, Tribune (magazine), The Times, The Independent and UnHerd. Swift's first book, a history of the British Left during the First World War, was described by reviewer Prof Peter Stansky as ‘an important contribution to the ever-fascinating subject of the history of the British left [and] the development of the Labour party’. Swift's second book, A Left for Itself, was the first analysis of 'political hobbyism' in the UK, and focused on what he termed 'performative radicalism' in the era of the internet and social media. It was heralded as a definitive analysis of the failure of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.