It may be sexy to be at each other’s throats, but the only people who benefit from a divided Labour are the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

I have often referred, latterly, to how Labour must find itself rejuvenated in 2012, but facing the challenges and opportunities of the modern UK.

I have indeed often criticised New Labour, in the fact that it is my personal academic belief that Tony Blair was incorrect not putting value at the heart of negotiating the commodfiication of public services (given that he desired to pursue this agenda at all). Blair, together with other Prime Ministers, have relied on the perfect competition model of the market, comparing cost and price.

We, in Labour, have much bigger fish to fry. This is not about which young political personality is an up-and-coming star of the future, nor which political journalist has the most Twitter followers. It’s simply an urgent need to recognise that market failure should provide the opportunity for Labour to re-establish core support; not cultivate an environment where people are scared to turn to ethical socialism.

That the utilities are a privatised oligopoly where it is far too easy for shareholders to cream off massive shareholder dividends without returning a vastly improved service possibly may be a driver for the renationalisation of certain strategic industries. That there are certain illnesses and diseases that will not flourish in a privatised NHS means that we should not put all of health and social welfare into the private sector; the same argument holds for certain (relatively) unprofitable legal services, like immigration or asylum.

The easy option has been for some in Labour to produce turf wars about Blair versus Brown, without negotiating the principles or values of Labour. People who know little about marketing have tried to launch campaigns for Labour, which has led to a stronger sense of incompetence. However, simply understanding that not all of society can be optimised through the maximisation of shareholder dividend should be a fundamental principle for Labour to move forward in the 21st century.

What has been known as ‘ethical socialism’ thus far is precisely what international business holds dear. Corporate social responsibility means that ENRON shook up the U.S., and Goldman Sachs have to be mindful of where they invest money, for example. Social enterprises are respected by the mainstream political parties, because they reconcile community investment with the need to be financially prudent; but not being profitable at the expense of the stakeholders. The business models are complicated, but indeed much studied in the world of management.

The ‘Occupy’ movement has seen a galvanisation of the public against greedy and cynical capitalism, and much of this has brushed off against their political masters. Would it be any wonder then that George Galloway offers such an attractive escape plan, save for the fact that his plan for government might not be that realistic?

Labour needs to learn fast why the public are rejecting all the major political parties at the moment. With the Liberal Democrats unelectable, if Labour does not produce ethical socialist policies, David Cameron will be handed his first real majority. Ironically, if Ed Miliband articulates a coherent vision of ethical socialism, he will have ideologically produced a political miracle of uniting his predecessors Tony Blair and Clement Attlee. It has previously been noted that Tony Blair believed that the Labour Party ran into problems in the 1960s and 1970s when it abandoned ethical socialism, and believes that the Labour Party’s recovery required a return to the ethical socialist values last promoted by the Attlee Labour government.

Now has never been a better time to implement ethical socialism in the UK. Labour Left are Labour’s largest think tank.  At its core are a group of thinkers who generate policy which they hope will be considered for inclusion in the 2015 Labour Party manifesto.  The group present themselves as a home of ethical socialism, set up in 2011 explicitly to help Ed Miliband become the next Prime Minister: I for one support them, and I hope you will too.