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A new flame
Ed Miliband’s parting words in his important interview with Andy Marr this morning was, “New generation, not new Labour”. There is indeed a sense that a ‘new flame’ has come. Indeed, with this new flame, I believe it is now time for Labour to unite,
Unity is our watchword, as well as humility - Alastair Campbell, Lord Mandelson and Tony Blair did not back Ed Miliband, please note. You’re still Grandees, but not everyone’s listening as carefully any more.
The idea of where Ed has come from ideologically come from can be easily put in a soundbite. It’s clear that the latest attempt by the Sun, their first real attempt, has failed. The idea of Ed Miliband being ‘Red Ed’ is ludicrous, but is a sign that the Tory press have lost it. I do indeed think that Ed Miliband will develop an audacity of renewal, and my hunch is that he’s much more right-wing than people give him credit for.
There could be massive problems with the cuts, and the media are likely to play up that Ed Miliband got a big leadership vote, and therefore could be in the ‘pockets of the unions’. Ed Miliband gave out the clear message that a ‘right to strike’ should be a ‘last resort’, and responsibility from the government and the Unions is important. I have previously adopted much more left-wing view, but it is a practicality already that the fire services will be going on the strike. Critically, Ed does not want to be part of ‘loudhaler politicis’, which is the complete anthesis of David Cameron screaming at Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s Question over the BA strike.
Finally, Ed Miliband is possibly right in arguing that the branding of “New Labour” was right at the time, in the sense that it wished to appeal to all sections of society. However, it is a formula for the 1990s that is unsuitable for the 2010s. People are alarmed about the worsening of inequality that happened under Labour. I’m glad to see that inequality is at the top of agenda, including the responsibilities at the low end of the income scale, as well as rich bankers. There are ways in which high pays could be in theory could be reduced, for example David Miliband’s idea of having an ordinary worker on the executive board of big companies. However, the easy approach is to do banker bashing which indeed successful populism. It is what Vince Clegg has been doing to divert attention away from his proven ‘unfair policies’, which are far from Liberal ideals and values historically. It goes to the heart of recognising poverty and the working class, as indeed William Beveridge, David Lloyd-George and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree recognised all those years. A genuine coalition of ideas that brought real results for this country. Labour (and the Fabian Society) must reassume the moral high ground on this.
And I am inspired? Very much so…
The audacity of renewal
Something I learnt from John McTernan this time is that political strategies tend to think along the lines of ‘whose turn is it to pick on?’
It is easy to forget in the maelstrom of the Leadership election what the issues are which have got Labour into its current misfortunate.
Whilst the Beast of Bolsolver has plumped for David Miliband, on the grounds that David ‘is most likely to beat the Tories’, this for me is a really poor reason. It’s an ever poorer excuse. It is an instrument which has been propagated in the Tory press, including Paul Waugh, and I am really surprised that Dennis Skinner has taken the bait hook-line-and-sinker, much to the joy of David Miliband supporters, and dismay of the solid left wing component of Labour, who feel uneasy about voting for Diane Abbott whom they consider to be an electoral liability.
David Miliband is widely reported to have written a very influential article on the Observer on the future of Labour. This may have gone down well especially with Polly Toynbee, an influential social commentator, but who may have felt subsequently betrayed by the actual direction in which Labour went subsequently in 2009-10. Whatever his intentions, this article destabilised Gordon Brown’s premiership a little, and generated nothing in the way of constructive debate on the issues within Labour. Blairite critics of Brown have been rampant in saying that Blairite policy suggestions were stonewalled, but Blair refused to back Gordon Brown, and indeed many Blairites (and tweeters) were extremely luke warm about Gordon Brown until their subsequent mobilisation for the media in 2010.
Labout lost 4,000 voters between 1997 and 2004, so the Blair government, despite a good start, was not a staggering success. It barely survived 2007, and was a ‘dead man walking’ in reality. Gordon Brown, if one believes the evidence, put too much efforts in briefing against Blair, and was more concerned about his self-promotion than the party. However, Labour has failed on poverty. There’s no point Labour banging on child poverty, crucially important though it is, but Labour failed on adult poverty. It is not even mentioned in Blair’s index to “The Journey”, and we are now left with a culture where debts are being promoted as inevitable. Ed Balls talks about the cuts of Ramsay McDonald leading to the Great Depression in the UK, however most people worry about the actual direction Labour is taking. If one of the Milibands becomes the Leader of my party, as is widely believed, it is quite possible that Ed Balls will become Chancellor. Don’t get me wrong – Ed Balls is extremely formidable as an intellectual, with a First from Keble to match, but he has failed to get his message to the public and the party with the mandate it would need.
So, for me, it is Ed Miliband, who was one of the first to support Brown in the final attempted coup, who is getting my vote. He hasn’t buggered up any leadership challenges so far, he isn’t too left-wing, and he offers genuine leadership abilities in being able to inspire people. The only caveat is that possibly he will probably bring Ed Balls with him, who has been successful in criticising Michael Gove’s “free schools”, is not known to be a massive team player, but who will be able to harvest the massive unpopularity of the cuts. In my humble opinion only.
