I Want To Make A Difference – But I Don’t Like Politics
John Redwood
Politico’s. 224pp, £14.99
Tory MP John Redwood charts the growing gap between public concern about political issues and political parties. Redwood is accurate in his analysis that people are turned off from politics but what are his solutions? He argues we should control the amount of money parties can raise and spend. Less money on focus groups, more time on the doorstep. There are the usual calls for fewer layers of government and fewer politicians and bureaucrats.
Redwood believes the art of politics is to show you can do something for the various groups in society, without misleading or letting them down. Fine, but how do you show leadership on the environment if you’re being nice to the polluters? The book is biased against Labour and Redwood’s conclusions will not close the gap. But what should Labour’s response be?
First, we need to inspire people. People join things which they are proud to be associated with. Only by projecting a progressive mission and developing a narrative of social justice, can we achieve this. Second, we need to show people that joining Labour can make a difference to their local area. We need a different type of party: more like a set of community activists and volunteers in the community. Finally, we need to make Labour more hospitable to newcomers and offer more of a social network. It is crazy that a young person in one branch might never meet one in another. There are no easy answers but we need to look at forming groups by subject of interest and by demographic.