It seems much longer than seven months since the Labour party conference in Manchester. Then, as now, Gordon Brown’s leadership was the subject of speculation and it was his successful conference speech, in which he acknowledged concerns about the future of the Labour party and the country and outlined a vision for the future, which marked the beginning of a fight back by the prime minister. After a further weekend of mutterings, I want to argue that the beginnings of an answer to Labour’s current predicament and the challenges facing our country can be found in an established Labour concept, community.
We don’t know what the economy is going to look like in the next 10 years, but we know it won’t be driven by the same engines of growth as in the last 10 years – the financial services and a growing public sector. At the end of the nineteenth century, too, Britain faced vast social, economic and technological changes and met them with a national response that weaved a new civil fabric through our communities. As Cabinet Office Minister Liam Byrne noted in his 2008 pamphlet A More United Kingdom, “Social and civic entrepreneurs like Chamberlain and Cadbury helped invent a new way of living together, underpinned by new, collective habits and services.”
Once again, old assumptions have been replaced by new uncertainties as a new generation faces its first recession. It is not difficult therefore to understand why many politicians are understandably wary of talking about the recession and opportunity in the same breath. Nick Clegg’s remarks earlier this year that the recession could allow men and women to ‘reinvent’ their traditional identities were jumped on by the Conservatives and Labour alike as a ‘gaffe’.
Clegg was right however to note that many people identify themselves in a large part by the job they do. Employment gives people a sense of community. And yet 10 years of high employment have in many of our communities eroded the very sense of the word. In the boom years for the financial services, the gulf between the City of London and its neighbouring boroughs grew ever wider, a pattern replicated in many of our cities. As we begin to rebuild our economy, so too must we reawaken our sense of community.
The new Labour coalition was a good thing not just because it was electorally successful, but because it represented a group of people, inside the Labour party and beyond, who found a common cause in Labour’s message of optimism. Similarly, Labour’s commitment to community must not just be a rallying cry to our supporters, but for our country. Those who doubt the desire of ordinary voters to believe in something bigger than ourselves should remember the power of Barack Obama’s succinct campaign slogan, “yes we can”.
The challenges facing our party at the local and European elections this year and the next general election are formidable, but they are few compared to the challenges facing our country and our world. Just as we in the Labour party cannot take on the Tories unless we are united, the challenges wrought by the recession demand a communal response. The prime minister is therefore right to focus on the big issues, but he ignores his critics – inside and outside the party – at his peril. It was Mr Brown’s ability to recognise and respond to concerns within the Labour party, while articulating a vision of the future, that made last year’s conference speech a success and it is what he must do now.