I have some sympathy with Jack Straw’s position that the system of electing the shadow cabinet is daft, but not with his suggestion that half a dozen of those elected are not up to it.
Appointed shadow cabinets have their fair share of duds. The one elected yesterday is actually pretty robust. It contains a balance of experience, with battled-scarred veterans such as Alan Johnson, John Denham, and Tessa Jowell, as well as fresh faces such as Mary Creagh, Maria Eagle, Sadiq Khan and Meg Hillier. There are cerebral strategists such as Douglas Alexander and Liam Byrne. There are media-friendly Labour advocates such as Caroline Flint and Andy Burnham. John Healey’s indefatigable campaigning before, during and after the election has paid off with an eye-catching second-place performance. Top of the poll is Yvette Cooper, who must now be wondering why she didn’t stand for the leadership, as she could have won. There are also now spaces for dozens of junior shadow ministers, appointed by the Leader, and offering chances for the new intake to earn their spurs.
As I write, Ed and his team are playing with post-it notes and whiteboards, trying to match people to posts. I’m not going to join in the speculation about who goes where, even though playing ‘shadow cabinet reshuffle’ is fun. The harsh truth is that being a shadow minister isn’t a real job. There’s no department to run, budget to spend or decisions to take. It’s a job comprising largely of trying to think of clever things to say in second reading debates and oral questions in the House, signing off press releases saying things like ‘too little too late’ or ‘disastrous for the most vulnerable’, and appearing on Newsnight to attack the latest government folly. There’s no car, no red box, no private office, no power and no thanks. The people allocated to posts this weekend will not be the ones who get to do the job in the next Labour government, any more than Harriet Harman became health secretary or Ann Taylor became secretary of state for environmental protection.
The more important decision is not who opposes the Tories, but how. The great lesson from last time round is that the need for discipline in opposition is greater than in government. In government, the civil service, media, public opinion, and ultimately the law will stop most governments doing most (but not all) stupid things. In Opposition you can be as stupid as you like; indeed there are those who encourage it. So Labour’s policy platform must remain anchored in a sound economic policy, avoid uncosted spending commitments, and steer clear of policies which speak only to the concerns of party activists. The best thing Ed can do is avoid detailed policy prescriptions until 2013 or 2014, and the most effective way to do that is to announce a policy review. This should involve the party and its affiliates, and embroil the new shadow cabinet in a whirl-wind of consultative activity. Unlike the ill-starred Labour Listens campaign in 1988, which involved shadow cabinet ministers telling small public meetings what was good for them, this time we can use the full range of consultative methods to tap into modern Britain’s concerns.
The second temptation is to oppose everything the coalition does. In the 1980s the Tories introduced trade union laws, economic and social reforms which Labour opposed tooth and nail at the time, but did nothing to reverse once in office. Labour opposed privatising the water companies. Was the ownership of water companies any kind of issue at any point between 1997 and 2010? No. We said no to council house sales, but didn’t stop them in office. We got terribly upset about restrictions on secondary picketing, but no Labour minister spoke up for it in government. The point is that if you oppose everything, you can end up looking pretty foolish once the measure has been enacted and accepted by the public. The Tories’ opposition to civil partnerships is a good example.
The new shadow cabinet will have to display fancy footwork. If there are aspects of the ‘big society’ which involve empowering local communities with new assets and responsibilities, then Labour should support them. If there is land held by the MoD or NHS which could be developed for the community, then we should demands its sale. If SureStart centres can be turned into locally-owned co-operatives, then we should be campaigning for it. If the deficit can be reduced by off-loading state assets which should never have been state-owned in the first-place, like the QEII Conference Centre, then it’s all to the good. Knowing what to oppose, and what to applaud, will be an important test for the new shadow cabinet.
The third priority for those who won 100 votes or more is to build the Labour Party. It is easy for shadow ministers to spend their whole time inside the Beltway, making speeches, being interviewed, and attending committees. This kind of activity is even more useless for shadow ministers as for ministers. Party reform has been on the back burner for a decade. In places such as Edgbaston they’ve reinvented party activism through necessity. But a larger programme of party reform needs to be kick-started. At conference, there was much back-slapping about the 35,000 new members who have joined since the election. But what are they all going to do? How many will be members in 18 months’ time? Ed Miliband will need to reinvent the local Labour party, and inculcate a culture change so that the default is campaigning, and meetings are the last resort.
We’ve seen this week how flaky the Tories can be. The announcement on child benefit cuts was a total shambles, overshadowing their conference and creating real panic in the ranks. It was announced in haste and will be repented at leisure. Andrew Lansley’s massive restructuring of the NHS has hit the buffers, with mounting opposition from the very people – GPs – on which the reforms are dependent. Andy Coulson is an albatross around Cameron’s neck, and may soon be cut loose. Jeremy Hunt’s conviction that poor people should stop having children reminds us that if you scratch a modern Tory, underneath is a nasty, bigoted Eugenicist. Sayeeda Warsi is hopelessly out of her depth, over-promoted, and compensating for a lack of talent by becomimg ever more shrill and finger-pointing. And don’t get me started on the Quisling Lib Dems.
There’s plenty to oppose. Now the job of Opposition can begin.