As an avid reader of Progress Online I enjoyed reading the articles by both Luke Akehurst, David Talbot and Nick Thomas-Symonds making the case for their ‘greatest leader of the Labour party’. However, I was somewhat surprised how readily David dismissed any possibility that anyone would argue the case for James Callaghan, Michael Foot or Neil Kinnock. In particular how readily he dismissed the name of Neil Kinnock, who is rightly credited with starting Labour’s long journey back to power.
First, I have to declare an interest. The reason I joined the Labour party in the first place was down to Neil Kinnock. Not the policies, the procedures or the political machinations of the time, but because of his oratory. In 1983 I was taken by a family friend to see Kinnock deliver a speech in Preston as he toured the country as the new leader. It was one of those rare moments when the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. If only we could have others who could reach that level of oration in these modern, sterile times.
Of course even those who are not fans of Kinnock recognise his ability to give a rousing speech, but that is not the sum of the parts of his record nine years as leader of the opposition. It is easy to deride him based on results because of the two general election defeats he led us to. But it is not the destination, but the journey that singles him out as one of our greatest leaders.
Electorally Kinnock did extremely well at local council level. Unlike as in some recent years when the seats of councillors were seen as a price worth paying, he recognised that to regain credibility nationally, we needed to demonstrate competence locally (the Tories lost 687 council seats in 1986, 163 in 1990 and a further 861 in 1991). With that as a key backdrop it was hardly surprising that he turned his wrath not only on the Militant tendency, but also the leaders of Liverpool council in his iconic 1985 conference speech. Great speeches may not exactly make a great leader, but when those words are delivered at a time of great strife within your own movement and to a divided audience it takes great courage to lay out a new direction of travel to those who you know will greet your intent with mule-like resistance.
Let’s not forget that this was only just after the miners’ strike of 1984-85, during which he had supported the aim but not the tactics employed by the National Union of Miners. He was already walking a tightrope with the left (who would later challenge him for the leadership through Tony Benn) and had the SDP to contend with who were winning both support and by-elections.
Some would like to believe that New Labour, or rather the modern Labour party, was created out of some coup d’état orchestrated in smoke-filled rooms and in the Granita restaurant in 1994. But that view fails to recognise that leaders don’t only impart their vision for the party, but also reflect the yearning for change from their own members in times of peril. This was never more ably demonstrated than in that moment on the afternoon of Tuesday 1 October 1985, when Neil Kinnock took on the Militants. This was his, and the Labour party’s, defining moment:
‘I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, mis-placed, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour council – a Labour council – hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers’.
But the speech not only set about slaying the Militants; it set out a clear definition of how to organise for electoral victory as well as a domestic and internationalist policy agenda which is all too easily overlooked. It put the cornerstone on the foundation of his ‘don’t be ordinary’ speech in Bridgend on 7 June 1983, which rates as one of the finest in British political history, and was the precursor for his 1991 conference speech which in setting out a clear direction and philosophy is every bit as important as any of its predecessors.
Even with the onward march of the SDP, a protracted fight against Militant and the height of Margaret Thatcher’s popularity, he cut the Tory majority from 144 to 102. He managed to win back the centre-left and establish Labour as the only real challengers to the Tories in a period when many commentators thought we would wither into third place or maybe go out of existence all together. The disappointment, especially for those of us involved, that we did not win in 1992 should be tempered against the fact that the Tories had been reduced to a majority of just 21 and Kinnock had transformed the party to enable it to be fit for government once again.
Neil Kinnock led us through the wilderness years. He may not have got us to the Promised Land, but he did get us within sight of it. For that, and some of the best speeches in British political history, he is my nomination as one of Labour’s greatest leaders.
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Darren Clifford is a Labour town councillor for Morecambe and tweets @DarrenClifford2
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Well he may have done all that you say as my old MP, I do disagree with you, he was like many a bloke who tried to be the leader of the country and failed, he failed when it was easier to have won.
he was the chap who thought up New labour and then basically sat back to watch, not from an armchair oh no the gravy train of the EU.
it was easier to have won, The tory press were against him, people still remembered the winter of discontent, and being able to buy a council house and low inflation, teh Public didn’t trust us on the economy, It would take black wednesday to convince the public we were as good as the tories on the economy,
I have not been involved in politics for years but some facts you can not take away from Militant is that they defeated thatcher on two occasions (1) Liverpool city council struggle which resulted in no cuts in jobs and services, over 7,000 council houses built with gardens, £60 million won from the Tory government. (2) the Poll Tax was defeated by the Anti Poll Tax Unions which were created by Militant first in scotland and then later in England and Wales , again this struggle was led by Militant. Lastly the three Labour MPs who supported Militant only took the average wage of a skilled worker in their town or city they represented ” a workers MP on a workers wage.
Contrast that to Kinnock off to europe to join the gravy train and now he’s a Lord! And what are Labour councils doing now? cutting jobs and services. they are not Socialists at all . they are no different to the Tory party at times. You could not get a fag paper between them. you watch the Trade Union Socialist Coalition become a mass force in years to come.
One last point Militant who are now called the Socialist Party have at least got an economic socialist programme which is an Alturnative to Capitalism which is in a crisis and in failing and not just in Britain. They call for the changing of society. Am not a member of any political party as they are all the same they all go along with cuts. I work long 12.5 hour shifts in learning disabilties and challenging behaviours. I was transfered over from NHS to a charity and they cut our wages. Am a Unison shop steward at my work place but only a minority are in the union as the firm does not recognise unions. Labour is finished as a party and will never become socialist. I think things will change in the future the people thru struggle will create their own parties not just here but all over the world as workers move into struggle. I am confident of that.