If you have ever attempted to buy anything online, or to log out of a particularly outdated version of Microsoft Windows, then you will know that ‘Are you sure?’ is a question unlikely to elicit any response other than an exasperated ‘Of course I’m sure!’ That, as much as his other weaknesses, made Ken Livingstone a self-defeating choice for the London mayoralty, but that obscured the great and terrifying strengths of his opponent. Denis Healey once mused that Adlai Stevenson – very probably the greatest orator the Democratic party produced until the rise of Barack Obama – was doomed to be defeated by Dwight Eisenhower, ‘since Americans like their president to be king as well as head of government’. We like kings in London, too, and we’ve got one: his name is Boris Johnson.
Most Londoners know that they have reached the pinnacle of human existence, and they like their mayors to reflect that. It’s no small wonder that of the four politicians that we can most readily identify by their first names alone – Tony, Ken, Boris and Gordon – two of them have been mayor of London. Anyone who saw Boris Johnson’s show-stopping address to the Hyde Park crowds – which, among other things, delivered a body blow to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign – couldn’t fail to be won over, even if only briefly. Boris himself will be attempting to move on to bigger – I can’t, as a Londoner, say ‘better’ with a straight face – things, but his shadow will be felt in the 2016 contest. Does Labour have anyone who could equal Boris’ stature?
It isn’t just a London problem. There is a charismatic, winning statesman who dominates Scottish politics: unfortunately, his name is Alex Salmond. In the two largest devolved political theatres, Labour faced two behemoths, and had nothing to equal them with. Why? And more importantly, how does Labour grow new giants for the battles that lie ahead?
In part, it is a cyclical problem: Britain’s other two giants, Tony and Gordon, dominated the politics of both the Labour party and the country for two decades. When the first question that anyone ever asks is ‘Are you a Brownite or a Blairite?’, it’s difficult to let new life flourish. Small wonder that the remaining big beasts in 2010 come from the early days – Alan Johnson, Jack Straw, Alistair Darling, Harriet Harman, and the fifth Beatle, Peter Mandelson – while the new generation struggled to find a voice. Now that Labour’s politics aren’t dominated by the social democratic equivalents of Romulus and Remus, we can expect new giants to arise – that’s part of why the 2010 parliamentary intake looks and sounds so new and exciting, and among the early selections, there are interesting and talented candidates from outside the traditional talent pool – but Labour has to undergo a cultural change, too.
Dwight Eisenhower – that president-king who defeated Adlai Stevenson in successive landslides in 1952 and 1956 – was a retired general who was the subject of a grassroots movement to draft him as the Republican nominee. He ended two decades of Republican exile from the White House. In Britain, we don’t particularly care for self-effacing candidates who have to be prodded and persuaded into taking office. Plenty of commentators and activists bemoaned the lack of an Eddie Izzard, a Tessa Jowell or an Alan Johnson in Labour’s mayoral race, but no one made any real effort to encourage one to enter: until Ken Livingstone was nominated, and defeat was assured. Labour needs to get better at asking for things. The alternative is a future in the shadow of Conservative giants.
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Stephen Bush writes a weekly column for Progress, the Tuesday review, and tweets @stephenkb
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The only thing that made me laugh is that you were referrring to ‘Tony’ Blair – when I assumed, rather naeively, that you were referring to the real giant of the Labour Movement Tiny Benn! Nevertheless – “wind to yer sails” – we need a great candidate to get rid of Boris – he isn’t so much a giant as a spectre!!