Time to face some election year realities

—What a privilege it is to be elected as Progress’ new chair. This is an exciting time to take over from the brilliant Andrew Adonis, and I have been particularly delighted by the way the tests we have faced over the last couple of years have brought out the true colours of our organisation. As a small but noisy minority questioned our very right to exist, Progress members got on with championing what is best about the party we love: hunger for new ideas that will change people’s lives and determination to be active campaigning in our communities.

Both those twin drivers are now more important than ever. We have the chance to contribute to a genuinely radical manifesto and have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help reshape our party to reconnect with
a politics-weary public.

We have talked enough about opening up our movement; this is the time to do it. I want Progress to lead by example in helping attract more candidates from groups that remain chronically under-represented on the green benches and in council chambers. And I want Progress to build on strong foundations to become the Labour ideas factory we need to address the frightening pace of change.

This determination to make us a fighting force for the next decade is why I have made clear that we should move on from the label of ‘the New Labour pressure group’.

The difficulty of governing in this harsh financial climate and lack of trust in traditional institutions means there is a greater need than ever for the instincts that made New Labour our most successful era. But remaining wedded to a name that is just not new any more risks ossifying the philosophy that shaped New Labour when we ought to be focusing on how best to renew it. And it wrongly suggests we are anchored in the past when in fact we have become the mainstream organisation that is essential to Labour’s future.Another key New Labour lesson for success that we must now adapt for modern times is the need for a laser-like focus on winning. We are less than a year away from a general election where we have a genuine opportunity to see off this incompetent Tory government, and only a few months from a Scottish referendum which is fundamentally important to the whole of the United Kingdom. Let’s remember how close we are. David Cameron failed to convince a majority in 2010 and that puts us closer to government than any opposition has been in my lifetime. Just 27 wins would make us the largest party and just 67 wins would give us a majority. That is the whole basis of Progress’ Campaign for a Labour Majority. Moreover, we have not turned in on ourselves like past Labour oppositions or suffered the kind of meltdown that destroyed the Conservatives’ reputation for a generation after their defeat in 1997.

Back in office, today’s Tories have worsened the lives of so many, the Liberal Democrats have helped them to do it, and Labour should be the natural home for anyone who believes the government has let them down.

The fact that victory is possible after only one term in opposition places a big responsibility on all of us. We can get a sense of the discipline we need to show in the months ahead from observing our opponents. Whenever tension between the Tories surfaced during past election campaigns we got a hefty boost. Be it discordant notes over the scale of cuts or disagreement over Europe, we always capitalised over the sense of disarray and ill discipline their squabbles created.

Do not get me wrong: new ideas remain the life blood of everything we are about and we must never lose our energy to be radical. But always remember there is someone sitting in Conservative campaign headquarters ready to read everything we blog, everything we tweet, everything we post to Facebook. Tory Dweeb, as he or she will be known, will do everything they can to turn whatever we say against us and many newspapers will not be prepared to give us the benefit of the doubt. In this environment, well-meant advice can become an attack, sage warnings become criticisms and debate becomes disloyalty. That is the reality of an election year.

There is a natural instinct in every politician, down to a backbencher like me, to think, ‘Well if I were shadow chancellor or general election coordinator, I’d do this.’ Most of the time that is healthy, bringing in new ideas about how to win elections and how to govern better. Twelve months out, though, commentating on the campaign risks being a distraction to the essential task of knuckling down to win. No one should hedge their bets by getting their excuses in early – winning for the people we represent matters too much for that.

There will be bad days – there always are. Not every decision will be right, not every interest can be assuaged. This is going to be so tight and there will be days when the polls or the headlines are troubling. So let us lead by example. It is the deep loyalty of Progress members to their party which makes me proudest to be your chair: every day we confound the silly notion that we are a divisive faction. Yet we should recognise that particular focus will be on us from those looking for something they can twist and misconstrue. Let’s not give them that opportunity by holding ourselves to the very highest standards of discipline.

This parliament has been a tough slog. It has been miserable to be in opposition as blow after blow has landed on our communities. We must now channel that pain and anger for the fight that is to come. That fight is there to be won, so let’s leave absolutely everything on the pitch.

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John Woodcock MP is chair of Progress

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Photo: chinahush