At the weekend I met a couple who have just joined the Labour party in my home town Witney. The two of them cornered me at a birthday bash for another new member, an old friend of mine. These are just a few of the men and women, old and young, who have boosted Witney Labour numbers hugely since the election. Our membership now includes at least two new Revs and a Canon, the GP who endorsed my candidature in the election leaflet and his son, a music festival impresario and a collection of local small business-owners.
The couple at the birthday disco were at pains to point out they aren’t ‘hard left’ despite supporting the Greens in the past. ‘We just want to support a Labour party that stands for something’, they explained, making me feel uncomfortable. It has to be wrong if the reactions of long-standing members and stories about entryism are making our new or returning Labour people feel they have to explain themselves. They went on to say that despite being energised by the campaign around Jeremy Corbyn, they are not sure how to vote because, in their words, they are ‘not Marxists or extremists. We want to see Labour elected to government, standing up against the Tories, and not split but united. We are thinking we might vote for Yvette and Andy’.
My name is on the same ballot as Burnham, Corbyn, Cooper, Kendall for the tens of thousands in Labour south-east as I offer my services on the National Policy Forum. Over its 25 or so years in existence in current and previous forms, the forum has written six manifestos, three of which led to large Labour majorities and mandates for change. It has also stimulated debate in local parties and, while not always ahead of the agenda, has challenged cabinet members and leaders alike to ‘stand for something’.
I saw the leadership candidates in the flesh in Oxford in June, with my 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. It was clear that there is more that unites than divides them; all four presented as fluent, persuasive but rather defensive and cautious candidates. This is rather different from their media personas. It was also at odds with Corbynmania, and this hustings took place before the brave and forthright ‘five-points’ campaign fought by Liz Kendall.
Both new members and old, returning and first-timers, want a leader who displays authenticity, focuses on the needs of others before themselves, who can inspire but also listen and unite, who can beat the Tories at the next general election but oppose them successfully before that, who can turn over Cameron, Osborne, Johnson and May at the dispatch box, who is a credible head of a large Labour party team and manage people day to day as well as facing strategic challenges; someone in short who ‘stands for something’ but also leads for everyone.
The job of the NPF is to unite the party behind a common platform woven from the strands of our regenerated party and the fresh energy and ideas, inspiring and leading debate and campaigning in every constituency. We must draw from the communities that elect us to work for a more equal society, with services we can share and of which we can be proud. That will be a task to unite new members and old.
———————————
Duncan Enright is a councillor on Witney town council and West Oxfordshire district council. He is former prospective parliamentary candidate for Witney and is currently standing for the National Policy Forum. He tweets @DuncanEnright
———————————