The Labour party started the conference week talking about Trident, and ended it talking about Trident. It didn’t matter that conference delegates voted to not talk about Trident. Thanks to the efforts of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy there was plenty of hype whether conference would vote for a resolution on Trident over other more pressing issues such as refugees (it didn’t). Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that he would never ‘press the button’ ensured the issue dominated the last day of conference.
As far as anyone keeping half an eye on goings-on in Brighton, perhaps worrying about this month’s gas bill or the price of food, the lasting impression was that the Labour party is obsessed with nuclear weapons. This is a shame, as the conference was about so much more than Trident.
There were some important policy announcements. Andy Burnham announced that police and crime commissioners are ‘here to stay’. Lucy Powell made it clear that academies and free schools would not be abolished. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, made it clear that a Labour government would ‘balance the books’. In speech after speech, in among the flights of fancy and fantasy politics, there was the recognition that an incoming Labour government, after 10 or 15 years of Tory government, will have to deal with the realities of a transformed public realm.
Perhaps the best speech of all was Tom Watson’s. It was well written and technically proficient, especially compared to the leader’s speech on Tuesday. But it also contained some real crunch. Tom, perhaps alone at the top table, understands the digital revolution that is shaping our society, our behaviour and even the way our brain’s work. His central argument is that this revolution in our times must also shape our party and politics. After years when the deputy leader’s speech on the final day was end-of-the-pier knockabout, it was a serious and cerebral contribution.
None this matters very much if Labour fails to cut through to the media. Journalists, in the absence of much else to do, looked for signs of splits, extremism, eccentricities and cock-ups. And of course they found them, and replayed them to millions of voters. The new leader may view the media as the running dogs of the capitalist class, but an electoral strategy which rests on antagonising journalists is doomed. The decision to abandon the traditional interview with the regional newspapers, or the choice to cut and paste bits of the speech off the internet, for example, are unforced, unnecessary errors.
Politics is littered with unintended consequences. One of the biggest resulting from Corbyn’s triumph, and apparent this week in Brighton, is that the Labour moderate wing is resurgent. Elements of the ‘traditional right’, moderates, progressives or whatever you want to call us, came together like never before. The Blairite lambs lay down with the Brownite lions. The supporters of Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham broke bread together. The Progress Rally packed out a cinema. The Labour First caucus spilled from its upstairs room in a pub, and flowed onto the streets of Brighton, like a Revivalist meeting. Corbyn has united the Labour right.
Which is just as well, because the Labour left are on manoeuvres. The Brighton conference took place less than a month into their leadership of Labour. They knocked off two moderates from the National Executive Committee and cemented hard-left control, but this is still a period of phoney war. You can be sure that when we meet in Liverpool next year, after real elections across the UK, the battle for the soul of Labour will have begun for real.
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Paul Richards is author of Labour’s Revival: The Modernisers’ Manifesto. He tweets @LabourPaul
Maybe you should stop “battling” people in your own party and save the fight for the Tories?
Blairite traitors plotting and scheming like this is exactly what the Labour Party does not need! Jeremy has won the party will now belong to its members not the PLP who will shape policy, this writer does not seem to understand this!
There is no plotting here. We are worried why the Tories are happy JC was elected, why the bookies do not have Labour back in office before 2025, why the pollsters are showing the Conservatives far ahead, why all experts in political science & psephology claim JC will not win the many, many marginals needed to defeat the modern Conservative party, why former Labour voters are saying they will not vote for J.C. as the next UK Prime Minister and why some on the Left believe that going more Left will not be a repeat of the vote under Micheal Foot in 1983 which was the lowest since 1918. just a few things to worry about.
The bookies had Jeremy 100 to 1 against becoming leader so much for them! The Tories are likely to become extremely unpopular as the cuts start to bite not just the poor but more middle income people. If there is another event like 2008 they will get the blame by the electorate. It’s too early for polling. Do you really believe if Burnley, Cooper or Kendall won they would have stood a chance against the Tories?
I read all this rubbish while waiting for the canvass sheets to print.
All we can do is look at the voting trends and their conclusive. Of course events can happen. On the voters perceptions of ABC yes they generally had more positive ratings. Recall Labour have to win many seats last held under New Labour before the unions chose Ed. Recent surveys are deeply worrying for team Corbyn as both ‘the Independent’ one and Peter Keller’s YouGov show many Labour voters saying that Corbyn is too Left for them. Nothing has changed in the last fortnight or so.
Then the Tories will win. But that is no reason for us to turn into them
Who says that , Labour has a lot to do as a reforming party and its only the hard Left who paint a picture of either full Socialism and Toryism as Peter Kellner’s article here & in the New Statement claims Labour has always been centre Left and that’s how it wins the voters in this country. Even more so now the voters are more diversified and post modern in outlook. For example DE groups are rejecting JC in similar proportions as AB socail groups. Post modern says voters have rejected old class loyalties so metropolitan areas like Hampstead or Cambridge vote Labour while Corby, Harlow, Stevenage, Watford and Derby North return Conservatives. Difficult to grasp but reality.
While I am no Corbyn supporter (having voted 1AB 2YC 3LK), I do think that there has never been a better time for the Labour Party to have a thorough review and re-think of its approach to defence policy in general and nuclear weapons in particular. With more than 4 years to go before the next general election and with parliamentary votes on Trident renewal expected soon, now is the time for Labour MPs and party members to examine the pros and cons.
My own view is that while Russia and China have nuclear weapons, NATO needs to keep them as well. Currently the 28 NATO members include 3 nuclear armed states (USA, UK & France). Surely Britain should be discussing with our allies how to best ensure collective defence through military cooperation, to address the threats we face in the 21st century in an affordable and sustainable way, whilst also meeting our obligations under international Treaties.
With regard to Trident, I note that opponents of like-for-like renewal include a former Head of the British Armed Forces (Field Marshal Lord Bramall) and a former Conservative Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Portillo). Even our own Tony Blair has admitted (in ‘A Journey’) that retaining Trident is about Britain’s status as a nation, rather than meeting our military needs.
” the choice to cut and paste bits of the speech off the internet,” total lie – the speech was sent to him by the writer and it is perfectly ok to use it as was confirmed. Instead by repeating the smears of the Tory press you should be rebutting them. You don’t because you WANT the party to fail.
It’s not a lie – it might have been used with permission but it was still incredibly stupid.
It might have been unwise not to have attributed the source, but it is a lie to say it had been cut and pasted off the internet when it had been taken from some writing sent to him. The fact the Tory media ‘found’ it on the internet does not mean that Corbyn took it from there and we know that he didn’t. More to the point – so-called Labour supporting organisations should not be repeating Tory press smears …
There is nothing new or refreshing about Corbyn. It’s not the “new politics” he sells but the old rejected politics from the 80s. I first joined the Party in 1964 and heard then the same sort of speeches from the same kind of scruffy individuals as if dressing to look the part you are trying to play is some kind of betrayal. I heard then the same attacks on the media, business and the promotion of a class war voters fail to recognise. Corbyn is promoting a Labour Party that will be unattractive voters focussed on a free for all view on immigration, more concerned about welfare than wealth creation, anti ambition and indifferent to nation’s defence. I wonder where and, (more likely) when a new Neil Kinnock will arrive truly focused on making us electable and trustworthy again. Can anybody remember one new, original, eye catching proposal from Corbyn’s speech which addressed the problems of the 21st century?
Spot on analysis.
Paid maternal & parental leave for self-employed workers.
You’re welcome, comrade Keith.
Absolutely
I thought that what corbyn said about the self employment addressed one of the real problems of the 21st century and showed some real understanding it wasnt just a nod to small business but showed some real empathy
Absolutely bang on and now a week later with the Conservatives in full force with both smart PR and friendly media they will romp away. We have the wrong leader and the wrong believers dominating our party as we sink to very low ratings. Bring back the brains of New Labour as the press said at the time most popular govt ever recorded in polling,.
However yes the media looked for trouble but it was the BBC’s new controversial Politic’s editor Laura Kuenssberg who ‘created’ the story of J.C. not pressing the nuclear button in the morning and set up the agenda for the day. By BBC TV news time at night this was ‘the only story’ covered from Brighton. A triumph for the controversial new Politics Editor but a shocking example of how the Public Service Broadcaster sees itself as sensationalist as all else at Brighton was ignored. The BBC created that ‘news item’ and that became the only news about our party on the BBC.
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You really wouldn’t know “hard left” if it bit you on the bum. Most of what Corbyn and McDonnell say, particularly about the economy, would put them a bit to the Right of Harold MacMillan. You lost. Get over it and do grow up – it might be possible to take you seriously then.
Oh dear what a load of negativity and general rubbish. Too much self-obsession. I suggest we wait and see what happens and comment on events as they happen. I did not vote for Ed but worked for him to become our PM. I also did not vote for Jeremy but I will also work for him. However, whoever we are and wherever we are in the party politically we should come down like a ton of bricks on those who show disrespect and who threaten MP’s. I saw the nonsense from Militant in the 1980’s. It was not dignified and it was not about ideological purity it was about they wanting the seats of power for their own ends.
I wonder whether the party will be able to stay together. I voted for Corbyn and have very little time for anything Progress advocates. The Right feel much the same about the Left.
No-one is about to change their minds. Can anyone really believe that if we had a different electoral system the party would stay together?
The idiot left on form in some of the replies how refreshing….
I attended the Progress rally and was VERY impressed. I’ve blogged about it (and the whole conference) over at http://underthreehundred.blogspot.co.uk/