As the polling stations closed on 7 May I remember sitting down after a hard day campaigning to watch the exit polls results come in. My initial reaction was one of disbelief as the BBC announced a possible Conservative majority, and I refused to believe they were accurate. But as seat after seat was declared, with Labour losses up and down the country, it became all too clear that not only was the result real but it was worse then we had originally anticipated.
As expected the party’s defeat in Scotland was heavy and seriously damaging, made all the worse by losing some excellent members of parliament who had worked tirelessly in government and out. But the real surprise was in England where we did not even come close to making the gains we had expected, losing in key marginal seats like Thurrock and Plymouth. Even if Labour had hung on to those 40 constituencies in Scotland we still would not have beaten Tories or been the largest party. In the end, despite the scaremongering, the Scottish National party were not our biggest problem.
The scale of our defeat was so severe that surely our first response should have been quiet reflection, using the opportunity to regroup and work out exactly where we had gone wrong. The party, however, launched into an immediate leadership contest that offered no scope to consider the election result but instead, despite Harriet Harman’s best efforts, became one of the most inward looking campaigns I have experienced. Having been very young in the 1980s, I had not witnessed the party divisions up close but this leadership contest brought them to the forefront. It appeared as though we were more interested in re-running old battles of left vs right rather than honestly considering our electoral position.
But the reality is we do have to take this defeat seriously and this must begin by a realisation that it was the Conservatives who beat us, while the United Kingdom Independence party chipped away at our vote share. The twittersphere may have suggested otherwise but ultimately when faced with a choice at the ballot box people, who may not be natural Conservatives, preferred to put their cross next to the Tory, rather than the Labour, name. If we ever want to be in government again we must recognise why and seek to win back some of those voters, as well as re-gain their trust. Certainly voters in the Medway towns – previously seats held by Labour – felt a void between our offer and their lives and I am doubtful that has changed (although only time will tell) since the leadership contest. I accept Jeremy’s decision to apologise for the Iraq war and his principled position, but not once during this election campaign did I knock on a door to be asked a question on Iraq. Instead time and time again I was questioned on our economic competence and how we would manage migration.
The current mood in the party dictates that going into the general election Labour just was not ‘left enough. ’ This is, however, a fallacy that suggests the centre-ground of politics is somehow defunct. But taking Rochester and Strood as an example, even if all the votes of those who voted Green and TUSC had been transferred to Labour, we still would not have won the seat. And this is the, unfortunate, truth in seats up and down the country. Furthermore, if Labour vacates the centre-ground it is anyone’s for the taking – and the Tories are desperately trying. Lifting policies directly from Labour’s manifesto, in the last budget they announced the introduction of a ‘national living wage’, while Cameron’s conference speech made tackling inequality his number one priority. The Conservative’s may talk the talk but the certainly do not walk the walk when it comes to equality. And of course we know that they will not deliver, as they have shown time and time again through their attacks on the National Health Service, tax credits and public service. But if Labour fails to appeal the centre-ground we will allow them to sleep walk back into Number 10.
It is therefore vital that we continue to have moderate voices within the party. Jeremy Corbyn has been true to his word and opened up a ‘new way’ of doing politics, opening the door for discussion and debate. Those who sit within the centre-left must seize this opportunity and ensure we remain part of that debate, injecting the same energy and enthusiasm that has got people excited about politics again. We must present new and innovative ideas that are fit for the modern world and relevant to people’s lives, moving away from the managerial style of politics that was perhaps symptomatic of the previous Labour government.
As Jeremy has shown there is wide-spread desire for passionate, straight-talking, principled politics, but if we ever want to put those principles into practice we must also have the right policies.
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Naushabah Khan is former parliamentary candidate for Rochester and Strood. She tweets @NaushabahKhan
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Just face up to the horrible possibility that Cameron and Osborne are serious about taking that centre ground; it’s no good talking about attacks on the NHS when they turn round and point to extra billions being spent on it. So far all the Labour “moderates” have come up with is whingeing about Corbyn and about the Tories. FGS do some serious thinking and come up with an alternative to both or go away and shut up.
Whilst it is possible characterisation “…. that it was the Conservatives who beat us….”
I believe it would be better characterised as the lack of a distinct and convincing alternative to Conservatism that beat us. If that is true then being slightly more like the Conservatives (i.e. moderate) in order capture the (moveable, fickle and unreliable) centre ground can also produce an even worse outcome.
Sometimes providing an example of ‘moving to the centre ground’ serves the illustration better: we have Andy Burnham conceding the need for 10% police cuts and Harriet Harman and Followers wishing to impose tax credit cuts – only to be out manoeuvred on the ‘Left (?)’ by a Conservative government. How are working people supposed to distinguish Labour except by their preparedness to move against working people’s interests by their desire to move to ‘the centre ground.’
The voters of Corby or Stevenage or Derby North or Nuneaton rejected Labour because they were fearful of ‘Red’ Ed’s economics and his weak leadership potential as a PM figure so stuck with Cameron. Both working class and lower middle class ‘aspirational’ working voters in those seats and other Midlands and Southern seats do not just vote Labour anymore as they did under New Labour or even earlier when there were smart articulate leaders.
This is a new age , a ‘post modern’ age, a media age where class and job no longer dictates the way you vote. But the Corbynites do not see this ; instead they are delusional about working class voters flocking to Corbyism. No way as our polling slumps to early 1980s levels at 27% last week and we read in the FT following the budget response of ” Labour’s decay into irrelevance” and in the Independent ” How long can it go on”. Labour’s moderates are too soft, too moderate and are too colluding with this Corbynite crisis of our party.