Labour needs a leader who fits the policies, not policies to fit a new leader

Editorial: New Labour’s bad habits are hard to lose: the leadership campaign is being skewed to help the establishment candidates. But at least there will be debate about the future of the party

by Tribune Editorial
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The decision by Labour’s National Executive Committee to close the gate on nominations for the party leadership early – when the contest still has four months to go – shows that the old New Labour instincts die hard. The effect is to ensure a battle of the established hierarchy, squeezing out a wider field of possible candidates and the chance for local parties to make their own nominations.

The move jumps the gun on the vital debate on Labour’s future and severely limits its scope. What Labour needs is a leader who fits the policies, not policies which fit the new leader. The NEC redeemed itself to some extent by resisting moves to have an early election, foreclosing any meaningful debate within the party about the future and the mistakes of the past.

But it performed a shameful dereliction of duty in failing to uphold fundamental democratic procedures by opening up a contest for the deputy leadership. This is not about Harriet Harman or any other individual. It is about democratic renewal. Ms Harman’s authority will now be weakened rather than strengthened by the ducking of an election she would probably have won anyway, giving her a stronger mandate. If it is thought that she palpably had no chance of winning a contest, then maintaining her in this self-perpetuating oligarchical role is even more reprehensible.

In the packed meeting held at the TUC and sponsored by Tribune, CWU and Progressive London, there was a united and urgent desire for the thorough, reshaping debate that Labour now so desperately needs to decide what it stands for.

It may be heading for the rocks economically and politically, but the new coalition is implementing policies which shame the last Labour Government and ditching some that a Labour administration should never have put in place. It is time for radical, honest, bold and courageous thinking. What chance of that from three of the leading lights in the New Labour coalition which got it wrong, viscerally wrong, for so long?

The biggest contest currently between the candidates is over who can ditch the largest number of previous Government policies the quickest. It is a start, but not a good place to start from. What chance either of John McDonnell, who failed to get sufficient nominations to challenge Gordon Brown last time, of rallying the broader support necessary to have significant impact? There is little in the election campaign or its management which so far smacks of renewal. That does not mean that the dynamic debate that is under way will be in vain.

While vigorously fighting the cuts and supporting the public sector, Labour members must take ownership of the leadership election and retake the policy-making process. MPs must be more accountable to their local parties and less malleable to the will of the leadership and its whips. Above all, the force of the debate must deliver a shadow cabinet moulded in the image of the party, not the old hierarchies.

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  • idonotbelieveit

    Absolutely!! I’m no Labour voter but I find it extraordinary that they’re rushing into this.

    A little time to lick their wounds, have a bit of a post mortem and a bit of consultation with their members before choosing seems pretty sensible. They ain’t going to be learning many lessons going about it the way they are, but that can only be good news for the country surely.

  • idonotbelieveit

    Absolutely!! I’m no Labour voter but I find it extraordinary that they’re rushing into this.

    A little time to lick their wounds, have a bit of a post mortem and a bit of consultation with their members before choosing seems pretty sensible. They ain’t going to be learning many lessons going about it the way they are, but that can only be good news for the country surely.

  • swatantra

    Thats the trouble with deadlines and going to Press. You write an editorial and the b****rs go and change the rules. The close of nominations has now been extended to 6 June; but we still wait for Harriet to step down. The Editor is wrong about the Coalition. We should give it some credit, it is addressing issues that Labour failed to address ie Immigration, Welfare, Benefits and Housing. Labour was not bold enough; it shied away. It remains to be seen whether the Coalition will succeed where Labour failed. Probably not is the answer. Because all 3 issues require a joint Party approach to succeed ie they need to be taken out of the political arena and that is unlikely to happen.

  • swatantra

    Thats the trouble with deadlines and going to Press. You write an editorial and the b****rs go and change the rules. The close of nominations has now been extended to 6 June; but we still wait for Harriet to step down. The Editor is wrong about the Coalition. We should give it some credit, it is addressing issues that Labour failed to address ie Immigration, Welfare, Benefits and Housing. Labour was not bold enough; it shied away. It remains to be seen whether the Coalition will succeed where Labour failed. Probably not is the answer. Because all 3 issues require a joint Party approach to succeed ie they need to be taken out of the political arena and that is unlikely to happen.

  • http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/ Harry Barnes

    As the closing date for Labour MPs to nominate candidates for the Labour Leadership Election has now been extended to 9th June, two further measures need to be taken.

    First, those Labour MPs who have come out in support of specific candidates should withdraw their endorsements until they have consulted the views within the Movement, especially those opinions of the Constituency Parties who have just worked to return them to the Commons.

    Secondly, Constituency Parties should set up open meetings for their membership to discuss (a) what they see as the way forward for the Labour Party and (b) to take a vote on whom they favour to become leader. Those Constituency Parties who have Labour MPs should arrange these meetings so that their MP can be in attendance. In these cases meetings are likely to need to fall between 28th and 30th May or 4th to 6th June. It should not be the intention of meetings to instruct their MP on how to act, but for each MP to absorb the ideas and perferences of the membership whilst fully participating in the discussions. All Constituency Parties (whether or not they have Labour MPs) should be encouraged to send their views on ideas and preferences to the NEC of the Labour Party. The NEC findings should then be forwarded to the Parliamentary Labour Party who should hold a meeting to consider these by 8th June.

  • http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/ Harry Barnes

    As the closing date for Labour MPs to nominate candidates for the Labour Leadership Election has now been extended to 9th June, two further measures need to be taken.

    First, those Labour MPs who have come out in support of specific candidates should withdraw their endorsements until they have consulted the views within the Movement, especially those opinions of the Constituency Parties who have just worked to return them to the Commons.

    Secondly, Constituency Parties should set up open meetings for their membership to discuss (a) what they see as the way forward for the Labour Party and (b) to take a vote on whom they favour to become leader. Those Constituency Parties who have Labour MPs should arrange these meetings so that their MP can be in attendance. In these cases meetings are likely to need to fall between 28th and 30th May or 4th to 6th June. It should not be the intention of meetings to instruct their MP on how to act, but for each MP to absorb the ideas and perferences of the membership whilst fully participating in the discussions. All Constituency Parties (whether or not they have Labour MPs) should be encouraged to send their views on ideas and preferences to the NEC of the Labour Party. The NEC findings should then be forwarded to the Parliamentary Labour Party who should hold a meeting to consider these by 8th June.

  • David Sheard

    If Swatantra thinks the Public School Co-alition can address the issues of Immigration, Welfare, Benefits and Housing he obviously is very young or very very ignorent. As a person who has never voted for a winner in our leadership elections and is desparatly deciding which candidate to bestow with the kiss of death, I like thousands of other members am doing what I have done for nearly 30 years, doing whatever I can in Local Government to protect my constituents from Central Gouvernment.
    In the old “corrupt” days of selection when MP’s came to a large extent from the Trade Unions or Local Gouvernment the Working Class had a chance of some representation in Parliament, we are now only represented at local level.

  • David Sheard

    If Swatantra thinks the Public School Co-alition can address the issues of Immigration, Welfare, Benefits and Housing he obviously is very young or very very ignorent. As a person who has never voted for a winner in our leadership elections and is desparatly deciding which candidate to bestow with the kiss of death, I like thousands of other members am doing what I have done for nearly 30 years, doing whatever I can in Local Government to protect my constituents from Central Gouvernment.
    In the old “corrupt” days of selection when MP’s came to a large extent from the Trade Unions or Local Gouvernment the Working Class had a chance of some representation in Parliament, we are now only represented at local level.

  • Adam Colclough

    No role for CLP’s beyond ‘supporting’ a candidate from a field that has already been chosen and no vote at all on the deputy leader.

    The race to be the next leader of the Labour Party sounds more like a stitch up in the making with each day that passes.

    The first thing any party in opposition has to do is recognise how it lost the trust of the voting public, having done so it must then learn from its mistakes. To date the Labour Party shows no sign of having done so.

    In fact the party seems intent on creating a situation where the only choice to be made is between the candidate with the least amount of baggage, when what they really is new ideas.

    If Labour is serious about reconnecting with the members who walked away during the Blair years and holding onto those people who kept the faith then it needs to give grassroots members more to do than just rubber stamping decisions that have already been made for them. Ed Milliband alluded to this when he launched his leadership campaign, did he mean it?

    If he didn’t and if the other runners in the leadership race, whoever they turn out to be, don’t have any meaningful ideas about treating party members like partners rather than hired hands I don’t much fancy their chances of success.

  • Adam Colclough

    No role for CLP’s beyond ‘supporting’ a candidate from a field that has already been chosen and no vote at all on the deputy leader.

    The race to be the next leader of the Labour Party sounds more like a stitch up in the making with each day that passes.

    The first thing any party in opposition has to do is recognise how it lost the trust of the voting public, having done so it must then learn from its mistakes. To date the Labour Party shows no sign of having done so.

    In fact the party seems intent on creating a situation where the only choice to be made is between the candidate with the least amount of baggage, when what they really is new ideas.

    If Labour is serious about reconnecting with the members who walked away during the Blair years and holding onto those people who kept the faith then it needs to give grassroots members more to do than just rubber stamping decisions that have already been made for them. Ed Milliband alluded to this when he launched his leadership campaign, did he mean it?

    If he didn’t and if the other runners in the leadership race, whoever they turn out to be, don’t have any meaningful ideas about treating party members like partners rather than hired hands I don’t much fancy their chances of success.

  • Paul Dwane

    So Dianne Abbott is standing as a leadership candidate. Has the Party learnt nothing. She supports private education for her own son while her constituents have to make do with whatever is on offer in that part of North London. What is socialist about that. It is this kind of hypocrisy that has so angered the electorate and those like myself who have left the Party after many years membership. Don’t do as I do, do as I say! How on earth did she manage to win the nomination from her local Party or are the members there the same as her, using private education for their own children.

  • Paul Dwane

    So Dianne Abbott is standing as a leadership candidate. Has the Party learnt nothing. She supports private education for her own son while her constituents have to make do with whatever is on offer in that part of North London. What is socialist about that. It is this kind of hypocrisy that has so angered the electorate and those like myself who have left the Party after many years membership. Don’t do as I do, do as I say! How on earth did she manage to win the nomination from her local Party or are the members there the same as her, using private education for their own children.