Labour’s general election defeat should spur the most fundamental rethink of the Labour Party since at least the abolition of Clause IV in the earliest days of the Tony Blair leadership, according to would-be party chairman Jon Cruddas.
The London MP said that with “only 200,000 more votes than we got in 1983”, the result was the party’s second worst since 1931.
“We have got to do some serious analysis of why and build up a coherent policy agenda”, said the east London MP who has used a number of media and platform appearances in recent weeks to boost his campaign to become party chair.
Mr Cruddas, who previously stood for Labour’s deputy leadership in 2007, is holding the leadership candidates to suggestions they have given that that they would be receptive to making the party chair directly elected.
He said acting leader and current chair Ms Harman also favours direct elections to the post. ”I want to see a more democratic party with an actively involved membership, a conference that is strengthened and its agenda setting opened up. We need to turn the party outward to the communities we seek to represent. We must create a party rooted in a culture of organising”, he said.
Mr Cruddas set out a manifesto for renewal of the party and “democratising the national policy forum”. It comprises: a new chair elected by the party conference; a new commission on party structures; a renewed culture of organisation; a comprehensive review of policy under a joint secretariat of party chair and party leader; a root-and-branch review of Labour’s future politics and strategies.
Mr Cruddas said he would have more respect for the leadership candidates if they stood by the decisions they had made while in Gordon Brown’s Government. He declined to state his preference for party leader, but hoped whomever it turns out to be would offer constructive opposition and acknowledge those policies the coalition get right.
People ought to acknowledge that the coalition was “robust and durable” and even support some of its better policies such as recent prison reform proposals.
