Labour has undergone a cathartic rebirth. From a crushing general election defeat just five months ago the party emerged from its conference in Manchester redefined, remodelled and re-grounded, comfortable in its own skin again and resolute in its purpose.
The election of Ed Miliband was a break with the past, but not one that should lead to a schism with those who supported more of the same New Labour style politics. Mr Miliband was assiduous in his conference speech in praising the achievements of New Labour even as he buried it, saluting its “legacy”.
Yet he buried it not out of some ideological zeal, but because it was already dead, killed off by an electorate which had become tired of a party that had “taken on old thinking and become the prisoner of its own certainties”. And because of its failures “in the style of our politics and our remoteness from people”. Any new leader with a serious intent on winning back power for Labour had to acknowledge this to the British people, to the party and to himself. Particularly the acknowledgement that participation in the war on Iraq was wrong, that the last Government had become complacent about the lack of City regulation and “casual” about civil rights. These acts of contrition took both courage and, as Mr Miliband himself said, humility.
That quality appeared singularly lacking among those supporters of David Miliband who, immediately after the result of the leadership ballot, began a campaign to de-legitimise the result and persuade the leader’s elder brother to continue the fight for New Labour from inside the new big tent. They must realise that the party has moved on and that schism now would be a betrayal of the hope reborn in Manchester.
In politics, division carries the death penalty. It is a warning often applied by the right to the left in the past and a condition of self-denying ordinance would be a virtue now. Not that Labour under Mr Miliband’s leadership has taken a giant leap leftwards. The change is defined more by the extent to which British and Labour politics have moved to the right than by any policy agenda set out by the new leader’s retreat from that direction to a mainstream, centre-left position traditionally occupied by the Labour Party. In policy terms, Mr Miliband has set himself some immense challenges when it comes to pressing through the detail to secure the aspirations he outlined. The key pointer to the seriousness of Mr Miliband’s resolve will be the appointment of his Shadow Chancellor.
When he talks about getting back Labour’s core vote he does not mean abandoning the middle-class as detractors falsely claim. It is about reconnecting the two in the climate of fear created by the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition. What we saw from Mr Miliband was determination to offer the British people something in place of fear, a fresh optimism to dispel the stench around politics and a deep-seated national gloom about the future. He delivered candour, truth, vision and sincerity about where Labour and the country needs to go. And an optimism that we can share.
