I plough a lonely furrow
By Emma.
The problem with being a reasonable moderate is that everyone thinks they are a reasonable moderate.
As I continue on my Labour journey it is astonishing how different the reactions I get to my blogging can be. When I try to examine how Labour can and should temper its message to the whole country, I am roundly derided as a Blairite out-runner. When I try to explain that this doesn’t mean capitulation on either message or medium, I’m decried as an idealist Leftie with my head in the clouds.
I don’t think I’m that different to most Labour Party members really, generally excepting those with a high profile. I also don’t think that Labour Party members are from Mars, and that we are as close to the mainstream as everyone else. Edging our way through the vagaries of life.
Most members I meet want Labour in power, but want that for the purpose of achieving economic and social justice. We want to see a proud and confident Labour Party that know what it believes in and how to achieve it, but we want that to also be a consensual process.
The problem I have is that I rarely meet people who are confident of the soul of the party and values, who also want to fight for a slick media operation and presentational structure. And I rarely meet people who want the Labour party to have the kind of presentational values that a modern Labour Party needs who are confident in the heart and soul of the Party.
I am trying, with this blog and my work elsewhere to persuade the Labour Party to be comfortable with and of itself in all its forms. Doing that means disagreeing with each other where necessary, but being loyal too.
It recently struck me that while this is the stance of practically every Labour member I meet, this is not a very popular stance on the Internet. Those who shout the loudest, or who come up with the most outrageous positions from either the left or right of the party generate much heat but little light. Luke Bozier’s recent rant is a particularly good example, but there are just as good examples of Ed being attacked from the Left (Ed, if you’re being attacked by both sides, it’s because you are getting the balance broadly right).
Balance is a tough thing. If one is only critical of the leadership, that criticism loses its punch. When Dan Hodges writes yet another anti-Ed column what used to annoy me now bores me. Equally, I am sure if Dan reads this, he gets bored of my supportive columns. I try not to be a cheerleader, but on the whole I think Ed is doing a good job, and I’m not going to lie about that just to be a sensationalist, however much it might propel me into the spotlight to do so.
So I’ll keep on talking tactically about what Labour need to do to win, which is my forte. I won’t be hitting the headlines, or become a darling of the blogosphere, but I hope that someone somewhere finds this interesting and useful.
Tags: blogging, Dan Hodges, Ed Miliband, Labour values, Luke Bozier, Soft Left, spin, strategy
Wednesday, March 30th 2011 at 12:45
Well done Emma thats spot on.
Also the right who are moaning at the moment should also engage with both the refounding the party process and the policy review. Carping from the sidelines in blogs will not do. (Not that I am suggesting you are) and will ultimately be quiet damaging when individuals claim they were not listened too, when in fact they did not contribute.
Monday, April 4th 2011 at 12:20
As someone who rejoined last May, and as another Labour blogger, I think you have hit on something here – I don’t particularly think that Dan is right, and neither is John Rentoul. Yet whenever you try to find a new course for our party, inevitably you come up against established attitudes. For London members, Ken Livingstone is a case in point.
I would generally put myself on the Left of the Party, yet I could not vote for Ken as candidate – he has proved too divisive, he has already had two terms, and quite frankly has too many skeletons in his cupboard.
Yet bringing this up is greeted by howls of angry derision by some, who seem to live somewhere around 1983 when it comes to London politics.
If I suggested Oona King would be a better, fresher more effective candidate, then the tired “Blair babe”jibe was the inevitable response.
Thursday, April 21st 2011 at 21:38
Democracy is also an important issue to consider.
With Cameron’s Tories and Clegg’s Orange Libs being the main opposition, there is currently a need for Labour to be a tad left of centre – otherwise a sizeable number of the populace are effectively disenfranchised.
From the democracy / pluralism angle, it is nonsense for Labour to be right of centre (as a kind of nicer Pink Tory party).
From a Labour Party angle, being right of centre is a bad strategy – as a right of centre (New) Labour could only win a Gen Election if the Tories conveniently make themselves unelectable except to Mail & Express readers.
From a C2, D, E perspective, having a Tory Govt and a New Labour “Opposition” is an unmitigated disaster! A left of centre Labour Party would be a much stronger and more effective Opposition.
So, when Labour is right of centre, democracy suffers and several million people are left with nobody to represent them; and of these several millions, the few millions who wish to vote, have no party to vote for.