I write from the United States where I’m a visiting
fellow at Yale University during my research leave from my institutional home
of Durham University. American politics has for a long time seen successive
campaigns targeting career politicians and the so-called Washington, DC
establishment. To be successful is to be seen as an alternative.
Witness the surprising lasting power of Donald
Trump’s presidential bid. Trump is many things to different people, but
standard politician he is not and so there is a part of the electorate that
continues to provide strong support for this most unlikely of candidates.
This anti-‘the Consensus’ politics has now landed in
Britain. Like most movements, it is built on myths taken by its adherents as
obvious truths.
The first myth is that elected politicians are all
the same no matter their different political parties. This can sometimes
involve some near unbelievable comparisons. Drafting and defending cuts to
public provision supporting a social safety net is rather different from
agnosticism or opposition. What the majority in Parliament wants, they get.
Saying no always and everywhere to anything the government does could make some
feel better about their virtuous pedigree, but coming second – and losing –
most votes for five years at a stretch is a winding path of despair pleasing
only the career protestor – and even they can lose interest fast.
The myth that all Westminster politicians are alike
is a nonsense. There is a gulf the size of a solar system that divides most
Tory MPs from Labour and Lib Dem MPs on education, health, and the economy –
and that’s before we account for differences in policies among party
leadership. To reduce all MPs to a single issue or vote – like a welfare bill
or the Iraq War – makes a simple narrative that may fit preconceived
ideological views. But so often what is simple is simply a distortion of the
greater complexity that is life and no less political life in Westminster.
The second myth is that politics in the capital need
a redeemer that can play the role of political saviour. Someone who can cast
out the vices and reassert the virtues.
But this gets wildly wrong what any one person can
usually achieve as leader. Individuals can make for powerful figureheads, but
organisations are composed of more than just that person. Such aspirations – if
only there was the one right person, then everything else can or should fall
into place – not only puts unrealistic pressure of expectations on the anointed
one but they can also so easily lead to disappointment. Politics affords little
time for hearts and minds to be won over.
These myths are especially powerful for the
opposition as they campaign for change – or at least a change in which party
has political power. It is no less existent in the US among the Republicans
than in the UK among my fellow Labour Party members and supporters.
But I think there are also so cautionary tales worth
telling. The first is that leadership campaigns are about choosing a party’s
direction of travel – and this is now over. The new politics has arrived.
Jeremy Corbyn has chosen his shadow cabinet and having his opportunities to set
out his position – as is his right. To be clear, I support whoever is the
leader of the Labour Party. The leadership contest is now done and dusted.
Corbyn is our leader and I’m ready to assist his team however possible.
There are some among us who are a bit too
oversensitive to any criticism the leadership receives. First it must be
recognised that the ability to question and debate issues is at the very heart
of Corbyn’s new politics. To ask for clarity is not to be disloyal – this is
the democratic opening up of policy making that Corbyn’s supporters campaigned
for. The politics of consensus is not a politics of unanimity, but of majority
where we do not walk in lock step. Think coalitions of the willing issue by
issue and not articles of faith.
Secondly it the campaign to win over the party
cannot be the only aim. Labour must perform better in future contests. It was
widely reported that many members supported Corbyn’s rise because they wanted a
‘real opposition’ and didn’t
care much for electability. This certainly wasn’t true for
many of his supporters I spoke with who are all about winning the next general
election.
But the
new poll out by YouGov reported
by LabourList provides serious cause for reflection.
I am not suggesting that party members are wrong to think Corbyn is doing well
as leader – from the dire predictions that greeted his selection, he has done
remarkably well in that regard.
And yet it is deeply concerning that the perception
of our leader – and perhaps about politics – by Labour members is drifting away
from where the public is. Note that if the public doesn’t support us, Labour
will not win back power.
The easier road to victory is to move the party to
the political centre – which every strategist will remind you is a moving
target – where a majority of voters are found. The more difficult path to power
is to move the public to where the party is – because this means not only
winning over hearts and minds, but changing them.
What next? We can begin by burying the myths.
Westminster is not Corbynistas versus The Others. It is much more complex than
that – and the larger the coalitions within Parliament we can build then the
more effective our opposition can become. Witness the
success of Labour Peers for an instructive guide to how
this can work and work well. Let’s also not hoist unrealistic expectations on
our leaders and party for what can be achieved in the short-term. Voters are to
be won over – no party is entitled to their votes. Even if the most progressive
voice fighting for a Britain the public needs desperately. This is where the
veterans on the doorstep are needed every bit as much as our welcome new
members to get word out and win the public back.
Finally, I would be very wary about straying too far
from where the voters. If the party wants to move left, it must get the public
to move left with it. The voter is never wrong – he or she also chooses whoever
is preferred. I’d caution against going too far too quickly because it only
makes the task of winning over voters more difficult. Either way, alienating
voters is a losing strategy. There is more work for all of us to do whatever
our individual takes are on the big issues to get Labour into office again. I’m
up for the challenge, but a challenge it is – so let’s act now because the next
election is much closer than it appears.
Thom
Brooks is Professor of Law and Government at Durham University, Visiting Fellow
at Yale University’s Law School, columnist for Newcastle’s The Journal and
Communications Lead for Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson @thom_brooks
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