Wow. Is it me or is Ed Miliband's discovery and endorsement of the Blue Labour movement the single most howl-at-the-moon, batshit-crazy political idea since William Hague's 2001 election to keep the Pound? Is this intellectual train of thought not madder than a bag full of weasels?
And yet, could there be, amidst all the navel-gazing madness, a touch of genius? I think not. However, as a political manoeuvre four years before an election, it may yet bear fruit.
Today: The sense in it
1. Look at the contributors - James Purnell, David Miliband, David Lammy etc are neither stupid nor bad politicians. A banal point it may be, but it would be unwise to dismiss Blue Labour as an insurrection of mad navel gazing academics.
2. The banking and market narratives - One thing that has hurt Labour over the past year is their inability to escape the dual charge of "you overspent" and "ok, even if it was all the bankers' fault, it happened on your watch". That Blue Labour grapples with this problem is a step in the right direction for Miliband. Furthermore, the British population is not convinced that it was spending by Labour that created the deficit. For every Tory out there, there is someone shouting from the Question Time audience that it is time we strung up the bankers. On top of all this, neither Tony Blair nor David Cameron has been able really to sell the benefits of markets to the British people. If Labour can generate a narrative that accepts and seeks to reverse their failures in financial regulation while also avoiding drifting towards statist interference and punitive taxation, they may yet resonate with the public. Glasman's ideas about democratising economic institutions may provide a framework within which Labour can perform such an act of political Houdinery.
3. Labour's dog whistle - When Ed Miliband writes "it is our families, friends and the places in which we live that give us our sense of belonging," I can see heads nodding around the country. This sort of sentence will speak to voters who feel their economic interests aligned with Labour yet their social beliefs with old-fashioned conservatism. Some of them now support the BNP. Many of them, we are told, are concerned about immigration. While here at Liberal Tory we think anti-immigration arguments are nonsense, they do have some electoral value. If Miliband continues to articulate these ideas, such sentences may prove particularly powerful in opposition to a PM who is respected as a leader by the electorate, but viewed as belonging only in Notting Hill.
4. Time - The collapse of the coalition and a snap election seems unlikely. The task for Ed Miliband is to present Labour as a changed, rethought and reinvigorated political force. A few headlines now about a changing Labour party will do his 2015 election campaign no harm at all.
Tomorrow: The madness of it...
And yet, could there be, amidst all the navel-gazing madness, a touch of genius? I think not. However, as a political manoeuvre four years before an election, it may yet bear fruit.
Today: The sense in it
1. Look at the contributors - James Purnell, David Miliband, David Lammy etc are neither stupid nor bad politicians. A banal point it may be, but it would be unwise to dismiss Blue Labour as an insurrection of mad navel gazing academics.
2. The banking and market narratives - One thing that has hurt Labour over the past year is their inability to escape the dual charge of "you overspent" and "ok, even if it was all the bankers' fault, it happened on your watch". That Blue Labour grapples with this problem is a step in the right direction for Miliband. Furthermore, the British population is not convinced that it was spending by Labour that created the deficit. For every Tory out there, there is someone shouting from the Question Time audience that it is time we strung up the bankers. On top of all this, neither Tony Blair nor David Cameron has been able really to sell the benefits of markets to the British people. If Labour can generate a narrative that accepts and seeks to reverse their failures in financial regulation while also avoiding drifting towards statist interference and punitive taxation, they may yet resonate with the public. Glasman's ideas about democratising economic institutions may provide a framework within which Labour can perform such an act of political Houdinery.
3. Labour's dog whistle - When Ed Miliband writes "it is our families, friends and the places in which we live that give us our sense of belonging," I can see heads nodding around the country. This sort of sentence will speak to voters who feel their economic interests aligned with Labour yet their social beliefs with old-fashioned conservatism. Some of them now support the BNP. Many of them, we are told, are concerned about immigration. While here at Liberal Tory we think anti-immigration arguments are nonsense, they do have some electoral value. If Miliband continues to articulate these ideas, such sentences may prove particularly powerful in opposition to a PM who is respected as a leader by the electorate, but viewed as belonging only in Notting Hill.
4. Time - The collapse of the coalition and a snap election seems unlikely. The task for Ed Miliband is to present Labour as a changed, rethought and reinvigorated political force. A few headlines now about a changing Labour party will do his 2015 election campaign no harm at all.
Tomorrow: The madness of it...
I think they are BARKING MAD.
ReplyDelete1.) If people want to vote for Tory policies, they vote Tory. If labour abandons reform (check, AV) and swings to the right, is their slogan going to be "the Tories but much, much shitter".
2.) Re-read point one again, slowly. FUCKTARDED.
3.) Headlines today?! Think of the symbolism! If the blue labour name gets established memetically the are finished in 2015. Flirting with it is immensely dangerous.
4.) The biggest vote loser after Brown & the destruction of the economy was Labour's all out war on civil liberties. "Blue Labour" is really just code for "mild racism wrapped in a populist judge dredd blanket".
In short, if this milifad lasts to 2012, Tory government till 2020 at least.
PS thought about it some more.
ReplyDeleteIt's a terrible idea and I mean TERRIBLE.
Torylabour, playing for the English vote will lose to the nationalists in wales & scotland...maybe even the greens!
It will alienate the unions (who are terrified of another Blair) in the middle of a funding crisis.
We could be looking at the death of the Labour party from this. I hope so.