This summer
I’ve become gripped by a new TV drama. A TV drama being played out in front of
the nation’s media with episodes of this drama shown on almost every edition of
the nightly news. But sadly unlike most TV dramas this isn’t a work of fiction,
it’s the Labour Leadership Contest.
The Labour
Leadership Contest has turning into a massive duel between the two great traditions
of Labour politics. On the one side you have the New Labour establishment
represented by Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. On the other side
you have the Old Labour socialist insurgent, Jeremy Corbyn. These are two great
titans fighting to the death for the ideological soul of the Labour Party.
What makes
this political duel so interesting is that according to the latest opinion
polls Jeremy
Corbyn is in the lead by some margin and very well could be Labour’s next
leader. Corbyn who was initially seen as a distant outsider, has to horror of
Blairites, become the favourite to win the contest. Tony Blair even labelled
those MPs who nominated Corbyn as “morons”.
To put a Corbyn win into some context, Labour hasn’t been led by an overtly
socialist leader since Neil Kinnock in 1992. Furthermore, Labour has not been
led by someone outside the party’s establishment since at least before the
Second World War. Even Michael Foot served as a cabinet minister before
becoming Labour’s leader.
As a member
of the Liberal Democrats, I cannot even begin to contrast the huge differences
between the Labour Leadership Election and the Lib Dem Leadership Election. The
Lib Dem Leadership Contest was a mostly private affair conducted at regional
hustings and through social media and the internet. The short two month contest
resulted in a clear victory for Tim Farron, with Norman Lamb transitioning
seamlessly from leadership rival to frontbench Health Spokesperson. Tim Farron
has already begun to make his mark by leading Lib Dem MPs to oppose Osborne’s
latest welfare cuts. While a divided and indecisive Labour Party chose to
abstain in the welfare cuts vote.
Labour quite
clearly faces a big battle for the party’s soul, maybe even for the party’s
very existence in the long term. But how on Earth did Labour go from promoting
its own version of Thatcherism to being on the verge of electing a genuinely
socialist leader? Despite New Labour’s three successive election victories, it
failed to take many traditional Labour supporters with it. Tony Blair’s gamble
was that Labour supporters would remain loyal to the party, despite New
Labour’s embrace of the Thatcherite free market. This gamble would only work if
there wasn’t a credible progressive alternative to Labour. However recently a
progressive alternative emerged in Scotland in the form of the Scottish
National Party (SNP). The SNP went on this year to annihilate Labour in
Scotland.
New Labour
didn’t just alienate people in Scotland but many progressive voters across
England and Wales as well. Blair hollowed out the Labour Party leaving behind
an ideological void, which Burnham, Cooper and Kendall have struggled to fill.
However despite its lack of principles New Labour did achieve three successive
election victories, the first and only time Labour has achieved this.
Here’s
Labour’s problem, New Labour is as much an outdated project as socialism. New
Labour supporters lack a distinctive message in an age of economic
insecurities. Burnham, Cooper and Kendall are three career driven, media
managed politicians made in the model of New Labour. Corbyn is anything
but. Does Corbyn look like a potential
Prime Minister? No, but it seems difficult to see how any of the candidates
have the skills, charisma and imagination needed to get Labour back into power.
This Labour
Leadership Contest will define the party for a generation. Will the New Labour
modernisers triumph or shall socialism be resurrected from the grave? In the
aftermath of the vote, there is a great potential for rifts, fractures and
SDP-style breakaways. Do I judge those Labour supporters (including a couple of
my friends) who back Corbyn? No, I can hardly blame them for supporting a
radical candidate in line with their values, when the only alternatives are so
bland and unimaginative.
From what I
have seen of Labour’s Leadership Contest, it is clear that Yvette Cooper has
the best leadership ability and that Jeremy Corbyn has the strongest values and
principles. Regardless of who wins Labour’s great ideological showdown it is
clear that the contest will finally determine which direction Labour takes. On
the chance that Corbyn does go on to win, then the 2020 General Election will
be the most democratically distinctive election since 1987. A genuine socialist
party led by Jeremy Corbyn, a genuine liberal party led by Tim Farron and a
genuine conservative party led (most likely) by George Osborne would be a
fascinating prospect.
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