Actually, Jay Asher’s critique of Blue Labour contains some perceptive observations. London Citizens could certainly do with some lessons in relationship management. I too find Blue Labour’s emphasis on faith jarring.
But please – ‘As Roy Hattersley said, “Believe me if you ever meet any working class people you will find they are just as liberal as you and I”‘. You could scour every chic coffee house in north London without finding anyone as liberal as Roy. There’s a real world out there, and it doesn’t consist of legions of working men and women tugging their forelocks and thanking their lucky stars for the equalities act.
Which isn’t to say it’s not an important piece of legislation. But let’s not kid ourselves its implementation has been greeted with national euphoria.
The attraction to me of the Blue Labour agenda is its honesty in confronting that fact. It attempts, sometimes clumsily, to break down the taboos that have created a wall between ourselves and those who should be our instinctive allies.
I’d love it if the majority of my fellow citizens were passionate about racial equality and gay rights. But they’re not. Jay talks of listening to a room of 80-year-olds voice their admiration of Enoch Powell, and says ‘what was traditionally acceptable then is not now’. If only. Wander round to any of the Lewisham housing estates where I live, and you’ll find views like that alive and kicking. And some of the most strident opinions would be found amongst migrant families themselves.
Blue Labour isn’t a panacea. But at least it advocates opening a conversation with Labour’s lost working-class voters that is conducted in a language they understand. That will be a tough dialogue for both sides. But one we must have.
Our progressive ideals are, of course, non-negotiable. But we also have to ask ourselves some hard questions about why we’ve failed to sell those ideals to a sceptical electorate. As we saw at the general election, and again last Thursday, there is no ‘progressive majority’.
This process of re-engagement cannot, as Jay says, be constructed around a vision of the world as it existed in the 1900s. But nor can it be constructed around a vision of the world that existed in the 1990s. The great success of New Labour was that it was of its moment. And that moment has now passed.
To read the words ‘Blue Labour is almost trying to out-right the Conservatives in its rhetoric’ was to be transported back in time, to 1994 or 1995. I could hear again the final pained cries of the ideologues as they watched forlornly a new and revitalised Labour party steaming out of the station.
We cannot cling to the past. Just as we cannot cling to modernity for its own sake. And there are things buried deep within Labour’s DNA that we can, indeed must, harness if we are to embark on a programme of renewal.
Some of them will sit easy with the New Labour tradition. Some will not. Surely there is no harm in that?
Progress has obviously learned nothing from its failure of supporting the Yes to AV campaign. You need to stop blue labour nonsense, continually creating division become progressive and work out how to get labour out of the mess it is in then elected and representative of supporters.
My problem with this “Blue labour” stuff is its incredible tendency to generalise about an incredibly varied group of people in a wide range of circumstances. Why do politicians always seek to go to far, that extra few meters without addessing the core of the problem which is simple, and it does not matter whether you are in a Tory ward or a labour Ward or even a Lib Dem Ward, its about representation. Addressing the underlying issues and concerns of people by understanding why they are angry, people love to moan, benefit scroungers, the neighbour who does not speak english (even when they do) etc etc. Labour is still failing to address the problems and keeps on creating these “projects” and “gimmicks”. Building trust with the electorate is about consistency, reliability, it takes time and it also requires conviction on certain things. Ed Balls was not apologising those weeks back about de-regulation because it gave him his jollies he did it because a mea culpa was essentialfor people to even begin considering listening to what he had to say, some would argue this is a vain goal and maybe it is and maybe it isn’t as Cameron did it before the General Election Campaign began. There is a real struggle going on and the old saying about Gordon Brown (bless him) not being comfortable in his own skin now appears to be metaphorically and literally applicable to the Labour Party itself still fighting the old wars against militancy, then Socialsim and now even trying to ditch the red rose brand. Crazy idea, after all isn’t our English Rugby symbolised by a red rose? Red Roses are about as english as you can get. Blue labour isn’t it failed at its inception and makes people suspicious, the same old strategies need to be scrapped as they will only succeed in creating greater division within the Party and not create that common foundation we need to begin as we decide how we go about meeting the objectives of the Labour Party at a terrible time in the and for the UK. The public will of course take one look at the idea of “Blue Labour” and simply say what has beein increasingly accurate in its cynical usage “They are all the same” and “They are all in it together for the money and not for us the people”. The danger signs are clear, UKIP in the Euro,our General Election defeat, Scotland in the last locals when we are in opposition of all times. Change is needed but it has to be built on practical needs and in recognition of the core concerns of the majority of the people and if Labour does not trust itself then the public certainly won’t either and the ” will go in another party’s box. We have had so many opportunities and we have to stop letting them slip away as David Cameron may play Mr friendly when dealing with some of us, but his goal is simple to destroy the Labour Party, wipe it out and any memory of it whereever and whenever possible. Probably best if we do not assist him on this endeavor…..our brand needs to be re-instated not replaced and our arguments have to be re-articulated to ensure our values survive.
For pity’s sake stop it with this stupid blue labour tag -it just makes people laugh at you. Really. Lose it. Lose it quickly it’s a loser.
http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2011/04/13/blue-labour-needs-a-dose-of-realism-and-a-decent-spin-doctor/ Job offer been lost in the post Dan? 😉
I would just like to point out I am for listening to working class voters. What we should not do is pander to beliefs that do not sit with our values. Issues such as racial equality and gay rights cross class boundaries and definitions (I would know being a gay man from a working class family and the son of an Indian immigrant who came here after the 1972 Idi Amin purge in Uganda who married a working class woman), and treating the working class as if they do not realise this amongst other things is to treat them like they do not understand and are thus useless to the debate. My comments regarding Enoch Powell were not to say that such views do not exist, but to point out that for a vastly growing number of people, racism is not accepted now as it was to a generation who lived in a country relatively untouched by immigration and with a govenrnment who encouraged nationalist ideals against Germans (understandably, but again which still lingers to this day). Blue Labour is not a new party steaming out of a station, it is a cry back to a golden age that never existed and cannot, at least socially, define the party we know and love today.
I despair, I really do. As the first commentator notes on your non-progressive backing of the backward AV you persist in believing this Blue Labour nonsense will “connect”(“re-connect”?) with the “Working Class” who do not recognise Labour as the Party of their Class anymore. You insult our intelligence. Go find another group that you can patronise.