Do you want to be a radical?
It's not as simple a question as some people think.
“Conference! Chanting slogans or changing lives?” That was how Keir Starmer put down those who chose to heckle him from the conference floor this week.
It’s a good question and one the Labour Party has struggled with since losing power in 2010 (and arguably for some time before that). Starmer’s celebration of the achievements of the Blair/Brown governments was overdue - Labour has shied away from celebrating these for too long. But those achievements were not cemented well enough. Too many of them were too easily uprooted by the Thatcherite Cameron government that was to follow.
And in part, that is because while the Blair government did absolutely change lives for the better, they perhaps did too little shouting about it. They had a tendency to do good by stealth and focus on reassurance rather than adding just a modicum of persuasion. When they told the country there was ‘nothing to see here’ the country believed them. Then all those brilliant things got eroded and ended and the country at large didn’t notice even as things got worse and worse for those at the sharp end.
Labour has to be both in a place to change lives permanently and to reassure the country that it is not radical to do so. While a minority of like to pose as radicals (ironically, often because their bottom line depends on people falling for that stance) the loud radicals of the Labour fringe have failed to actually *do* or *achieve* anything radical. Their loud posturing was so off-putting to voters they went for an option in Boris Johnson that is just as radical, just as transformative (though obviously in a terrible direction) but came with upbeat reassurance and confidence in the country he wants to lead.
If you want to truly be a successful radical, you could so worse than look to Johnson and Thatcher as role models. Both convinced the country their shocking radicalism was just common sense and that they are on the side of the very people who are likely to suffer most under their governments.
This is certainly what Keir was attempting in his first major in-person speech since being elected leader. Most of it was clinically calculated to do two major things: dispel the notion that Sir Keir is part of the out-of-touch metropolitan elite and reassure the country that the Labour Party would govern sensibly and prudently.
None of this means that there aren’t significant left wing policies in the current Labour platform. There are - particularly on tackling the climate emergency. Keir’s notion of the ‘contribution society’ as outlined in his speech and Fabian pamphlet is both a break with the way that New Labour treated their relationship with business. They contain a post-crash and post-pandemic approach to what good business is - the kind a Labour government should nurture and partner with and what should happen when businesses fail to live up to their obligations to the communities they are meant to serve.
This is all quite a radical change from the Thatcherite free-for-all or even worse the Johnsonite free-for-chums approach. So why aren’t the radicals in the party happy.
Well partly, and only very partly, because they always want to go further. The current demand for a £15 minimum wage is a perfect example. Lifted straight from the American progressive demand of a $15 minimum wage (which at today’s exchange rate would actually mean a minimum wage of £11.07 - much closer to Labour’s current offer of at least £10) it would actually raise the minimum wage above the median earnings of £31k per annum. Something that would be impossible for small and medium-sized businesses coming out of the pandemic to bear. The unemployment rate would skyrocket and those a minimum wage is most designed to help would suffer.
But mostly because the comfort zone for many on the left is not doing the hard work of government but the enjoyable pastime of shouting things at other people - preferably other people in your own party. There are lots of very admirable exceptions to this and they will continue to work hard to push the party to a place where its offer is both radical and credible while accepting the language used to sell it might be out of place at a rally. The exceptions do not have to continue to sell Novara media as an ongoing concern or maintain their fragile grip on their million Twitter followers. Their whole point is to be outside the tent shouting in. That’s where their market is and they are wholly capitalistic in exploiting that.
The truth is Labour can be radical in government and will need when we do finally - if ever - make it there to be better at making a convincing case for change. What we don’t need, What we never need to do again, is take radical postures for the sake of the posture - not the people.
What I’ve been up to
The play happened! It was a reasonable success - especially for a first play. I had it filmed and am working on a way to bring that to audiences for a small amount (enough to keep a playwright’s wolf from the door!).
I took a bit of time after it to recover. It hasn’t been the best of months, but I am back now, stronger than ever and ready to take this up weekly again.
I haven’t written much in the intervening period, but here are my reflections on Keir Starmer’s speech which exceeded expectations but also acceptable length!
*****
Reading List
Obviously, since I’ve been away there have been far too many interesting articles to list but I thought I would highlight some of my favourite newsletters. Those that I read every edition of and wouldn’t dream of missing.
Firstly, Helen Lewis’s Bluestocking. An excellent opening essay is followed by a collection of fascinating links and Helen’s thoughts on them. It comes out on Fridays and always leaves me with many tabs open to read through the weekend.
Secondly, Glosswitch’s OK Karen. Feminism with teeth and humour. Sometimes dark - always compelling.
Thirdly Letters from Suzanne by Suzanne Moore. Suzanne’s joyously chaotic feminism and life are unleashed in what do read like letters to the reader rather than articles.
Finally, Sarah Ditum’s fascinating take on celebrity culture and its effect on the women involved and all of us. The Upskirt Chronicles is a new discovery (as as newsletter - I’ve been a fan of Sarah’s for years) but one I read every post of in one sitting.
Questions, comments and arguments are very welcome. Insults will get you summarily blocked on every platform that no longer hosts Donald Trump. I’m at emmaburnell@gmail.com or on Twitter (far too often) at @EmmaBurnell_.
Thank you Emma!!
A good article as ever, I don't envy Starmer's job but the speech was good, you are bang on regarding the radical left, more about holding the high ground in their own circles than changing lives for the better. The one issue I always have is with the Blair government. Living in a place decimated by the Thatcher years I have always felt that a three-term Labour government could and should have done much more than they achieved in terms of regeneration or in today's language levelling up , Locally there is a feeling that Labour took places like ours for granted during those years and is one reason for the red wall , though not the only one