What next for Labour?

One significant advantage of my genuinely-held view that it would have been wrong to rush to draw conclusions from last month’s General Election defeat is that I have been able to consider the views of those who have been less reticent before forming my own.

Mike Phipps in Labour Briefing wasn’t over-hasty in publishing his opinions last week (and drew upon good work by many other comrades), and I find I agree with much of what he has to say. I would add that, amongst the many who did express their views more swiftly after 12 December, Lee Jasper had a lot to say that needs to be listened to.

However, now that the NEC has set a timetable for a leadership election, the debate about what happened on 12 December has become inseparable from the debate about who we elect as Leader (and Deputy Leader).

This is unfortunate, if unavoidable, since it will tend to narrow the focus of politics back around the Westminster bubble and to frame our choices between career politicians who want to lead the Party (as opposed to the accidental Leader whom many of us have been proud to support over the past four years).

There can be no candidate with decades of experience of putting principle before advancement, because the small number of individuals to whom the history of the past decades have given that experience will not be in the running this time round. Socialists will not find the perfect candidate for Labour Leader is on offer in 2020.

I would rather see the debate about our election defeat develop into a genuine debate about what our Party and its mass membership should be doing, rather than who should be leading us as we do it. Since that is not possible, I am inclined to the view that Constituency Labour Parties, before deciding whom to nominate, ought to put some questions to candidates (and then make our decision on nomination based upon their answers).

We could ask some policy questions of course (particularly to test the anti-racist credentials of would-be Leaders), but it will be more important to ask questions about Party democracy (such as whether the Leader will respect Conference policy decisions, and support the strengthening and deepening of the positive aspects of the recent Democracy review) and about how we mobilise our membership to resist the Tories and build our communities.

In 2015 the emergence of the most unlikely candidate galvanised a grassroots campaign. Since we cannot expect such inspiration from above in 2020, if we want to mobilise our own grassroots then we need to find a way to do it ourselves.

Data protection breaches at the heart of Government?

Having expressed my concerns about age discrimination to someone advertising Government jobs, it occurred to me to check whether the person seeking my personal data was registered as a Data Controller…

Dear Mr Cummings,

Information rights concern

I am concerned that you have not handled my personal information properly.

You have advertised job vacancies and invited submission of personal data without being registered as a Data Controller. I have responded to your advertisement and therefore you now have my personal data.

I understand that before reporting my concern to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) I should give you the chance to deal with it.

If, when I receive your response, I would still like to report my concern to the ICO, I will give them a copy of it to consider.

You can find guidance on your obligations under information rights legislation on the ICO’s website (www.ico.org.uk) as well as information on their regulatory powers and the action they can take.

Please send a full response within one calendar month. If you cannot respond within that timescale, please tell me when you will be able to respond.

If there is anything you would like to discuss, please contact me on the following number ...

Yours faithfully,

Tackling Age Discrimination at the heart of Government

As I was saying, I am now retired from my previous employment and, whilst I may decide to take some time off, I certainly don’t rule out seeking employment in future and I was obviously interested when I picked up online chatter about a very interesting job advert.

Unfortunately, this job advert indicated an intention to breach the Equality Act by discriminating on grounds of age (without the slightest indication that this would be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim). So I dropped a note to the person responsible for the job advertisement…

“Dear Mr Cummings,

On your blog (https://dominiccummings.com/2020/01/02/two-hands-are-a-lot-were-hiring-data-scientists-project-managers-policy-experts-assorted-weirdos/) you have advertised employment opportunities, apparently at the heart of Government.

In your blog post, which is an extended job advertisement, you state that “we want to hire some VERY clever young people either straight out of university or recently out with with extreme curiosity and capacity for hard work.”

Section 39(1)(a) of the Equality Act 2010 states that “An employer (A) must not discriminate against a person (B) in the arrangements A makes for deciding to whom to offer employment”. Section 13(1) of the Act defines Direct discrimination as follows; “A person (A) discriminates against another (B) if, because of a protected characteristic, A treats B less favourably than A treats or would treat others.”

Section 5 of the Act identifies “age” as one of the protected characteristics to which the provisions of the Act refers, and subsection (1)(a) of that section explains that “in relation to the protected characteristic of age a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person of a particular age group”, whilst subsection (2) clarifies that “a reference to an age group is a reference to a group of persons defined by reference to age, whether by reference to a particular age or to a range of ages.”

I am a university educated 56-year-old man. As it happens, I am very clever, I have extreme curiosity and capacity for hard work and, as luck would have it, I have recently become available to apply for employment. However, by no means am I part of the age group of “young people” – I am part of the age group of middle-aged people. Your job advertisement makes it clear that you would not consider an application from myself for those opportunities which you are offering to “some VERY clever young people”.

You are therefore directly discriminating against me, in that you are treating me less favourably, because of my age group, than you would treat a younger comparator in the arrangements which you have made for deciding to whom to offer employment. Your conduct contravenes s39(1)(a) of the Equality Act 2010, read with s13(1) and s5 of the Act.

In order to avoid the need for litigation, I invite you to make me an appropriate offer of recompense. You may also wish to consider taking advice from colleagues in Human Resources before advertising jobs in future.

Please let me have your reply within fourteen days.”

I will blog again when I get a reply from Mr Cummings, or perhaps from one of his young assistants. If I don’t get a reply I will have to think about what to do next.