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.