Standing our ground in the Labour Party

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Today I attended the Annual General Meeting of Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party (CLP) General Committee (GC) where my comrades did me the honour of electing me for a fourth year as Chair of the CLP. I will be pleased to serve alongside fellow socialists, our new Secretary Tim Wilkinson and re-elected Treasurer, Claire Wadey (as well as all the other elected officers).

Whilst the eyes of the media (and social media) are focused upon the leadership election, which is hardly an inspiring sight, Labour Party members and activists need to focus on building our Party, in every locality, as a campaigning force.

As important as it is to work to maximise the Labour vote in all forthcoming elections (including – in Sussex – the election for Police and Crime Commissioner in May), it is equally important that our Party is at the heart of local campaigns (such as the campaign to see that the Brighton General Hospital site is used for social housing and the benefit of local people).

I know that many good activists (many of them socialists) have, over many years, prioritised campaigning (whether about community issues, environmental issues, peace, anti-racism, women’s rights, liberation politics, international issues or generally in support of social progress) – such campaigns have won important victories (just as trade union struggle can win – and has sometimes won - such victories).

However, without a political party which can challenge for office (and even, perhaps, power) our movement can never hope to go toe-to-toe with the ruling class. Grassroots campaigning can be a line of defence against the onslaught of neoliberalism – but cannot become an offensive force capable of challenging the system, the victims of which it is defending.

There are those who might dream of some alternative political party of the left, which would be better than our complex, messy, argumentative Labour Party as a repository for their hopes and dreams. The evidence of decades of political experience is that this dream is just that – a dream, which all too often descends into a sectarian nightmare.

Good socialists should stand our ground in the Labour Party come what may, continue to argue for socialist policies within our Party, and campaign, as Labour Party members, in our communities to defend our people from the attacks from the Tory Government and to promote the interests of our class. I hope that we shall continue to do our little bit in the coming year in our corner of Brighton.

The best man for the job?

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This is one of those blog posts which I need to start by reminding you that this is a personal blog, and that anything I say here is simply my own personal opinion, which has no relationship to any of the positions I hold – or have ever held – within our movement.

Owing to work I needed to do to prepare for our Constituency Labour Party (CLP) nominating meeting on Saturday, I missed an opportunity to attend a meeting addressed by Kier Starmer in Hove earlier this evening.

I am sorry to have missed this meeting, not so much because I am particularly tempted to give Mr Starmer my first preference when it comes to voting for Leader of our Party, but because there appear to be a non-negligible number of members (including some who shared my strong support for Jeremy Corbyn) who are thinking of doing just that.

It does strike me as a little odd just how many people who (in other circumstances perhaps) might agree that it’s time we caught up with the Tories and the Liberals by electing our first female Leader (having a choice of three eligible candidates) have been so easily convinced that Mr Starmer is “the best man for the job.” 

UNISON (the Union with a million women members) hastily nailed its colours to Mr Starmer’s mast without any widespread consultation with its majority female membership (unlike what was done in 2016).

Mr Starmer is sold to us as the most “electable” of the four candidates for Leader, although this is an unconvincing pitch if made for him or any of the candidates (since whatever they have done in the past, none of them have yet faced the hostile scrutiny which can be anticipated for any Labour Leader who promises to promote public ownership – as all four candidates have).

I think that what it really means to say that many people see Mr Starmer as “electable” and “the best man for the job” is that he looks – to them – like a candidate for Prime Minister.

What are they seeing?

I do think that they are seeing him as a man (rather than a woman). It’s hard to “see” a female Labour Prime Minister when there has never been one – and I wish that the Party nationally had put even as much effort into briefing our members about unconscious bias ahead of this Leadership election as we did locally before the selection of Council candidates.

But Mr Starmer is not just any man. He is a barrister (a job that trains people to speak convincingly whether or not they believe in what they are saying) – and he was such a successful barrister that he became a fully-fledged member of the “great and the good”. Not only was he appointed as Director of Public Prosecutions (and then knighted), but he was chosen to be a member of the Trilateral Commission (a self-selecting group of the liberal Atlanticist international establishment).

To me, accepting an offer of membership of the Trilateral Commission says something about Mr Starmer’s judgment which is at least as damaging as his decision to resign during the “chicken coup” of 2016 (when members of the Shadow Cabinet organised a series of resignations with a view to “breaking” our then Leader, Jeremy Corbyn). For whatever reason, Mr Starmer is a man who welcomes being invited into the ranks of the “great and good.” When asked to choose between loyalty to a principled socialist and commitment to the status quo, Mr Starmer chose the latter.

I fear – in any possible future Leader of our Party – that misplaced deference to “social superiors” of which Ramsay MacDonald was accused. However, it seems that many of my fellow Party members look at a clean-cut, well-groomed, well-spoken man, apparently respected by powerful people and see – in that vision – a potential Leader for our Party.

Those who look at Kier Starmer and see “the best man for the job” of leading our Party have internalised the belief that our Leader must look like one of “them” (rather than one of “us”), must be accepted by “them” and therefore – although they don’t want to admit this to themselves – must be one of “them”.

The fact is that, of the four candidates for Leader of our Party, Kier might well be the best “man” for the job – but there might be three better candidates for Leader.

Reorganisation of local government in Sussex in 2020 - We Wunt Be Druv!

The Government are keen to make any offer of increased powers to local authorities conditional upon devolution to reorganised local government structures, including more “metro mayors” (where a single elected individual directs the delivery of services across a number of local government units). This may well be reflected in a forthcoming White Paper.

In Sussex we need more powers for our local authorities. To make traffic in our city of Brighton and Hove run we need the powers that London Boroughs have in relation to “red routes”, in many seaside towns we need the power to raise tourist taxes to provide the additional resources to pump prime community wealth building and we need enhanced planning powers to require the provision of genuinely affordable housing in sufficient quantities from property developers who can afford to appeal decisions made by local authorities.

However, there is not a shred of evidence that local people in Sussex want a change in our local government structures in order to have these local powers for the Councillors we elect. We were given a Duke of Sussex we didn’t ask for and that hasn’t turned out well, we don’t need a Mayor of Sussex to go with him (or to stay after he has gone). East and West Sussex County Councils might manage for a while with one Chief Executive – but that doesn’t mean that the people of Sussex have asked for a change in local government structures.

The people of Sussex could make good choices with greater local powers, but we won’t want to be forced into changes we didn’t ask for in order to get those powers – and I hope that our local Tories will be as loyal to Sussex as they can expect that the rest of us will be.

We Wunt Be Druv.