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| Let’s stick together: Labour’s first-termers share their hopes and fears for 2016 | Let’s stick together: Labour’s first-termers share their hopes and fears for 2016 |
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| Stephen Kinnock: ‘Splits and reshuffles? Let’s not go there’ | Stephen Kinnock: ‘Splits and reshuffles? Let’s not go there’ |
| To say that 2015 was a difficult year for Labour party is an understatement. Still reeling from the crushing defeat at the ballot box in May, we rushed headlong into the most divisive leadership election in living memory and, from there, straight into a maelstrom of in-fighting, factionalism and acrimony. “Things,” as they say, “can only get better...” | To say that 2015 was a difficult year for Labour party is an understatement. Still reeling from the crushing defeat at the ballot box in May, we rushed headlong into the most divisive leadership election in living memory and, from there, straight into a maelstrom of in-fighting, factionalism and acrimony. “Things,” as they say, “can only get better...” |
| This will require large doses of maturity and common sense on both sides of the equation. | This will require large doses of maturity and common sense on both sides of the equation. |
| The parliamentary Labour party must accept the fact that Jeremy was elected with a thumping mandate, and that he needs time and space to establish himself, while party members have to understand that MPs are representatives, not delegates: we were elected to serve our constituents on the basis of our manifesto, not via random straw polls, or through who’s shouting loudest on Twitter this week. The day that we start crowd-sourcing the whip is the day that we cease to exist as a serious political party. | The parliamentary Labour party must accept the fact that Jeremy was elected with a thumping mandate, and that he needs time and space to establish himself, while party members have to understand that MPs are representatives, not delegates: we were elected to serve our constituents on the basis of our manifesto, not via random straw polls, or through who’s shouting loudest on Twitter this week. The day that we start crowd-sourcing the whip is the day that we cease to exist as a serious political party. |
| It is also critically important that we define our purpose, mission and project. In September, I published a pamphlet – A New Nation: Building a United Kingdom of Purpose, Patriotism and Resilience – that was my “starter for 10” contribution to the debate about the future of the Labour party. The entire Labour movement now has a golden opportunity to rethink, rebuild and relaunch: let’s seize it, with both hands. | It is also critically important that we define our purpose, mission and project. In September, I published a pamphlet – A New Nation: Building a United Kingdom of Purpose, Patriotism and Resilience – that was my “starter for 10” contribution to the debate about the future of the Labour party. The entire Labour movement now has a golden opportunity to rethink, rebuild and relaunch: let’s seize it, with both hands. |
| This will also be the year in which we will win the EU referendum. Labour is now the only pro-European national party of any significance, and we must present our arguments with pragmatism, passion and patriotism. If we go into the referendum campaign in the right frame of mind, we will demonstrate that we are the only party that truly fights for the national interest, and a by-product of this is that we will emerge as a more united and credible party of government | This will also be the year in which we will win the EU referendum. Labour is now the only pro-European national party of any significance, and we must present our arguments with pragmatism, passion and patriotism. If we go into the referendum campaign in the right frame of mind, we will demonstrate that we are the only party that truly fights for the national interest, and a by-product of this is that we will emerge as a more united and credible party of government |
| Set against the backdrop of these momentous challenges and opportunities, the chatter about splits and reshuffles rapidly becomes little more than noises-off. Let’s not go there. Our hopelessly undemocratic first-past-the-post electoral system would strangle any split at birth, and a reshuffle would simply leave people confused about what this fabled “new kind of politics” is all about. It’s a waste of time and energy. The Tories are our opponents. They are impoverishing and dividing our country. Let’s turn our fire on them, not on each other.Last year taught us that making predictions in politics is a mug’s game, but I will stick my neck out and say this: 2016 will be a make-or-break year for the Labour party. | Set against the backdrop of these momentous challenges and opportunities, the chatter about splits and reshuffles rapidly becomes little more than noises-off. Let’s not go there. Our hopelessly undemocratic first-past-the-post electoral system would strangle any split at birth, and a reshuffle would simply leave people confused about what this fabled “new kind of politics” is all about. It’s a waste of time and energy. The Tories are our opponents. They are impoverishing and dividing our country. Let’s turn our fire on them, not on each other.Last year taught us that making predictions in politics is a mug’s game, but I will stick my neck out and say this: 2016 will be a make-or-break year for the Labour party. |
| Stephen Kinnock is MP for Aberavon | Stephen Kinnock is MP for Aberavon |
| Jess Phillips : ‘All of you, pack it in! Let’s change the sodding world’ | Jess Phillips : ‘All of you, pack it in! Let’s change the sodding world’ |
| It might just be because I may lack imagination, but I cannot foresee a Labour split. Two parties, one from the Corbyn left and one New Labour, would be a plague on both their houses. Both the New Labour gang and Corbyn’s Britain are aping the past. Both have their merits. Who isn’t jealous of their socially mobile baby-boomer parents having the best of everything with a cherry on top? So I get Corbyn’s retro cradle-to-grave message. I also remember the Blair years. As a newly liberated woman wearing too much eyeliner and Doc Martens, the late 90s told me I could do anything. When doing anything meant I found myself age 22 with a baby, the Blair years picked me up, brushed me down and screamed girl power in my face.But the world has moved on, and Labour hasn’t. We need to build, not just nostalgically repair. | It might just be because I may lack imagination, but I cannot foresee a Labour split. Two parties, one from the Corbyn left and one New Labour, would be a plague on both their houses. Both the New Labour gang and Corbyn’s Britain are aping the past. Both have their merits. Who isn’t jealous of their socially mobile baby-boomer parents having the best of everything with a cherry on top? So I get Corbyn’s retro cradle-to-grave message. I also remember the Blair years. As a newly liberated woman wearing too much eyeliner and Doc Martens, the late 90s told me I could do anything. When doing anything meant I found myself age 22 with a baby, the Blair years picked me up, brushed me down and screamed girl power in my face.But the world has moved on, and Labour hasn’t. We need to build, not just nostalgically repair. |
| I have no idea what the factions actually stand for. I’m not interested in platitudes or buzzwords like “anti-austerity” or “aspiration”. Party thinking at the moment is like a drunk game of Boggle. I’d like some ideas for radical change. Stuff for the future that will be good for my kids, not the same stuff I had. | I have no idea what the factions actually stand for. I’m not interested in platitudes or buzzwords like “anti-austerity” or “aspiration”. Party thinking at the moment is like a drunk game of Boggle. I’d like some ideas for radical change. Stuff for the future that will be good for my kids, not the same stuff I had. |
| At the moment, we can barely have a conversation, let alone be a forum for innovation. The new politics seem to be anything but new. As for straight-talking and honest, they’re neither. The same old leaking and briefing happens and politicians get tied up, in “not not” answers: “There is not not a reshuffle”; “I don’t not support the leader”; “it’s not, not a free vote, it’s a sort of half free vote, but not free in terms of no costs or consequences, you know the other sort of free”. If Jeremy wants to get discipline through scare stories on reshuffles, I’d much rather he was straight-talking. If I were him I would stand up in the first PLP meeting of 2016 and bellow: “All of you, pack it in! Let’s stop bleeding moaning like a child who got clothes instead of an Xbox at Christmas and crack on with changing the sodding world.” | At the moment, we can barely have a conversation, let alone be a forum for innovation. The new politics seem to be anything but new. As for straight-talking and honest, they’re neither. The same old leaking and briefing happens and politicians get tied up, in “not not” answers: “There is not not a reshuffle”; “I don’t not support the leader”; “it’s not, not a free vote, it’s a sort of half free vote, but not free in terms of no costs or consequences, you know the other sort of free”. If Jeremy wants to get discipline through scare stories on reshuffles, I’d much rather he was straight-talking. If I were him I would stand up in the first PLP meeting of 2016 and bellow: “All of you, pack it in! Let’s stop bleeding moaning like a child who got clothes instead of an Xbox at Christmas and crack on with changing the sodding world.” |
| Jess Phillips is MP for Birmingham Yardley | Jess Phillips is MP for Birmingham Yardley |
| Melanie Onn: ‘Say we have a future together. I can’t stand the silence’ | Melanie Onn: ‘Say we have a future together. I can’t stand the silence’ |
| Are we heading for a split? Peter Hyman can’t see us going the distance. But we’ve come so far. Yes, these are tough times, we’re figuring out who we are again, it’s been a bruising few months. But don’t throw it all away now. | Are we heading for a split? Peter Hyman can’t see us going the distance. But we’ve come so far. Yes, these are tough times, we’re figuring out who we are again, it’s been a bruising few months. But don’t throw it all away now. |
| You are the love of my life. I have devoted my spare time, let down my family, put you above holidays, birthdays, friends’ firstborns. And I’m not alone; others do the same. So please, Labour party, say it ain’t so. Text, email, WhatsApp – I don’t care how you do it but say we’ve got a future together. I can’t stand the silence. | You are the love of my life. I have devoted my spare time, let down my family, put you above holidays, birthdays, friends’ firstborns. And I’m not alone; others do the same. So please, Labour party, say it ain’t so. Text, email, WhatsApp – I don’t care how you do it but say we’ve got a future together. I can’t stand the silence. |
| People from your past think they know you better than I do. They say we can’t survive, but they’re not in the thick of it. The world has changed, we need to change, too – but not dump all the lessons we learned, nor our friends, either. Stronger together, remember. | People from your past think they know you better than I do. They say we can’t survive, but they’re not in the thick of it. The world has changed, we need to change, too – but not dump all the lessons we learned, nor our friends, either. Stronger together, remember. |
| We’ve got so much in common: wanting to reduce inequality, build safe communities, protect the vulnerable, provide high-quality public services, restore national pride – with Britain playing a leading role globally – put political choice and power closer to people. The differences? Can’t we set them aside until we have settled some of the bigger issues? | We’ve got so much in common: wanting to reduce inequality, build safe communities, protect the vulnerable, provide high-quality public services, restore national pride – with Britain playing a leading role globally – put political choice and power closer to people. The differences? Can’t we set them aside until we have settled some of the bigger issues? |
| Related: ‘This is an existential moment in Labour’s history. It may not survive. And it may never win again’ | Peter Hayman | Related: ‘This is an existential moment in Labour’s history. It may not survive. And it may never win again’ | Peter Hayman |
| I don’t want to separate. What is it? You want to see other people? Forget it, no way. This is no time to experiment. We are already letting people down, they’re avoiding us in public, we have to focus on the things that bring us together, and not splash our first thoughts all over Twitter. You know which buttons to press, so don’t. Let’s try it for a week. It is new year, after all. | I don’t want to separate. What is it? You want to see other people? Forget it, no way. This is no time to experiment. We are already letting people down, they’re avoiding us in public, we have to focus on the things that bring us together, and not splash our first thoughts all over Twitter. You know which buttons to press, so don’t. Let’s try it for a week. It is new year, after all. |
| Melanie Onn is MP for Great Grimsby | Melanie Onn is MP for Great Grimsby |
| Cat Smith: ‘Unite or get another Tory government’ | Cat Smith: ‘Unite or get another Tory government’ |
| As I bucked the trend and defeated a Conservative MP at the general election, it was with mixed feelings that I entered Westminster into a smaller parliamentary group than I had expected. I then nominated Jeremy Corbyn and was told I had ended my parliamentary career in the first month of the job. Luckily, I have never cared for a parliamentary career, so I didn’t much care. Since then, and on the front bench, I’m clear that I was elected to fight Tories – not fellow Labour MPs. | As I bucked the trend and defeated a Conservative MP at the general election, it was with mixed feelings that I entered Westminster into a smaller parliamentary group than I had expected. I then nominated Jeremy Corbyn and was told I had ended my parliamentary career in the first month of the job. Luckily, I have never cared for a parliamentary career, so I didn’t much care. Since then, and on the front bench, I’m clear that I was elected to fight Tories – not fellow Labour MPs. |
| I wouldn’t have predicted what happened in 2015, so it’s with huge caution I make any predictions this year. | I wouldn’t have predicted what happened in 2015, so it’s with huge caution I make any predictions this year. |
| One thing we know will happen is elections in May. Labour got a battering in Scotland in the general election and to say that the Scottish parliament elections will be challenging is an understatement. | One thing we know will happen is elections in May. Labour got a battering in Scotland in the general election and to say that the Scottish parliament elections will be challenging is an understatement. |
| I suspect that no matter what the result, there will be some who will blame it all on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, but we must face the truth: for too long we were complacent with our core vote, instead chasing a mythical “middle England”. | I suspect that no matter what the result, there will be some who will blame it all on Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, but we must face the truth: for too long we were complacent with our core vote, instead chasing a mythical “middle England”. |
| That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to appeal to a broad range of voters – we should. But when we ignored our core vote, they found other places to put their X on the ballot paper. In Scotland, it’s been for the SNP, and in England and Wales, for Ukip and the Greens. In 2016, we need to unite as a party to reconnect with our estranged voters or risk a Tory government again. | That’s not to say we shouldn’t try to appeal to a broad range of voters – we should. But when we ignored our core vote, they found other places to put their X on the ballot paper. In Scotland, it’s been for the SNP, and in England and Wales, for Ukip and the Greens. In 2016, we need to unite as a party to reconnect with our estranged voters or risk a Tory government again. |
| At 30 years old, I don’t remember the divisions of the 1980s but I know my history and I know that we need to unite as a Party and remember to take the fight to the Tories. | At 30 years old, I don’t remember the divisions of the 1980s but I know my history and I know that we need to unite as a Party and remember to take the fight to the Tories. |
| Cat Smith is MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood | Cat Smith is MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood |
| Wes Streeting: ‘It’s no time for introspection or division. We can win together’ | Wes Streeting: ‘It’s no time for introspection or division. We can win together’ |
| It is hard to imagine that this time last year, the Labour party had high hopes of returning to government. Since the election, Labour has moved even further away from being a credible alternative in the eyes of the public. | It is hard to imagine that this time last year, the Labour party had high hopes of returning to government. Since the election, Labour has moved even further away from being a credible alternative in the eyes of the public. |
| The Conservative party is neither strong nor unbeatable. Their record since May reads like a litany of failure: from failing to meet their own economic targets to ducking major decisions like airport expansion. On the biggest question of our time – Britain’s membership of the European Union, internal strife has left the government without a clear position, as party interest trumps national interest. | The Conservative party is neither strong nor unbeatable. Their record since May reads like a litany of failure: from failing to meet their own economic targets to ducking major decisions like airport expansion. On the biggest question of our time – Britain’s membership of the European Union, internal strife has left the government without a clear position, as party interest trumps national interest. |
| Over Christmas we should have been taking the Tories to task over their budget cuts for flood defences. Instead, damaging briefing from the top of the party meant Labour’s main message was about a shadow cabinet reshuffle. | Over Christmas we should have been taking the Tories to task over their budget cuts for flood defences. Instead, damaging briefing from the top of the party meant Labour’s main message was about a shadow cabinet reshuffle. |
| This is no time for divisive reshuffles or an introspective debate about party structures. We face important elections in May. It’s reasonable to expect that Labour should hold Wales comfortably, stem the SNP surge in Scotland and gain councillors across England. A dynamic candidate like Sadiq Khan should walk the London mayoralty against a wet and dreary opponent like Zac Goldsmith. Labour in local government should be cherished as a basis for our organisational and intellectual renewal. | This is no time for divisive reshuffles or an introspective debate about party structures. We face important elections in May. It’s reasonable to expect that Labour should hold Wales comfortably, stem the SNP surge in Scotland and gain councillors across England. A dynamic candidate like Sadiq Khan should walk the London mayoralty against a wet and dreary opponent like Zac Goldsmith. Labour in local government should be cherished as a basis for our organisational and intellectual renewal. |
| Beating the Tories requires focused opposition and an open, inclusive and outward-looking debate about how Labour can answer the big questions facing our country. | Beating the Tories requires focused opposition and an open, inclusive and outward-looking debate about how Labour can answer the big questions facing our country. |
| More than 100 years ago the Labour movement concluded that winning and exercising power was the only way to make a real difference to people’s lives. That tradition, whether it’s described as revisionist or modernising, is hard-wired in the Labour party’s DNA. We need that spirit again. A mainstream centre-left party can win in 2020. | More than 100 years ago the Labour movement concluded that winning and exercising power was the only way to make a real difference to people’s lives. That tradition, whether it’s described as revisionist or modernising, is hard-wired in the Labour party’s DNA. We need that spirit again. A mainstream centre-left party can win in 2020. |
| Wes Streeting is MP for Ilford North | Wes Streeting is MP for Ilford North |
| Nick Thomas-Symonds: ‘Attlee resolved the party rows and achieved great things’ | Nick Thomas-Symonds: ‘Attlee resolved the party rows and achieved great things’ |
| In the Labour party, we can certainly make some new year’s resolutions. There are the obvious ones, such as starting to win elections again, but also those that are more fundamental. We need to re-learn the lessons of our party’s history: if we are to unite the electorate in opposition to this government’s destructive policies, we must be united as a party. | |
| Jeremy Corbyn’s resounding victory in the leadership election has expanded our membership and we have to draw on the talents of all our members, longstanding and new, in the years ahead. The subject of my first biography, Clement Attlee, confirms that the Labour party has always been a broad church. His leadership is rightly remembered for the great legacy of his 1945 governmentBut the path to such progress was not smooth, with regular conflicts caused both by policy disagreements and clashes of egos that Attlee resolved in the name of unity. | Jeremy Corbyn’s resounding victory in the leadership election has expanded our membership and we have to draw on the talents of all our members, longstanding and new, in the years ahead. The subject of my first biography, Clement Attlee, confirms that the Labour party has always been a broad church. His leadership is rightly remembered for the great legacy of his 1945 governmentBut the path to such progress was not smooth, with regular conflicts caused both by policy disagreements and clashes of egos that Attlee resolved in the name of unity. |
| That unity should be our watchword. Factional games do nothing to help those who need a Labour government, and talk of splitting is just a self-indulgent fantasy. Because while unity alone will not be enough to win the next election – we have to convince people about our economic policies as well as about running public services – it is a necessary pre-cursor. | That unity should be our watchword. Factional games do nothing to help those who need a Labour government, and talk of splitting is just a self-indulgent fantasy. Because while unity alone will not be enough to win the next election – we have to convince people about our economic policies as well as about running public services – it is a necessary pre-cursor. |
| Our MPs – including my very talented colleagues in the 2015 intake – are eminently capable of taking the fight to the government. It was Labour MPs, led by shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Owen Smith, and others, who forced the government to back down on tax credit cuts. Labour-led opposition forced the government to make a U-turn on police cuts. When we work together we can make a difference, despite not having a Commons majority. Every time Labour has been in opposition, people have written us off. But we have come back before and, united, we will come back again. | Our MPs – including my very talented colleagues in the 2015 intake – are eminently capable of taking the fight to the government. It was Labour MPs, led by shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Owen Smith, and others, who forced the government to back down on tax credit cuts. Labour-led opposition forced the government to make a U-turn on police cuts. When we work together we can make a difference, despite not having a Commons majority. Every time Labour has been in opposition, people have written us off. But we have come back before and, united, we will come back again. |
| Nick Thomas-Symonds is MP for Torfaen | Nick Thomas-Symonds is MP for Torfaen |
| Jo Cox: ‘We should not become simply a pressure group’ | Jo Cox: ‘We should not become simply a pressure group’ |
| As someone who has worked with and for different types of pressure groups most of my adult life, I feel well-placed to judge what it feels like to be in one. And I’m sad to say I’m starting to get that feeling. | As someone who has worked with and for different types of pressure groups most of my adult life, I feel well-placed to judge what it feels like to be in one. And I’m sad to say I’m starting to get that feeling. |
| Don’t get me wrong, I believe these groups are key in changing the world for the better and the work they do is vital. Indeed, before I entered politics I spent my life working for pressure groups of one type or another (the Burma Campaign, Oxfam, NSPCC ... the list goes on).But the Labour party is not and must not become just another pressure group. Its role is to be a potential party of government, to translate progressive demands and ideas into actionable policies that change lives. It should, of course, campaign and protest, come up with policies and conduct research but the thing that What sets it apart is its ability to win elections and to govern, and it is that on which it must be judged. | Don’t get me wrong, I believe these groups are key in changing the world for the better and the work they do is vital. Indeed, before I entered politics I spent my life working for pressure groups of one type or another (the Burma Campaign, Oxfam, NSPCC ... the list goes on).But the Labour party is not and must not become just another pressure group. Its role is to be a potential party of government, to translate progressive demands and ideas into actionable policies that change lives. It should, of course, campaign and protest, come up with policies and conduct research but the thing that What sets it apart is its ability to win elections and to govern, and it is that on which it must be judged. |
| As a new MP I can already sense some of the negative attributes of being a pressure group creeping in: a tendency to focus on your own supporters at the expense of the public; a danger of only engaging with the like-minded; competition on the basis of how ideologically pure you are rather than how effective you have been; a slightly self-indulgent attitude of berating those in power without seriously engaging in the difficult trade-offs and decisions that must be made. | As a new MP I can already sense some of the negative attributes of being a pressure group creeping in: a tendency to focus on your own supporters at the expense of the public; a danger of only engaging with the like-minded; competition on the basis of how ideologically pure you are rather than how effective you have been; a slightly self-indulgent attitude of berating those in power without seriously engaging in the difficult trade-offs and decisions that must be made. |
| It’s still early days in Jeremy’s leadership and I want our party to stay united and to succeed. I want the energy he has harnessed to be fruitful. I want straight-talking politics and a Labour party willing to take risks. But I don’t want us to become a pressure group, shouting from the sidelines about the unfairness of the rules when our job should be to make them. | It’s still early days in Jeremy’s leadership and I want our party to stay united and to succeed. I want the energy he has harnessed to be fruitful. I want straight-talking politics and a Labour party willing to take risks. But I don’t want us to become a pressure group, shouting from the sidelines about the unfairness of the rules when our job should be to make them. |
| Jo Cox is MP for Batley and Spen | Jo Cox is MP for Batley and Spen |
| Neil Coyle: ‘We must not defenestrate our past but come together to win’ | Neil Coyle: ‘We must not defenestrate our past but come together to win’ |
| As we enter 2016, debate focuses on Labour’s future. Observer pieces highlighted policies and I hope the party produces a strategy which unifies it, rather than tears it apart before we even reach the key test of May’s elections.Lack of strategic direction in 2015 contributed to own-goals and division. If it isn’t frontbench gaffes, it’s the perceived lack of commitment to the armed forces or armed police officers distracting from government blunders. The reactive approach has been harmful to Labour. Only a coherent strategy, focused on what we seek to achieve under Jeremy Corbyn, can transform our prospects. | As we enter 2016, debate focuses on Labour’s future. Observer pieces highlighted policies and I hope the party produces a strategy which unifies it, rather than tears it apart before we even reach the key test of May’s elections.Lack of strategic direction in 2015 contributed to own-goals and division. If it isn’t frontbench gaffes, it’s the perceived lack of commitment to the armed forces or armed police officers distracting from government blunders. The reactive approach has been harmful to Labour. Only a coherent strategy, focused on what we seek to achieve under Jeremy Corbyn, can transform our prospects. |
| The strategy must end the defenestration approach to former Labour government achievements. It was Labour that introduced the very tax credits that Jeremy Corbyn was defending. It was Labour who increased police numbers. Continually doing down our achievements is more than harmful; it alienates the people who voted those governments into office and denies Labour a link to policies which benefited millions of people. | The strategy must end the defenestration approach to former Labour government achievements. It was Labour that introduced the very tax credits that Jeremy Corbyn was defending. It was Labour who increased police numbers. Continually doing down our achievements is more than harmful; it alienates the people who voted those governments into office and denies Labour a link to policies which benefited millions of people. |
| We must be cautious about being “anti-austerity”. Only a small section of the overall population knows what politicos mean by it. To the general public austerity is generally understood to mean economic competence and financial planning. A strategy including opposing those measures will be construed as risky. | We must be cautious about being “anti-austerity”. Only a small section of the overall population knows what politicos mean by it. To the general public austerity is generally understood to mean economic competence and financial planning. A strategy including opposing those measures will be construed as risky. |
| Balancing the books and investing in the future are areas where Labour can beat the Tories. Their short-term approach focuses on numbers in columns rather than a genuine long-term commitment to improving the UK. We’ve seen it this winter in the floods. Years of axing defence spending has meant an inability to cope with such severe weather. | Balancing the books and investing in the future are areas where Labour can beat the Tories. Their short-term approach focuses on numbers in columns rather than a genuine long-term commitment to improving the UK. We’ve seen it this winter in the floods. Years of axing defence spending has meant an inability to cope with such severe weather. |
| The public must grow in confidence that we have the right plans for the longer term. And their confidence in our shadow team must be raised. When Labour under Blair took office after 18 long years in the wilderness, people didn’t just know our leader, they also knew he had a quality team in Cook, Mowlam, Blunkett, Brown, Prescott and Beckett. None agreed wholesale with him. The idea that Corbyn must only include clones and drones in the shadow cabinet is farcical. It’s not a strategy for winning, it would be another strategic own goal. | The public must grow in confidence that we have the right plans for the longer term. And their confidence in our shadow team must be raised. When Labour under Blair took office after 18 long years in the wilderness, people didn’t just know our leader, they also knew he had a quality team in Cook, Mowlam, Blunkett, Brown, Prescott and Beckett. None agreed wholesale with him. The idea that Corbyn must only include clones and drones in the shadow cabinet is farcical. It’s not a strategy for winning, it would be another strategic own goal. |
| Neil Coyle is MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark | Neil Coyle is MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark |
| Matthew Pennycook: ‘The overwhelming majority respect the leadership result’ | Matthew Pennycook: ‘The overwhelming majority respect the leadership result’ |
| Ignore the endless speculation; the Labour party is not about to split. Politics may be far more fluid and fragmented now than in 1981 but conditions for a breakaway are no more propitious. Subject to the merciless logic of the first past the post electoral system, a schism would achieve little beyond prolonging Tory rule. | Ignore the endless speculation; the Labour party is not about to split. Politics may be far more fluid and fragmented now than in 1981 but conditions for a breakaway are no more propitious. Subject to the merciless logic of the first past the post electoral system, a schism would achieve little beyond prolonging Tory rule. |
| A new, distinct centre-left project does not exist in embryo. Of course differences abound, but the idea that the party is now home to two homogeneous and irreconcilable camps just doesn’t ring true. And the same is true for our membership. My local party includes a minority who signed up solely to vote for Jeremy as leader. Yet it also includes hundreds of longstanding activists who did the same to register their discontent with what they felt to be a shrunken, inauthentic and uninspiring offer from the Labour mainstream. | A new, distinct centre-left project does not exist in embryo. Of course differences abound, but the idea that the party is now home to two homogeneous and irreconcilable camps just doesn’t ring true. And the same is true for our membership. My local party includes a minority who signed up solely to vote for Jeremy as leader. Yet it also includes hundreds of longstanding activists who did the same to register their discontent with what they felt to be a shrunken, inauthentic and uninspiring offer from the Labour mainstream. |
| The overwhelming majority of Labour members, whoever they supported, respect the outcome of the leadership contest. Their judgment, like the judgment of the British people as a whole, will be unforgiving if we do not find a way to move beyond the current destructive impasse and chart a course between recidivist Bennism and a hollowed-out centrist technocracy. Matthew Pennycook is MP for Greenwich and Woolwich | The overwhelming majority of Labour members, whoever they supported, respect the outcome of the leadership contest. Their judgment, like the judgment of the British people as a whole, will be unforgiving if we do not find a way to move beyond the current destructive impasse and chart a course between recidivist Bennism and a hollowed-out centrist technocracy. Matthew Pennycook is MP for Greenwich and Woolwich |
| Louise Haigh: ‘Bringing down Corbyn would be an act of betrayal’ | Louise Haigh: ‘Bringing down Corbyn would be an act of betrayal’ |
| New Labour was a response to a Tory party in tatters, besieged by scandal, its fiscal credibility in ruins, tired and out of ideas. Labour found itself in exactly the same predicament 13 years later when David Cameron proved himself the heir to Blair. But while Cameron ruthlessly capitalised on the crash to serve his own political means, the biggest mistake of New Labour, and the reason why Corbyn was so successful last summer, was that it failed to redefine the centre ground, merely picking up where the Tories had left off. A failure which has steadily alienated vast swaths of the electorate. | New Labour was a response to a Tory party in tatters, besieged by scandal, its fiscal credibility in ruins, tired and out of ideas. Labour found itself in exactly the same predicament 13 years later when David Cameron proved himself the heir to Blair. But while Cameron ruthlessly capitalised on the crash to serve his own political means, the biggest mistake of New Labour, and the reason why Corbyn was so successful last summer, was that it failed to redefine the centre ground, merely picking up where the Tories had left off. A failure which has steadily alienated vast swaths of the electorate. |
| This is what Corbyn offers – a chance to redefine British politics and reshape the centre ground. | This is what Corbyn offers – a chance to redefine British politics and reshape the centre ground. |
| Related: Calls for Labour to split are indulgent when the priority is to engage voters | Marc Stears | Related: Calls for Labour to split are indulgent when the priority is to engage voters | Marc Stears |
| We owe it to all those who put their faith in Corbyn and in Labour to give our support, energy and ideas to make it successful. Otherwise, really, what is the point of politicians? | We owe it to all those who put their faith in Corbyn and in Labour to give our support, energy and ideas to make it successful. Otherwise, really, what is the point of politicians? |
| But clearly the responsibility to keep quiet and be loyal does not lie only with those who find themselves in opposition to the leadership. The victors must also resist the temptation to dig their heels in and attempt to stamp out division by crushing dissent. We must build consensus around those vital areas we can agree on and on the basis Jeremy was elected – the Tories’ economic failures, the need for government and reformed private investment, an end to further cuts damaging the fabric of our society, and a genuinely new politics that brings us closer and more in touch with our communities. | But clearly the responsibility to keep quiet and be loyal does not lie only with those who find themselves in opposition to the leadership. The victors must also resist the temptation to dig their heels in and attempt to stamp out division by crushing dissent. We must build consensus around those vital areas we can agree on and on the basis Jeremy was elected – the Tories’ economic failures, the need for government and reformed private investment, an end to further cuts damaging the fabric of our society, and a genuinely new politics that brings us closer and more in touch with our communities. |
| All these new projects, Labour for the Common Good, Momentum, are not factions in a divisive or destructive way but vehicles that are necessary for thought and policy development, just as Peter Hyman called for. And they are all necessary to help Labour survive and win again.Those who seek to undermine and destroy Corbyn will not find themselves rising phoenix-like from the ashes to rule again. Bringing down a leader that has brought hope to a new generation would be a betrayal not just of their faith but of the legacy of all those who have built our party over the generations. | All these new projects, Labour for the Common Good, Momentum, are not factions in a divisive or destructive way but vehicles that are necessary for thought and policy development, just as Peter Hyman called for. And they are all necessary to help Labour survive and win again.Those who seek to undermine and destroy Corbyn will not find themselves rising phoenix-like from the ashes to rule again. Bringing down a leader that has brought hope to a new generation would be a betrayal not just of their faith but of the legacy of all those who have built our party over the generations. |
| Louise Haigh is MP for Sheffield Heeley | Louise Haigh is MP for Sheffield Heeley |