I think it’s about time I register an interest on this blog. It may not come as a surprise if you’re a regular reader as I have alluded to it on multiple occasions and am, by my own admission, a screaming lefty liberal, but I have not yet explicitly stated it. As of November last year, I am a member of the Labour Party. Not an especially controversial revelation, but one I feel I should disclose nonetheless.
I have been a member of the Co-Operative Party for a little longer, joining that party about 6 months before joining Labour. It’s an idea I have toyed with since University, joining Labour, but that I did not fully commit to until last November. On the 1st of December 2022, one day before my birthday, a by-election was held in my constituency of the City of Chester, where I have lived since early 2020.
I canvassed throughout the campaign for the Labour candidate, Samantha Dixon, now my MP. I felt that whilst I was not a member at the time, Chester needed Labour representation in the Commons. It would have shamed me to see my city represented in Parliament by another Johnsonian bootlicker Tory, so I gave my time and my efforts to help elect a Labour member.
The election was rather high-profile on the national stage and attracted all the heavy-hitters of the modern Labour Party to help out with Sam’s campaign. Whilst canvassing, I met Labour activists from across the country and a few shadow frontbenchers including Angela Rayner, Emily Thornberry, Shabana Mahmood, and Lisa Nandy.
In mid-November, after a Saturday afternoon canvassing session with activists from Lewisham, I found myself sitting alongside Vicky Foxcroft, the Shadow Disabilities Minister, in a city centre pub. Over one or two pints of good local beer, we got to chatting, eventually reaching the subject of my non-existent Labour membership.
Vicky, being as excellent a campaigner as she is, extolled to me the virtues of the modern Labour Party. She told me about Keir Starmer, with whom she was quite familiar, about what he wants for Britain, why he has shaped the party in the way he has over the last few years, and how he took it from an unelectable collection of idealists to the Government-in-waiting we see today.
When she asked me why I was not a member, I could not give her a straight answer. I said that I did not feel the party was for me under Jeremy Corbyn, and that I, to my embarrassment, voted Lib Dem in the 2019 general election because of this.
I had seen the party undergo massive change since 2019, and whilst I could tell Keir was not the most emotive or entertaining leader, I saw that he is a dedicated public servant who cares about the people he represents, and that’s good enough for me. I wanted him to be my next Prime Minister, and would help in any way I can to make that happen.
The question was inevitably put to me by Vicky: “Why don’t you join up? We’d love to have you!” I was a few pints in at this point, so it may have been the beer talking, but I agreed. We took a selfie, exchanged Twitter follows and mentions, and went our separate ways.
The next morning, I rather sluggishly reached for my phone, and saw on my browser an open tab for an online Labour membership form. After staring at my screen for a while, mulling the decision over, I could not think of a good reason not to. I want a Labour Government at the next election. I want change, real change. I joined that morning.
Since then, I have canvassed extensively for local elections, become as involved in my local CLP as my time will allow, and I now work in the office of Justin Madders in Ellesmere Port, the Shadow Minister for Employment Rights. It is a job that offers fulfilment and purpose more than any other I’ve held. I lost my last hospitality job before the second lockdown and spent a long stint unemployed during the pandemic, as many did. I have had corporate, soulless jobs since, where the only thing I was contributing to society was making others, and myself, money.
Now, I am helping some of the most vulnerable people in my area better their lots in life, and whilst I am not earning as much as I was, I have not been this content in years. The work is not easy, and has not been without steep learning curves, but I love it.
I am becoming more and more involved in the Labour movement, and find myself looking increasingly forward to the next general election. It’ll be hard work; I expect I’ll be working 12 hour days most days and my free time will be filled with pavement-pounding with other activists, but the result will be worth it. A Labour Government is needed in this country like fresh air in its lungs.
I write this article because Labour, as I see it, is Britain’s only chance at the green, prosperous future we need after the next election. We soar ahead in the polls each month, and whilst much of that success, I accept, is down to the woeful behaviour of the last four or five Conservative Governments, polls also show that people prefer Keir as PM to Rishi Sunak.
Not only this, Labour are benefiting from the natural need for a change in national leadership. The Tories have been there for too long, out of fresh ideas and no longer able to credibly blame anything on the last Labour Government. They have only themselves to blame. And of course Brexit, but that was masterminded and led by some in their party, as we know. People naturally want change, and Labour, being the 2nd largest party and of differing ideals, are the natural choice.
There is still a lot of work to be done and a great deal of clarity to be given on our policy platform; the main complaint I hear about Labour and Keir is that people don’t yet know what we stand for, what policies we want to implement. There is a plurality that will only vote Labour because we’re not the Tories, but that isn’t good enough any more.
I plan to attend Party Conference in Liverpool this year. It is my sincere hope that the beginnings of a tangible manifesto are laid at Conference, and some of that much-needed clarity is given. That is what will persuade people to not just vote for us because we’re a breath of fresh air, but because they believe in us and what we want to achieve.
Sadly, there will always be those who will never put their X next to the Labour rose. Be it for generational or geographical reasons, some people are just too far gone. Even more unfortunately, Keir’s rather ruthless purge of the more hard-line aspects of the Labour left have similarly disaffected those diehard socialists we used to count in our base. Corbyn was their messiah, their true voice of Labour, and his unceremonious and heartless ousting from the party has permanently alienated them from Keir’s Labour.
But the chances of them forming a new party to challenge Labour from the left are remote. They may make noise, but their interventions will do little to stop a Labour Government at the next election. In any case, isn’t that what they want to see? What do they hope to achieve by discrediting Keir or his cabinet? The logical answer is to hurt Labour’s chances at the election, but to what end? Another Tory Government?
One would have thought that after 13 years of non-stop Tory Governments, everyone left of centre would be happy to see a left-wing party back in Number 10. Keir and his cabinet may be soft-left, softer even than Blair, but they’re still Labour.
I’ll admit, I want to see more radical action from my leadership; I support a wealth tax on the very richest in our society, and I still long for the mistake of Brexit to be voiced openly by the Shadow Frontbench. But I know why they aren’t saying these things; the Tories would rip us to shreds over these issues with the same divisive rhetoric they’ve been using for decades. As much as the public may align with these opinions, we can’t afford to say them out loud just yet.
Party unity is always the key to a successful election. The public don’t vote for divided parties because they don’t know what they’re getting. If we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet, they’re more likely to like what they hear. We know Labour is popular among voters, despite the fact that we need greater clarity on our policies. Once that clarity is offered, who knows how many seats could be won.
I always try to keep my analysis unbiased and my opinions based in fact before I commit anything to this blog. I do not intend to become blinkered by party loyalty; if Labour fucks up, I’ll let you know about it. With an upcoming spell in Government, they’ll have plenty of chances, I’m sure. I look forward to scrutinising my own party as well as I have the Tories, although I know I’ll have less fun doing it.
stay safe
/e