Loading... Please wait...

Delicious Delicious  Digg Digg  Reddit Reddit  Facebook Facebook  StumbleUpon StumbleUpon 

Steps to rebuilding Labour: Improve living standards

By Jon Trickett MP Now that the initial process of MPs nominating leadership candidates has passed, Labour is about to embark on the more important task of involving its four million members and levy paying trade unionists in debating our future direction. The leadership debate over the coming weeks must discuss in depth the reasons why Labour lost and how we win back our former voters. To do so a serious and factual assessment is needed as to what has...
View 'Steps to rebuilding Labour: Improve living standards' >

The Mandelson-Miliband drama from the other side

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Pete Hoskin has written a couple of good pieces this weekend about the Mandelson book and how it might affect the leadership race - as well as some deeper analysis of the Miliband drama for US site The Daily Beast. On Saturday, Pete started out with his piece on the "Brit Brothers", writing about "emotions spilling out all over the place" behind the scenes. It's one of the best summaries I've read so far about...
View 'The Mandelson-Miliband drama from the other side' >

Mandy's intervention

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 All the weekend papers have reported on Peter Mandelson's new book, due out this week - perhaps unsurprisingly considering salivatory promotional ads to sell the thing, like this one for the Times' serialisation: I fear the book, for all its potential juicy insights, might shed more heat than light on Labour's leadership and renewal discussion this close to the breakdown. But with Harriet already scrambling to reassure that the book will not reopen old wounds...
View 'Mandy's intervention' >

History lessons

By Gina Byrne It has often been said that history repeats itself; nowhere is this more applicable than in the political arena. Take a moment to cast your mind back and remember, if you will – and indeed, can – the 1990s. Look past the incredible scientific advances which culminated in the first cloned mammal, the euphoric waves of democratisation spreading across the world, and the never-ending wonder and delights of your tamagotchi, to 1995. Labour’s special conference in the...
View 'History lessons' >

So, was that the first internet election?

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 As I wrote in last month's Progress magazine, from September to May it was impossible to escape the notion that somehow the internet was going to play a significant role in the campaign and the election outcome - though frankly no one could quite tell you exactly how or why. Journalists in the traditional media, in particular, seemed obsessed with the idea that this was going to be the first internet election, the first digital...
View 'So, was that the first internet election?' >

Jowell, Johnson, Knight on life after power

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 In this video, Alan Johnson, Tessa Jowell and Jim Knight talk about life after power. It's really honest and quite fun in places - though there are also signs of deep nostalgia. As well as offering an insight into the personalities of these three former ministers, this video raises again what David Miliband and Ed Balls in particular have referred to during the leadership debates - the problems with the all encompassing nature of frontline...
View 'Jowell, Johnson, Knight on life after power' >

Sky News reflects on the last day of Labour government

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 There was a darkening mood amongst Labour people on May 11th, as throughout the day it became evident that these were the final hours of thirteen years of Labour government. The throng on college green that night was ilke I'd never seen it before. I saw Ed Balls and John Prescott out there; both seemed heavy, tired and genuinely upset. The weather added to the drained mood. With the leadership election taking off within 36...
View 'Sky News reflects on the last day of Labour government' >

What Clegg said before the election on spending cuts

...
View 'What Clegg said before the election on spending cuts' >

Labour has lost the battle - but it could still win the war

By Joe Coward There are two clear outcomes of the 2010 General Election. Firstly, after 13 years of Labour government the electorate has demanded change. Secondly, this desire for change does not represent a strong desire for majority-Conservative government. In government Labour has demonstrated that in an age of globalisation the choice between a competitive, open economy and a commitment to fairness and social justice is a false dichotomy: we can have both. Introducing a minimum wage, achieving strong improvement...
View 'Labour has lost the battle - but it could still win the war' >

Jon Cruddas' speech to Compass conference

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Below is the speech given by Jon Cruddas in the final session of the Compass Conference yesterday. It's been a cracking day. Vibrant. Open. Optimistic. In contrast to a sour right wing noise around Labour since the election. It goes something like this: We lost the vote of those working class people. So let's prioritise the ‘indigenous folk’, hit those newly arrived and get stuck into the welfare mothers swinging the lead, hoovering up benefits....
View 'Jon Cruddas' speech to Compass conference' >

Immigration and the leadership debate: Time for a reality check

By Declan Gaffney An open discussion of migration is one thing. Allowing it to dominate the most important debate on Labour’s future since 1994 is quite another. All of the main leadership candidates have placed immigration at the centre of their pitches to the party membership, and while they have framed the subject in slightly different ways, all seem to agree on two points: that Eastern European migration from 2004 had negative effects on employment and earnings for lower income...
View 'Immigration and the leadership debate: Time for a reality check' >

Whither the Labour opposition? Part II of an open letter to the leader

By Brian Barder / @BrianLB Dear Harriet, If the Labour Party is going to make a healthy recovery in time for the next election (which, despite the CameroClegg’s pronouncements about a fixed term, may turn out to be much less than five years away), we all need to recognise and admit that the coalition government has got off to a cracking start. Cameron and Clegg and most of their teams give a strong impression, on television and in their press...
View 'Whither the Labour opposition? Part II of an open letter to the leader' >

Labour's legacy, the internet election: You ask, they answer

By Rob MacPherson The general election left us with as many questions as answers – so it's about time the public had a chance to ask some of them and get a response from those in the know. Yoosk.com is a social media platform that enables the public to put direct questions to politicians and public figures. You can vote on which questions you want answered, or ask your own – and after a week the most popular ones will...
View 'Labour's legacy, the internet election: You ask, they answer' >

Civil liberties and fear: Labour must address both

By Bill Dewison Since the Labour Party left Downing Street there has been much hand-wringing here on LabourList as to what exactly went wrong. Figures are quoted regularly as to the increases in teachers, the new schools and hospitals that have been built and generally how Labour have improved the lives of everyone in the UK over the past 13 years. So why would the population of the country reject the party? One answer is fear. Not the media version...
View 'Civil liberties and fear: Labour must address both' >

Things can't only get better

By Hopi Sen / @HopiSen Talking to Labour friends, there seems to be a feeling abroad that Labour is destined to recover ground at the next election. This is not the case. I shall now adopt the mantle of Prophet of Doom. In our history, a majority Labour government has left office as a result of an election defeat four times – in 1951, 1970 and 1979 and 2010. In two of the next three elections – in 1955 and...
View 'Things can't only get better' >

The Lib Dems, progressive? I don't think so

By Chris Williamson MP All the post war progressive legislative change has been introduced by Labour governments, often in the teeth of fierce opposition from the Tories and sometimes the Liberals too. Examples include the NHS, comprehensive education, equal pay, civil partnerships and the National Minimum Wage. The Liberal Democrats portray themselves as a progressive party, but as a new MP, I have seen just how far from the progressive side of politics the Liberal Democrats really are. For example,...
View 'The Lib Dems, progressive? I don't think so' >

The fight for Labour votes will be a long and enduring process

by David Hodges / @davetomhodges The Thirsk & Malton by-election result is the final signal that we both lost this election and have plenty of hard work ahead of us to regain the portion of the electorate we lost. We were never going to win this seat – it has never returned anything other than a Conservative member – but for our vote to drop by over 9% after the Lib/Con coalition agreement indicates no immediate backlash to either of...
View 'The fight for Labour votes will be a long and enduring process' >

Why Labour lost

by Jim Sweetman / @jimbo9848 We have had a couple of weeks now to sit back and reflect. We know that it is hard to defend a third term government and the scale of the loss could, in all honesty, have been worse. We know that Gordon Brown could have won an election shortly after he came to office on a radical agenda including ending the overseas wars. We would all have been the better for it as well. But...
View 'Why Labour lost' >

The Maiden Speech: We need stone-throwers, not wet sponges

The Paul Richards column The old convention that new Members of Parliament could not speak in the Chamber until they had made their ‘maiden’ speech has been scrapped. Just as well, because with 232 new MPs, it will take many months before they’ve all broken their duck. Under the new guidance, all MPs, once sworn in, can start the business of representing their constituents in the Chamber. The old convention on the content of maiden speeches remains. According to Erskine...
View 'The Maiden Speech: We need stone-throwers, not wet sponges' >

Why I've rejoined the Labour Party

By Lewis Coakley Joining Leeds Metropolitan University in 2005 to read politics, I decided to leave the Labour Party because I felt that I should be more open-minded and being honest with myself, there were certain policies the party pursued which I could not agree with. As time progressed I would say to friends “I judge every policy on its merits” which seems like a fair statement to make but it is completely divorced from any political philosophy – something...
View 'Why I've rejoined the Labour Party' >