By Ellie Gellard / @BevaniteEllie
On a bright Tuesday morning on the seafront in Brighton the stage was set. Gordon Brown was about to give his "make or break" speech and nerves were in the air. The hall was packed with expectant members, waiting...when something special happened.
No, not Sarah – though yes, she’s pretty special – the hall went dark and this video began to play...
There were tears (ok, that was mainly me) and cheers from across the hall, proud Labour activists reminded of why we were there, why we were fighting and why, as it concludes, we must win.
Conference was visibly moved by a sprinkling of this party’s formidable history; from Nye Bevan to John Smith, the NHS to the Minimum Wage, votes for women to SureStart. It was a welcome boost for all of us and added some fuel to the campaigning tank. But these are people already convinced that our party must win.
I’m interested in the people that aren’t.
I am calling for Against the Odds to be our next Party Political Broadcast. Not because of its effect on our loyal activists and party members, but because of it’s effect on those who haven’t yet made up their mind.
This film unashamedly shouts out about the achievements of our party and doesn’t apologise for doing so. We must be audaciously proud of Labour and give people cast-iron (if I dare) reasons for trusting us with their futures. When we spread ourselves too thinly, to try and attract everyone in sight, we look contrived, fake and, well, slightly dishonest.
I have shown this video to people "in the flesh" since conference - and others via twitter and my blog, and it has, at the time of writing, been seen by 3,920 people on YouTube. The response has shocked me. “It’s politics how it should be”, they say, “When you have a record like that, who needs smears?” – well, quite.
One comment on YouTube reads:
"I know a LibDem voter who saw this and will vote Labour now. Labour must get their act together, they have more to be proud of than ashamed of and showing this on mainstream TV would make sense. Tories can't recall the old days as they did nothing but disappoint".
I can’t know if this video would work but let’s face it: we’ve gone down the anti-Tory, negative campaigning route before, and I’m sure we will do again, but times like these call for risk-taking. Perhaps we need a little less ‘head-ruled’ campaigning and we should let the heart take over for a while.
Tories can promise the earth, but that’s the easy bit. We’ve got a history to show our party delivers, a history of which people need to be reminded.
As we enter election season as underdogs, Against the Odds would mark a refreshing change on screens across the country. I think a welcome one.
Join our Facebook group, sign our petition and Tweet to #AgainstTheOdds to show your support for Against the Odds as Labour's next, proud Party Political Broadcast.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Mind you, at one point I though it would be claiming credit for winning the Champions League.
Still, at least no-one confused Ernest Bevin and Nye Bevan at any point. Oh,hang on...(0.32).
All that matters is that their heart is in the right place, which granted cant be said for many of the current motley crew. To harbour a grudge against former public schoolers is absurd.
you doubting Thomas you
Harold MacMillan-- Conservative--"we've never had it so good"era
High employment & Growth under his premiership--successful PM.
Watched him in Lords in his later years and he was emotional & tearful at what a mess the Country was in under Margaret Thatcher's premiership---A Politician & Prime Minister that won my admiration
Elizabeth - the use of `toff' is such a pathetic turn off. Why don't you check out the backgrounds of many of the movers and shakers in the PLP? Look how many have got public school backgrounds - Straw, Harman, Jowell, Balls. etc. etc. and beware of `he who casts the first stone'. Balls is the biggest laugh. When he talks to the `man in the street' in his constituency he feels it necessary to put on some sort of accent he thinks lies somewhere between Normanton and Castleford. Check out how he talked fifteen years ago. Why bother? No one cares.
Back to the Aldi wine. It's nasty.
I doubt we agree on much at all. I fight for the working classes, you fight for the PLP. Today they are different things. I can give you a few good things about Labour and some bad things. I can call out good Tory, Lib Dem, SNP and BNP policies; and their bad ones.
I doubt that you can do any more than tell me the useless PM we have walks on water.
Thanks for the explanation of your political convictions
Looks like we agree on most things but I am a bit more confident that the statements I make on here are more truthful than the electorate will get from the media or the Tory trolls that use Labourlist---The fight to Govern the Country has started--PMQ's this week proved to me "Call me Dave & his Party are showing they are only good at personal attacks & can't answer anything on Policy"
I very much hope a Labour Government will be elected.
I am disappointed that you believe I could ever look forward to opposition. NEVER!
I also think its slightly dubious that we have claimed full responsibility for Cable Street and the Suffragettes. I wonder what Emmeline Pankhurst, initially refused Labour Party membership on account of her gender and later a Conservative member, would have to say about that?
History is all fine and dandy, but we all have to live in the future, not the past.
This is not a joke. Please do be relaxed, for I did not call you a racist. I did say that words like toff are just as bad and divisive as racist language.
What is the joke perhaps is your "If you dont agree with how wonderful the party is then you are a Tory" line. Some of us live is the real world.
For the record, I am an independent minded left winger. I have no affiliation to Labour as it does not represent my views in its current form. The Lib Dems and Tories are on a different planet. I believe in re-nationalisation, I am Eurosceptic. I will listen to all parties to understand what they are saying and make my own mind up. The vile and repulsive Nick Griffin is a master at unworkable populist policies to rally the masses. To make your own mind up you need to be open to listen and understand all points of view.
I would rather a Labour Government than anyone else. What is annoying are the people who turn the electorate off with silly statements, that are easily exposed. They think they are doing the party a favour. Still I guess you are looking forward to opposition, I am not.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this reply and treat your comments as a joke
I am totally relaxed about the unpleasant comparison you made calling me a racist & the accusation of me being consumed with hate.
I am really not surprised, It's what I have come to expect from Conservatives ie The best method of defence is attack eh!.
The Conservative Party is alien to the principles I hold & how I want my Country to be seen in the eyes of the World--
When people support the Labour Party it means they believe in fairness for all & stand up for diversity in our society and I only attach labels(Toff) to anybody who has right wing views.
When I watched the video it reminded me of how the Labour party has been hi jacked by self serving politcos.
Calling people toffs is no different to calling people pa*is or ni**ers or other racist words. It is the same as marginalising people for disability or difference. It is divisive and wrong.
Why do you hate so much? What do you think you do for society by being so angry? How can you use the word unity when you are so anti a party that has the support of 40% of the electorate? What are you achieving?
We know we're up against the Toffs ie "Call me Dave who has Royalty connections, but no Policies" It will be a hard fight to win a fourth,however, this video reminds us what people can do when they come together in unity
Now the Labour party is not fit to govern the working class.
JKRowling rejection letters to fail to bring the pleasure of reading ............ errrrr and £600 million pounds to JKRowling.
And against the odds thousands of young men and women are sent to die and be injured to support the Mayor of Kabul - and not a single mention of fighting for freedom - or did I miss that ?
It's far too easy to look back at the past - even the better bits sob sob gulp gulp - but we are living NOW and today's issues must be addressed NOW.
We shouldn't take any seat for granted, no matter what the mood is or whether or not people say they will vote Labour.
I agree slightly with Peter, i'm not sure if it should be the PPB because it only highlights the achievements of the past, not so much the present. We need to prove to people what we are doing now and what we intend to do in the near and distant futures.
none the less, it's an amazing video and we should, as Pete also said, show it to the masses. Sort of an online PPB?
Having said that, I think we should try to make the video go viral by encouraging Labour supporters to post it on Twitter, to post it on their Facebook profiles and to email it to their friends.
That video is a good indicator of how far nu-labour and it's parasites have taken the party in the wrong direction.
1) Why I used to be a Labour party member and why until the last election I voted Labour
2) why I am proud of Labour's history
and
3) How far the current Labour government has moved from its roots and how disappointed I am in it.
*If* Labour could get back to the Labour portrayed by the clip then it would also get my vote back. But you've a long way to go and while Gordon is Labour leader it'll never happen.
The election will not be lost on policy or Labour's record, but on the lack of people getting their finger out and getting the message out. When the number of views of Against The Odds equal the number of views of the Tory video then we will know that finally the message is getting through.
I didn't realise this was called Against the Odds though. For a second, I thought we'd shot a promo to Against All Odds by Mariah Carey and Westlife.