I have joined the Labour party. This is more or less my natural political home, but I had been reticent to nail my colours to the mast prior to the Boris-pocalypse. I have joined specifically to have a say in the leadership election.
My local MP, Kerry McCarthy, has come out in support of Keir Starmer in the Labour leadership race and invited him to speak locally, so I signed up and attended. This is the first Labour meeting I have attended, but the murmured consensus seemed to be that it was packed. It appeared to be standing room only.
I decided to take “minutes”. Hopefully these are of interest. I have tried to faithfully represent what he put across, but this is second-hand and I in no way claim to represent him! It is also written hastily. So..sorry.
In his opening he stressed that Labour had to be totally focussed on the next election from the off and that “we need a radical Labour government”. “In opposition, we are not changing lives,” was the frame for his ambitions for the party as leader. He gave the impression of not wanting to move particularly far away from the 2019 manifesto, repeatedly stressing local investment, funding of public services, and the green new deal, although conceded at one point that 2019 promised so much that it did not seem credible.
He laid out 3 headline points that Labour needs to adopt to win power. They were:
- To be united as a party. Sounds obvious, but given the tooth-and-nail Blairite/Corbynista rowing in the party, numerous cabinet re-shuffles, and accusations of bullying from the top, the point bears repeating. Starmer suggested that this would be demonstrated from the top down, with the rest of Labour “not behind me, but beside me”. He absolutely hammered this message throughout and is obviously seeking to be seen as the pro-unity candidate. He cited his credentials for bringing people together under his leadership as his 5 years at the Crown Prosecution Service as Director of Public Prosecutions, and his time as shadow Brexit secretary, in which, as he quite fairly pointed out, he had the task of uniting a party where no two MPs shared the same opinion under a common Brexit strategy. Given Labour’s lack of clarity on the issue you can make your own mind up as to the efficacy of the strategy, but he certainly did have a job to bring people together..
- Effective opposition. To applause and cheers, he spoke on how the last three PMs have been terrible. But Boris, he contested, is the worst, because he has no principles and will go where he needs to (the right) in order to maintain his grip on power. “Boris is dangerous”. For that reason, Labour needs to win the argument from the despatch box, and hold the Tories to account at every stage.
- Forge the way to victory. This final point contained substantially more detail. Labour needs to be looking to the next election now – I took this to mean to be effectively in campaign mode immediately, looking like a proper party. Specific tenets were:
- Don’t trash the achievements of the last Labour government – they were, after all, actually in power and did achieve things that weren’t blowing up Iraq
- Don’t trash the last 4 years, because it’s left Labour as the anti-austerity, pro-green new deal party
- Respect the work done at the local level by councillors and mayors, devolve more power
- Recognise that the free market will not act in the best interests of the country and actively seek to curb its influence and damage using government intervention. See Q&A: 8
- “What is bad for the environment is bad for the economy”. Again, see Q&A: 8
- “Party of internationalism” – a push for “peace and justice” on the world stage and a human-rights based approach to the arms trade and foreign policy.
Q&A
- Drugs: Has seen close-up the human misery caused by the drugs trade and trafficking in his work as a Barrister and for the CPS. While he is not in favour of decriminalisation (which would be an easy win in Bristol..) he expressed that addiction should be framed as a health and mental health issue. He has in the past supported trials by the police into not making arrests for non-serious drugs offenses.
- PR: He is not closed to the discussion but believes representation at the constituency level to be very important. This gives me hope that he might be amenable to something like the New Zealand model.
- Labour Unity: End factionalism and be a more tolerant party. Gave an anecdote of young, enthusiastic new members attending meetings once and then being put off by a “1950s agenda”. Stressed modernisation, inclusivity and being welcoming. For the how? part part of this question, he espoused a “make a decision and be a model of it” approach. He referred to his CPS and shadow Brexit secretary experience of finding united views. He seems to really believe in his own ability to do this.
- Shadow cabinet/only male candidate: He said he was proud to be amongst such strong candidates as he recognised the bravery it takes to step forward into the contest. There was no sniping and no put-downs. He wanted to use candidates’ solidarity as a blueprint for cabinet unity, and spoke of always putting Labour’s strongest talent up front, in parliament and in public. That way, whenever a member saw a Labour MP, it would always be someone they can be proud of.
- Winning back Scotland, given their Brexit stance: Go to Scotland, work with the trade unions and local parties to understand their issues and the solutions. Rejoining the EU is not the focus as we are still fighting to mitigate the damage of Brexit itself. He made particular reference to potential US overreach into public services in trade deals.
- Funding for survivors of violence against women and girls: Described the current situation as “short term, patchy, and chronically underfunded.” Decried the lack of consistent national standards of services for VAWA survivors. Made the specific point that women are expected to attend a police station to report DV, yet hardly any do – there ought to be safe places for women to report.
- Reemergence of nationalism: Began with an apology to the EU national who asked the question for lack of clarity on his situation post-Brexit. Would legislate for rights. Gave anecdote about a woman who asked if she should just “go home now” rather than enrol her child of 5 in the local school only to have to leave in a year. Windrush: the attitude of innocent until proven guilty and trying to catch people in a lie that is currently held by the home office must change. Extended that sentiment to the DWP, stating that the DWP presume people attempt to cheat and therefore need to be assessed.
- Green new deal: Wishes to stay committed to it. Says the government must force the free market to act in a way that is better for the environment, such as carbon-neutral homes, and general decarbonisation policies. On the climate crisis mentioned green public transport, specifically Bristol’s new biogas buses.
- LGBT+: “Totally committed”. Pointed out that Labour decriminalised homosexuality. Made a point of mentioning how many of the UK’s former colonies (Jamaica, Uganda, India, etc) have anti-gay laws on the books because they simply took on UK legislation. Can’t remember his actual point to that, although he has worked in Jamaica in his legal career so I am reassured that he is well informed. Said that despite acknowledging the strong views on the subject, trans rights were no longer to be used as a “political football”.
He seemed genuine in his beliefs and never obviously floundered in the Q&A. Human rights are a motivating factor that he mentioned repeatedly. He was committed to a radical Labour party, saying that the country needs it.
I was as impressed by him here as I have been with his performance in Parliament. He was sharp, confident, and well-informed. I didn’t get the sense that he was power-hungry, but that he genuinely believed he could unite the party.
Fool Rushing In 