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David Miliband and the debasement of British politics David Miliband and the debasement of British politics
(6 months later)
The past few days have taught us occasionally voting ingrates a lot about our politicians. Today we discovered that Iain Duncan Smith can live on just £7.57 a day. Last week we learned that David Miliband was "the best and the brightest" (Keith Vaz), whose departure from Westminster was "a massive loss to UK politics" (Tony Blair). On the one hand, you have an entire political class hyperventilating over one of their own; on the other, a cabinet minister blithely claiming he can manage on 2% of the £2,587.79 he actually gets paid every week. Add these two news morsels together, and you glean a third and more fundamental lesson: that our elected representatives are ever more remote from the rest of us.The past few days have taught us occasionally voting ingrates a lot about our politicians. Today we discovered that Iain Duncan Smith can live on just £7.57 a day. Last week we learned that David Miliband was "the best and the brightest" (Keith Vaz), whose departure from Westminster was "a massive loss to UK politics" (Tony Blair). On the one hand, you have an entire political class hyperventilating over one of their own; on the other, a cabinet minister blithely claiming he can manage on 2% of the £2,587.79 he actually gets paid every week. Add these two news morsels together, and you glean a third and more fundamental lesson: that our elected representatives are ever more remote from the rest of us.
Let's treat that Duncan Smith boast with the contempt it deserves, and instead try a thought experiment. Let us go, you and I, to the constituency of South Shields on byelection polling night.Let's treat that Duncan Smith boast with the contempt it deserves, and instead try a thought experiment. Let us go, you and I, to the constituency of South Shields on byelection polling night.
After 12 years of David Miliband as MP, the local Labour party has opted for a local candidate, a woman born and raised in the area. Karen is a bus driver with a disabled husband, who has lived in a three-bedroom home for years – but the coalition thinks they have too much space and has cut their housing benefit. So when Karen attacks Cameron's bedroom tax, she draws on personal experience of being forced to downsize. And if she speaks at hustings about the urgent need for decent, secure jobs, it's not because Ed Miliband and Chuka Umunna now talk about industrial policy – but at least partly because she's sick of flocks of unemployed teenagers forever cycling up and down her street.After 12 years of David Miliband as MP, the local Labour party has opted for a local candidate, a woman born and raised in the area. Karen is a bus driver with a disabled husband, who has lived in a three-bedroom home for years – but the coalition thinks they have too much space and has cut their housing benefit. So when Karen attacks Cameron's bedroom tax, she draws on personal experience of being forced to downsize. And if she speaks at hustings about the urgent need for decent, secure jobs, it's not because Ed Miliband and Chuka Umunna now talk about industrial policy – but at least partly because she's sick of flocks of unemployed teenagers forever cycling up and down her street.
Now why does an MP such as Karen – local and working class – seem so fanciful? Because in real life they're rarer than hen's teeth. In 1979, 40% of Labour MPs came from a manual occupation; according to analysis by the Smith Institute that is now down to 9%. Just 4% of all representatives in the Commons can claim a background in a manual occupation, which is roughly the same proportion as went to Eton. Over one in four of all Tory MPs were previously employed in finance; more parliamentarians came from jobs in politics than from health, teaching, the army, agriculture and voluntary services put together. With his frictionless ascent from thinktanks to backroom Labour politics to the cabinet, David Miliband is typical of the gilded class who masquerade as our delegates in Westminster. The consequences of this narrowness are easy to see. In this paper and elsewhere there has been much wistfulness about the Spirit of 45, after Ken Loach's recent film. But that spirit, as the film outlines, came from people's lived experiences. Think about the Class of 45: Ernie Bevin – a former lorry driver; Peter Mandelson's granddad, Herbert Morrison – a grocer's assistant. And, the father of the NHS, Nye Bevan: a bolshie ex-miner. However different their politics, it's hard to imagine any of these three accepting a retrospective law imposing benefit sanctions on unemployed people refusing private "workfare", as Ed Miliband's party did last month.Now why does an MP such as Karen – local and working class – seem so fanciful? Because in real life they're rarer than hen's teeth. In 1979, 40% of Labour MPs came from a manual occupation; according to analysis by the Smith Institute that is now down to 9%. Just 4% of all representatives in the Commons can claim a background in a manual occupation, which is roughly the same proportion as went to Eton. Over one in four of all Tory MPs were previously employed in finance; more parliamentarians came from jobs in politics than from health, teaching, the army, agriculture and voluntary services put together. With his frictionless ascent from thinktanks to backroom Labour politics to the cabinet, David Miliband is typical of the gilded class who masquerade as our delegates in Westminster. The consequences of this narrowness are easy to see. In this paper and elsewhere there has been much wistfulness about the Spirit of 45, after Ken Loach's recent film. But that spirit, as the film outlines, came from people's lived experiences. Think about the Class of 45: Ernie Bevin – a former lorry driver; Peter Mandelson's granddad, Herbert Morrison – a grocer's assistant. And, the father of the NHS, Nye Bevan: a bolshie ex-miner. However different their politics, it's hard to imagine any of these three accepting a retrospective law imposing benefit sanctions on unemployed people refusing private "workfare", as Ed Miliband's party did last month.
It's true that manual workers constitute a smaller section of the British labour force than they did even when Thatcher came to power; but there are still more of them than went to David Cameron's alma. Undeniably, parliament now has more women and more ethnic minorities, although still not in proportion with the wider population. But like those HR-monitoring forms that come with job applications, class as a category has fallen by the wayside. Yet as doyen of parliamentary analysis Philip Cowley points out from his recent polling, if voters want any change at all in who sits in the Commons, it's towards more local and more working-class MPs.It's true that manual workers constitute a smaller section of the British labour force than they did even when Thatcher came to power; but there are still more of them than went to David Cameron's alma. Undeniably, parliament now has more women and more ethnic minorities, although still not in proportion with the wider population. But like those HR-monitoring forms that come with job applications, class as a category has fallen by the wayside. Yet as doyen of parliamentary analysis Philip Cowley points out from his recent polling, if voters want any change at all in who sits in the Commons, it's towards more local and more working-class MPs.
Not only is that completely at odds with the people going into Westminster politics, it's also at odds with the culture of the place. At only 47, David Miliband is taking up a £300,000 job, following on from the nearly £1m he has raised since leaving government in 2010. Nor is he alone. James Purnell is going to the BBC for another six-figure salary. Ruth Kelly is now at HSBC. John Hutton went from being energy minister to a seat on the board of a US nuclear giant. And we could go on, with Patricia Hewitt and Alan Milburn ... Westminster has become the equivalent of a gap year for middle-aged overachievers, a place to earn a few CV points before catapulting themselves into the private-sector plutocracy. If today's Treasury minister is tomorrow's investment bank director, what hope of overhaul of Britain's rotten finance sector?Not only is that completely at odds with the people going into Westminster politics, it's also at odds with the culture of the place. At only 47, David Miliband is taking up a £300,000 job, following on from the nearly £1m he has raised since leaving government in 2010. Nor is he alone. James Purnell is going to the BBC for another six-figure salary. Ruth Kelly is now at HSBC. John Hutton went from being energy minister to a seat on the board of a US nuclear giant. And we could go on, with Patricia Hewitt and Alan Milburn ... Westminster has become the equivalent of a gap year for middle-aged overachievers, a place to earn a few CV points before catapulting themselves into the private-sector plutocracy. If today's Treasury minister is tomorrow's investment bank director, what hope of overhaul of Britain's rotten finance sector?
This debasement of our politics starts early, with the exorbitant cost of being selected as a candidate. As Peter Watt, former Labour general secretary, recently wrote about his party's selection procedure: "If you can't afford to take a couple of months off work, pay for accommodation and travel, abandon your family and pay for your own materials you are screwed. In other words you need to be a political insider whose boss is supporting them; a trade union official or very rich." And that's before you even run for a seat, the bill for which can easily top £10,000. If Cameron, Miliband and Clegg want to fulfil their promises to make their parties more diverse, they can start by funding those on low incomes to become candidates. The Labour Diversity Fund calls for 5% of all party donations to go towards such a cause; it's a small enough step that all the main sides could and should do it.This debasement of our politics starts early, with the exorbitant cost of being selected as a candidate. As Peter Watt, former Labour general secretary, recently wrote about his party's selection procedure: "If you can't afford to take a couple of months off work, pay for accommodation and travel, abandon your family and pay for your own materials you are screwed. In other words you need to be a political insider whose boss is supporting them; a trade union official or very rich." And that's before you even run for a seat, the bill for which can easily top £10,000. If Cameron, Miliband and Clegg want to fulfil their promises to make their parties more diverse, they can start by funding those on low incomes to become candidates. The Labour Diversity Fund calls for 5% of all party donations to go towards such a cause; it's a small enough step that all the main sides could and should do it.
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