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Falkirk has revealed the rotten state of all our political parties Falkirk has revealed the rotten state of all our political parties
(2 months later)
A constituency party is reported to be in a state of "civil war". Thirteen experienced councillors, including past mayors and cabinet members, are said to have suddenly been "removed" from candidate lists. There are allegations of people voting in selection contests on other people's behalf, and telling lies about why councillors have apparently been dropped. "It's a stitch-up," says a councillor who has served his party since 1978; it's all about "revenge".A constituency party is reported to be in a state of "civil war". Thirteen experienced councillors, including past mayors and cabinet members, are said to have suddenly been "removed" from candidate lists. There are allegations of people voting in selection contests on other people's behalf, and telling lies about why councillors have apparently been dropped. "It's a stitch-up," says a councillor who has served his party since 1978; it's all about "revenge".
On the basis of the Labour party's current problems, you'd probably expect all that to be happening deep in the red heartland: post-industrial Scotland, the south Wales valleys, inner-city Birmingham. But no: this is a story engulfing the Conservative party in Romford, which involves council candidates for the outer east London borough of Havering. There, the Tories have 33 seats to Labour's five, with the rest held by independents. As with Falkirk, it is exactly the kind of place where a mixture of loyal voters and shrinking party membership has apparently created an ideal setting for internal skulduggery. Control the moribund local machinery, it seems, and power will be yours.On the basis of the Labour party's current problems, you'd probably expect all that to be happening deep in the red heartland: post-industrial Scotland, the south Wales valleys, inner-city Birmingham. But no: this is a story engulfing the Conservative party in Romford, which involves council candidates for the outer east London borough of Havering. There, the Tories have 33 seats to Labour's five, with the rest held by independents. As with Falkirk, it is exactly the kind of place where a mixture of loyal voters and shrinking party membership has apparently created an ideal setting for internal skulduggery. Control the moribund local machinery, it seems, and power will be yours.
Labour's crisis, we are told, is down to its relationship with the big trade unions. And yes, the Falkirk imbroglio – which may yet spread to other places – does highlight a mess of problems traceable to the state of the so-called union link: the emergence of huge "super-unions", the arcane rules governing their role in the party, and more. But the fundamental issue runs even deeper: it is about the broken-down state of our political parties, and the fact that it has long been in the interests of powerful forces to leave them exactly as they are.Labour's crisis, we are told, is down to its relationship with the big trade unions. And yes, the Falkirk imbroglio – which may yet spread to other places – does highlight a mess of problems traceable to the state of the so-called union link: the emergence of huge "super-unions", the arcane rules governing their role in the party, and more. But the fundamental issue runs even deeper: it is about the broken-down state of our political parties, and the fact that it has long been in the interests of powerful forces to leave them exactly as they are.
Please, no more hand-wringing about Falkirk from people once centrally involved with the New Labour regime. They may not have tried to stuff local parties with ghost members, but they didn't have to. Why, do you suppose, did such big players as Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Peter Mandelson, David Miliband and Tony Blair himself get super-safe seats in the north-east of England, long a byword for old-Labour fixes? What of the way their central machine gave its chosen candidates local membership lists, and left the hopefuls it deemed unacceptable out in the cold? Does anyone recall the wretched stitch-up wrought on Ken Livingstone in the 2000 London mayoral election, or the bad smell emanating from Tristram Hunt's recent landing in Stoke On Trent? And what of the infamous disaster in Blaenau Gwent, where an attempted fix resulted in a famous local revolt (temporarily denying Labour seats in both parliament and the Welsh assembly, in the seat once held by Michael Foot and Aneurin Bevan)?Please, no more hand-wringing about Falkirk from people once centrally involved with the New Labour regime. They may not have tried to stuff local parties with ghost members, but they didn't have to. Why, do you suppose, did such big players as Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Peter Mandelson, David Miliband and Tony Blair himself get super-safe seats in the north-east of England, long a byword for old-Labour fixes? What of the way their central machine gave its chosen candidates local membership lists, and left the hopefuls it deemed unacceptable out in the cold? Does anyone recall the wretched stitch-up wrought on Ken Livingstone in the 2000 London mayoral election, or the bad smell emanating from Tristram Hunt's recent landing in Stoke On Trent? And what of the infamous disaster in Blaenau Gwent, where an attempted fix resulted in a famous local revolt (temporarily denying Labour seats in both parliament and the Welsh assembly, in the seat once held by Michael Foot and Aneurin Bevan)?
The Tories have their own versions of these episodes, usually involving small groups of irate local activists, and manipulative moves by the leadership: in such places as Surrey East and Westminster North, we have seen much the same plot lines. The point is, the main political parties are dying fast – which now leaves them open to capture (witness a killer line from an internal Unite document about Falkirk: "We have recruited well over 100 Unite members to the party in a constituency with less than 200 members"). And unless they start to change, democracy itself will be just as damaged.The Tories have their own versions of these episodes, usually involving small groups of irate local activists, and manipulative moves by the leadership: in such places as Surrey East and Westminster North, we have seen much the same plot lines. The point is, the main political parties are dying fast – which now leaves them open to capture (witness a killer line from an internal Unite document about Falkirk: "We have recruited well over 100 Unite members to the party in a constituency with less than 200 members"). And unless they start to change, democracy itself will be just as damaged.
For sure, the demise of traditional political activism has been accelerated by the contempt in which it has been held by both Blair and David Cameron – which may partly explain why, at a mere 1.1% of the population, the UK's proportion of party members is among the lowest in Europe. But clearly, much bigger forces are at work. If they are interested in party politics at all, people increasingly have plural identities. At a National Union of Students conference before the last election, I met a young woman who had simultaneously joined Labour and the Lib Dems, keen to get the measure of both, not knowing that if either found out she'd be expelled. My own tribal affinity, for all that it often fails to pass the test of basic rationality, is still with Labour, but I have canvassed for the Lib Dems (in an attempt to keep the Tories out – I know, I know) and voted Green. In a world where people dip in and out of groupings with the ease facilitated by the "Like" button in Facebook, this is what the future will look like – and the closed, tightly disciplined model of political parties will increasingly seem downright absurd.For sure, the demise of traditional political activism has been accelerated by the contempt in which it has been held by both Blair and David Cameron – which may partly explain why, at a mere 1.1% of the population, the UK's proportion of party members is among the lowest in Europe. But clearly, much bigger forces are at work. If they are interested in party politics at all, people increasingly have plural identities. At a National Union of Students conference before the last election, I met a young woman who had simultaneously joined Labour and the Lib Dems, keen to get the measure of both, not knowing that if either found out she'd be expelled. My own tribal affinity, for all that it often fails to pass the test of basic rationality, is still with Labour, but I have canvassed for the Lib Dems (in an attempt to keep the Tories out – I know, I know) and voted Green. In a world where people dip in and out of groupings with the ease facilitated by the "Like" button in Facebook, this is what the future will look like – and the closed, tightly disciplined model of political parties will increasingly seem downright absurd.
At the same time, the idea that you should join anything that denies you a meaningful say looks equally ridiculous. The Tories have never been the most democratic of parties; from the start of the Blair era onwards, Labour has moved to much the same place. Unless you are part of some Unite-esque scheme to join up as part of a grand revolutionary plan, why would you bother shelling out for a membership card?At the same time, the idea that you should join anything that denies you a meaningful say looks equally ridiculous. The Tories have never been the most democratic of parties; from the start of the Blair era onwards, Labour has moved to much the same place. Unless you are part of some Unite-esque scheme to join up as part of a grand revolutionary plan, why would you bother shelling out for a membership card?
Annual conferences are an expensive joke; when it comes to policy, the people at the top are usually a law unto themselves. That only leaves the election of leaders, a ritual that periodically creates small membership surges, before they quickly fall away. Primaries involving registered supporters might be part of the answer, if only as a means of pulling people into parties' orbits – but unless they fit into a bigger project of collective empowerment, they could just as easily feed the power of the current elites.Annual conferences are an expensive joke; when it comes to policy, the people at the top are usually a law unto themselves. That only leaves the election of leaders, a ritual that periodically creates small membership surges, before they quickly fall away. Primaries involving registered supporters might be part of the answer, if only as a means of pulling people into parties' orbits – but unless they fit into a bigger project of collective empowerment, they could just as easily feed the power of the current elites.
Parties, then, need to somehow be both looser and more democratic. But to be loosely organised is often to be dominated by shifting elites, who simply expect members to stuff envelopes and wave flags (witness the US). Democracy necessarily entails a defined body of people. Can all of this be resolved?Parties, then, need to somehow be both looser and more democratic. But to be loosely organised is often to be dominated by shifting elites, who simply expect members to stuff envelopes and wave flags (witness the US). Democracy necessarily entails a defined body of people. Can all of this be resolved?
The change will have to be as much cultural as organisational. Compass, once a Labour-aligned group, has put one foot outside the party and recruited Greens, Lib Dems and people with no party ties at all. It has begun to explore a future in which people from distinct groups might better achieve their ends by breaching the party system's oppressive walls.The change will have to be as much cultural as organisational. Compass, once a Labour-aligned group, has put one foot outside the party and recruited Greens, Lib Dems and people with no party ties at all. It has begun to explore a future in which people from distinct groups might better achieve their ends by breaching the party system's oppressive walls.
A rather panicked Ed Miliband is to make a speech about all this on Tuesday. Though it looks like the time has come to move to an opt-in rather than opt-out model for individual union members' relationships with his party, he is right to be resisting those idiot voices urging some formal uncoupling of the unions and Labour: if millions of working people do not have a dependable means of accessing mainstream politics, capital will have scored another win – and our democracy will be even more impoverished.A rather panicked Ed Miliband is to make a speech about all this on Tuesday. Though it looks like the time has come to move to an opt-in rather than opt-out model for individual union members' relationships with his party, he is right to be resisting those idiot voices urging some formal uncoupling of the unions and Labour: if millions of working people do not have a dependable means of accessing mainstream politics, capital will have scored another win – and our democracy will be even more impoverished.
Overall, Miliband should be judged by whether what he says feels like an appreciable step away from a failed model, or nervous tinkering with a status quo that points in only one direction: the kind of events witnessed in Falkirk, Havering, Blaenau Gwent and Westminster North extending into the distance.Overall, Miliband should be judged by whether what he says feels like an appreciable step away from a failed model, or nervous tinkering with a status quo that points in only one direction: the kind of events witnessed in Falkirk, Havering, Blaenau Gwent and Westminster North extending into the distance.
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