Liam Byrne says ‘there’s no money’ note harmed Labour’s election campaign
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Version 0 of 1. Former Labour Treasury minister Liam Byrne admits that his infamous “there is no money” letter hampered Ed Miliband’s general election campaign by making it easier for the Tories to attack Labour’s economic record. As the party’s post-mortem intensifies and the search for a new leader begins in the wake of its disastrous election defeat, Byrne issued a grovelling apology for writing the note, which was handed to his Liberal Democrat successor, David Laws. He says he has “burnt with shame” every day since 2010. The note was brandished by David Cameron as evidence of Labour’s financial irresponsibility in the final BBC debate of the election campaign and was used as a key weapon by the Tories on millions of doorsteps throughout the campaign. In the one-line letter, Byrne told Laws, the new chief secretary to the Treasury: “I’m afraid there is no money”, and signed off wishing him “good luck!”, an attempt at jocularity that was to backfire spectacularly. Writing in the Observer on Sunday Byrne, who increased his majority in Birmingham Hodge Hill, says: “Party members ask me: what on earth were you thinking? But members of the public ask: how could you do something so crass? And so bloody offensive? “I’ve asked myself that question every day for five years and, believe me, every day I have burnt with the shame of it, nowhere more than when standing on doorsteps with good comrades, listening to voters demanding to know what I thought I was playing at. It was always excruciating.” Related: ‘I’m afraid there is no money.’ The letter I will regret for ever | Liam Byrne He accepts it gave the Tories the easiest target during the campaign. “People’s anger – and my party’s anger – at me will never ever match my anger with myself or my remorse at such a crass mistake. I made it easy for our opponents to bash our economic record by bashing me. “And for millions of people and businesses who have had to make such sacrifices over the last five years, there was nothing funny about the national debt when the national task of cutting it has brought them such pain in their everyday life.” On Saturday – as up to six Labour frontbenchers were said to be considering throwing their hats into the ring to replace Miliband – a row was already breaking out over how long the party should take over the process. The six potential candidates being talked about are Chuka Umunna, Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham, Liz Kendall, Dan Jarvis and Tristram Hunt. The ruling NEC will meet on Wednesday to discuss the way forward amid signs that some want the process wrapped up within six weeks in order to minimise the period of internal argument and soul-searching. Senior party figures also said there were signs that the unions were saying the elections for leader and deputy leader should take place under the old electoral college rules, rather than under a new one-member, one-vote system introduced by Miliband – a move that would give them greater influence. In the immediate aftermath of Miliband’s resignation on Friday, the party said it wanted the next leader to be elected in September and unveiled at the party’s annual conference. Candidates for leader and deputy leader must be nominated by 15% of MPs in the Parliamentary Labour party. Ivan Lewis, a former member of Miliband’s shadow cabinet, said attempts by some to accelerate the process were irresponsible. “Anyone who suggests we can learn the right lessons from this dreadful election result by putting a new leader in place within six weeks is not acting in the interests of the party,” he said. “The leadership election should take place in September, with the result announced at the beginning of our party conference. In the meantime, while leadership candidates are making their case to the party, it is the responsibility of shadow cabinet members to do their job in holding the government to account and rebutting Tory attacks.” Miliband’s shadow Europe minister, Pat McFadden, said: “There must be no sense that this contest is being rushed or that the party is railroaded into accepting a new leader who appeals internally but who is then rejected once again by the electorate. We have a duty to the country not to make that mistake. “This contest must be open, not closed. We don’t just need a new face at the top, we need a new and different argument too. The rejection of our whole approach by voters not just in Scotland but in England too on Thursday night demands a fundamental reassessment of our direction, our analysis of the country and where we go in the future, and we should take the time to get it right.” Harriet Harman, the current deputy leader, is serving as acting leader until Miliband’s successor is chosen. She will then step down from this and her current position as deputy leader when the new appointments are announced. |