This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/15/labour-election-loss-down-to-lack-of-ideas-not-passion-says-jim-murphy

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Labour election loss down to lack of ideas not passion, says Jim Murphy Labour election loss down to lack of ideas not passion, says Jim Murphy
(about 2 hours later)
Labour did not lose the 2015 election due to a lack of passion but an absence of ideas, the former leader of the party’s Scottish wing, Jim Murphy, has said. Labour lost the 2015 election not because of a lack of passion but because of an absence of ideas, a former leader of the party’s Scottish wing has said.
In an interview with the BBC, Murphy said Labour’s “catastrophic” election defeat was not just in Scotland, arguing that the party “cannot lose sight of the defeat in England”. In an interview with the BBC, Jim Murphy said Labour’s “catastrophic” election defeat was not just in Scotland, arguing that the party “cannot lose sight of the defeat in England”.
His comments came as anonymous party sources quoted by the Telegraph likened Liz Kendall’s campaign to “Taliban New Labour”. His comments came as anonymous party sources quoted by the Daily Telegraph likened leadership hopeful Liz Kendall’s campaign to “Taliban New Labour”.
A source from either the Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham campaign teams told the Telegraph: “We are now seeing the end of Taliban New Labour. All of those Blairites who hoped they might get their candidate elected have failed. A source from either the Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham campaign teams told the newspaper: “We are now seeing the end of Taliban New Labour. All of those Blairites who hoped they might get their candidate elected have failed.
“The whole strategy for Liz was a Westminster strategy – she played up to the media, to the rightwing commentators, to the Blairite Taliban MPs, made a few headlines by saying she was relaxed about free schools and committing to defence spending, and just took a chance that the momentum would carry her forward.”“The whole strategy for Liz was a Westminster strategy – she played up to the media, to the rightwing commentators, to the Blairite Taliban MPs, made a few headlines by saying she was relaxed about free schools and committing to defence spending, and just took a chance that the momentum would carry her forward.”
Meanwhile, in an interview in the Daily Mirror, Dave Prentis, the leader of public service union Unison, described Blairities as “coming out of the woodwork”, adding that his union would disaffiliate if the party drifted to the right as a result of the leadership election. In an interview in the Daily Mirror, Dave Prentis, the leader of public service union Unison, described Blairites as “coming out of the woodwork”, adding that his union would disaffiliate if the party drifted to the right as a result of the leadership election.
Nominations for the leadership closed at noon on Monday. A late surge saw Jeremy Corbyn reach the required number of 35 Westminster backers to join Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall on the ballot.. Nominations for the leadership closed at noon on Monday. A late surge saw Jeremy Corbyn reach the required number of 35 Westminster backers to join Burnham, Cooper and Kendall on the ballot..
In his BBC interview, Murphy said: “On one election day we lost two-and-a-half elections. We lost in Scotland to the SNP; we lost in large parts of England to the Tories; and in other parts of England we lost to Ukip.” In his BBC interview, Murphy said: “On one election day we lost two and a half elections. We lost in Scotland to the SNP; we lost in large parts of England to the Tories; and in other parts of England we lost to Ukip.
He said the party had to come to terms with the scale of the defeat outside Scotland. “To talk about the defeat in England is not defeatist; it is a realisation of how far we have to travel on the journey back,” he said. “To talk about the defeat in England is not defeatist; it is a realisation of how far we have to travel on the journey back,” he said.
Murphy urged the party to reject “the mindset of one more heave”, saying “there needs to be as deep thinking south of the border as north of the border”. Murphy urged the party to reject “the mindset of one more heave”, saying “there needs to be as deep thinking south of the border as north of the border.
“We can make quicker progress if we accept the scale of the challenge but if what we do in the next five years is similar to what we have done in the past five years then we face real difficulties. One of the things we can do is at last put the past enmities of the Bair-Brown divisions beyond use once and for all.” “We can make quicker progress if we accept the scale of the challenge but if what we do in the next five years is similar to what we have done in the past five years then we face real difficulties. One of the things we can do is at last put the past enmities of the Blair-Brown divisions beyond use once and for all.”
He added: “This is not just a Scotland problem – our demise in large parts of England is not trivial; it is not superficial.” Murphy said it was not about having “better press releases” or speaking with more passion. . He added: “This is not just a Scotland problem – our demise in large parts of England is not trivial; it is not superficial.” Murphy said it was not about having better press releases or speaking with more passion. .
“It was not passion that was lacking in the British Labour party; it was appeal popularity and policy.” “It was not passion that was lacking in the British Labour party; it was appeal, popularity and policy.”
Murphy refused to back a candidate in the leadership election, saying he would watch the contest “as a private citizen”. Murphy refused to back a candidate in the leadership election, saying he would watch the contest “as a private citizen”. But he rejected the “35% strategy” – that Labour could secure victory with a relatively small share of the total vote by targeting core voters and disaffected Liberal Democrat supporters.
But he rejected the so-called 35% strategy – that Labour could secure victory with a relatively small share of the total vote by targeting core voters and disaffected Lib Dems. “This idea that magically in the country there was a coalition of Labour voters and disgruntled Liberal Democrats that would get us over the finishing line – I never shared that view. I always had a sense that we had to build a bigger tent and a politics that had an appeal to one nation Conservatives and those that were previously anxious about Labour in the way that Tony Blair and others have done in the past.”
“This idea magically in the country there was a coalition of Labour voters and disgruntled Liberal Democrats that would get us over the finishing line, I never shared that view. I always had a sense that we had to build a bigger tent and a politics that had an appeal to one-nation conservatives and those that were previously anxious about Labour in the way that Tony Blair and others have done in the past.”
He likened the atmosphere in the TV debates in Scotland to a “quasi-religious rock concert so whatever truth you told it did not really matter”. He said it felt like a kind of post-truth politics.He likened the atmosphere in the TV debates in Scotland to a “quasi-religious rock concert so whatever truth you told it did not really matter”. He said it felt like a kind of post-truth politics.
Murphy said he did not expect to see David Miliband, a close friend, returning to frontline politics in the UK from his job heading an aid organisation in the US. “If he wants to change his mind about that that is for him to announce that but nothing I have had from him in private discussions suggests he is tempted to come back into frontline of politics in Britain,” he said. Murphy said he did not expect to see former foreign secretary David Miliband, a close friend, returning to frontline politics in the UK from his job heading an aid organisation in the US. “If he wants to change his mind about that, that is for him to announce, but nothing I have had from him in private discussions suggests he is tempted to come back into frontline of politics in Britain,” he said.
Later, giving a speech at the Policy Exchange thinktank in London, Murphy offered a very personal reflection on the consequences of the party’s Blairite/Brownite split.
Describing it as a “self-indulgent and self-destructive struggle”, he said: “In the last two months of the election I have spoken more to Ed Balls than I did in the last two decades. I realised how wrong I had been. I had no closer support from any colleague during the election than Ed Balls. How wrong to wait until so late in the day to work together properly.”
Murphy also called for Scotland to be “front and centre” of Labour’s 2020 election strategy. Admitting that he was calling for a huge allocation of resources, he explained: “Calculated purely on swing needed, the easiest two Labour targets to win back in Scotland are my old seat of East Renfrewshire and the seat of Edinburgh North and Leith ... But they are seats 26 and 44 in the simplest of UK target lists.”
Murphy said: “The path to victory in middle England runs right through the heart of central Scotland.”