The five most influential people on the left?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Left Foot Forward are currently conducting a survey to determine the fifty most influential people on left, and they’ve asked me to suggest my top five. I’ve tried to avoid picking anyone who I know personally, who is a regular contributor to LabourList or who is standing for leader of the party. Of course it stands to reason that the future leader will be the most influential person on the left for years to come – but that seems a little obvious to me.

Here are my five:

1. The Ordinary Member
The past year has truly been the year of the ordinary member in the Labour Party. Without the hard work of activists and local party organisation we would surely have fared much worse in the general election.

At the last conference concessions to the membership were won, and every leadership candidate seems determined to push for party reform that will open up policy making procedures to the ordinary member.

Online organising is now able to empower the member, whether they are at the heart of a strong CLP or a new member in a moribund one. Contact Creator, Membersnet, Twitter, Facebook, and dare I say it, LabourList all allow for campaigns to be fought and won both inside and outside the party.

The star of the ordinary member is rising.

2. Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman may seem like an odd choice, after she turned down the chance to stand as leader of the party. Yet she will almost certainly come out of the race as one of the most important people in the party, and perhaps Labour’s most influential woman.

That’s not why I’ve chosen her though. The most crucial change Harman has helped bring about in the past year is one that could radically change our politics. Even if it is ultimately unsuccessful, her plan to increase female representation in the shadow cabinet to 50% has brought the lack of women on the frontbench to the forefront of our political conversation. It’s a small but signifiant step towards gender equality at the highest level of our politics.

And for that reason, Harman has earned her place on this list.

3. Professor Richard Wilkinson
Professor Richard Wilkinson, along with his co-author Kate Pickett, has written a book, “The Spirit Level” that has provided academic proof for what so many on the left had always believed – that inequality is an inherently negative thing for all concerned, even the wealthy.

Wilkinson is now continuing his pioneering work by attempting to address the vast income inequalities at play in Islington, as he chair’s the borough’s fairness commission. If it pays off, the work done by this committee could be groundbreaking. And it’s for that reason that he makes my top five.

4. Caroline Lucas
This one is difficult for me to write as a Labour tribalist. I’ve seen the Green Party in London adopt incredibly conservative positions and vote against positive measures that are in their very own national manifesto, so this is by no means an easy pitch for me to make.

Yet Caroline Lucas deserves to be included as one of the most influential on the left, simply because she is a groundbreaker. Not content with being the first leader of the Green Party, Lucas is the first MP from a small party to break through the two/three party system in living memory. She’s no Keir Hardy, and I’m not suggesting that we’ll see a wave of Green MPs sweeping into parliament in future, but her achievement should be recognised. I hope that she serves her constituents with distinction, before Labour takes the seat back at the next election.

5. Peter Mandelson
Some may be surprised that Lord Mandelson makes this list. Now that his memoirs have been published it seems certain that he will, once and for all, step back from front-line politics for good. But this poll is for the most influential of the last year, and under those criteria the influence of the “Dark Lord” cannot be understated. Yet it’s not for his role in eliminating dissent against Gordon Brown, his stewardship of the general election campaign, or his mastery of so many different roles whilst in government that earns him a place in my top five.

Mandelson makes it onto this list because he has, through his memoirs and his departure from the stage, finally laid the ghost of New Labour to rest. Whether it was a true ideological realignment of the party or just a rebranding, New Labour is no longer the dominant force or mantra within the party – regardless of who wins the leadership election. The British left would do well to move on from the slogans, policies and politicians of the mid-nineties if we are to win again. In his own peculiar sort of way, Peter Mandelson has helped us to do that. That’s a massive change, and his role in both the boom and bust of New Labour should not be forgotten.

So those are my top five. What are yours? Email your suggestions to Shamik at Left Foot Forward, or pop them in the comments box and we’ll pass them on.