You are here: Home » Featured »

TOWIE for Ed?

December 31, 2011 12:42 pm

Author:

Share this Article

One of my earliest campaign memories is from the run-up to the 1997 election. I was a newly-joined party member and my presence was requested in Basildon to help out in Angela Smith’s campaign. Basildon was then a barometer seat. Despite boundary changes it still is a significant seat, although I doubt that winning here will necessarily mean government for the victor (although it did go Tory in 2010).

1997 was a good year for socialists in Essex when six Labour MPs were returned from my home county. Now all eighteen seats belong to the two governing parties; opposition has no home in Essex today.

It may be a gross generalisation, but describing the typical Essex man and woman is to describe people who are only a generation or two removed from London, most often the East End. Essex is home to Cockney barrow-boys done good.

Wheeling and dealing, dodgy and diving, getting on with a large dose of self-sufficiency, making one’s home the dreamt of castle – all this may portray a pastiche, but as a shorthand description for a county that embraced Thatcherism, and rejected her successor, it kind of works.

An inspection of Essex’s electoral history shows a county that embraces Conservatism. Yet, Labour’s breakthrough successes nationally came with famous victories in Essex constituencies.

To succeed in 2015 Ed Miliband has to succeed in Essex. Essex is not the only way for victory, but  a Labour Government that has no representatives from the most populous non-metropolitan county would be a gross distortion of a party claiming to be a truly national one.

So, how to succeed in Essex; I think the key word is ‘aspiration’. What Thatcher gave, and Major took away, were the keys to ambition. Paint a picture of prosperity, where hard work is rewarded, and I believe Essex will deliver. Labour has proved it can win in Wales, Scotland, and the north of England. Its ejection from government came when the south and east turned its back on Labour, and success must come with victories in these areas. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives can claim good representation across Great Britain, an unhealthy state of affairs, particularly for the largest party in the Commons. Labour must win back those areas we have gradually lost over the last fourteen years. Winning in Essex will prove that we will once again be ready for government.

Related posts:

  1. PPC Profile: Swatantra Nandanwar
  • Anonymous

    It would be funny if it was not so sad. How the word socialism and socialist can be used by people who think Thatcher was an inspiration.

    • Anonymous

      Blair won in 97 by picking up an running with Maggies legacy – he even visited her shortly after his first election victory.  As he and Labour drifted away from it over the following years, so did their support in the south.

      • Daniel Speight

        Blair’s drift away from Thatcher’s legacy was what exactly? Joe, do you mean the minimum wage, or what he regrets most of all, the ban on foxhunting? Afghanistan and Iraq can hardly be a drifting away from her legacy. His income taxing policy was probably lower than that of most of her administration’s time in office.

        Do you think it could possibly be that the drifting away of support may have been connected with exactly the opposite, that is sticking with the Thatcher legacy?

        Then again I suspect neither was the major cause. More likely in my view is the likeness to the Major government’s legacy of sleaze. New Labour did seem to be able copy that rather well.

  • James

    ” Labour has proved it can win in Wales, Scotland, and the north of England”
    And what do these areas have in common? they are all areas that are heavily dependant on the state directly or indirectly. Labour has become the party of the client state and that isn’t healthy.
    What many on the left do not seem to understand is that in many ways what the origianl labour movement fought for has happened and is now accepted by almost all. If this were 100 years ago when times and conditions were still truely victorain i dare say I’d be a socialist too, but it isnt and they arnt so im not. If labour wants to appeal to those like the Essex man in this article it needs to grow up and realize that the socialism that founded it is as out of date as the idea of the poor house and come up with policies and a mindset for the 21st century.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1557475545 Jack Bonner

    So essentially the only way to win in Essex is to be a Tory-lite party? 

    • Test

      No, it’s to make a decent appeal to the general instincts of “Essex Man”: someone who works hard, likes a pint and a smoke, wants to make his own way in the world. A middle-class left student-union hack like Miliband is never going to cut the ice with Essex Man because Miliband is too obsessed with minorities and scroungers. He is more interested in pretending to the scroungers that the poor lambs are so hard done by, so he can build an electoral coalition from those he can bribe to vote Labour – and it’s Essex Man who will have to cough up more in tax to pay for it.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder whether the focus should actually be broadened to the ‘New Towns’.

    A similar picture as described for Essex was seen in most of the New Towns around London and those in the Midlands; previously Tory seats turning Labour in 1997 and gradually drifting back over the next 13 years.

  • Anonymous

    I think that you are absolutely right with this analysis.   Blair won in 97 by getting that aspirational middle-class vote and if Labour want to beat Cameron Ed will have to do the same.

Latest

  • Featured Technology isn’t just something for geeks to worry about

    Technology isn’t just something for geeks to worry about

    By Jim Knight

    If you Google ‘Ed Miliband,’ you quickly get the old stuff about him being a bit of geek. His appearance at Google’s big Tent on Wednesday almost begged the headline “Geek Goes Home”. But that assumes technology is just something for geeks to worry about, and that Ed is a techie. Neither are true. What we saw on Wednesday was a leader with the courage to tell Google straight that it should live up to its founding principles on the [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured Woolwich: The British people – and our politicians – have risen to the occasion

    Woolwich: The British people – and our politicians – have risen to the occasion

    By Mark Ferguson

    “We want to start a war” – Woolwich attacker “right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose” - Ingrid Loyau-Kennett Only 24 hours ago, news began to trickle through about a barbarous crime, committed on the streets of our capital city, in broad daylight. It seems that the murderers who attacked and brutally murdered a soldier felt they were acting in a way endorsed by their religious beliefs and their god. But to try and [...]

    Read more →
  • News Labour NEC Report – 21st May 2013

    Labour NEC Report – 21st May 2013

    By Johanna Baxter

    Party Organisation The General Secretary (GS) noted the party’s good performance in the recent Local, Mayoral and South Shields elections and thanked all members, activists and staff for their contribution to that success. The committee discussed the work of Blue State Digital who have been brought in to revolutionise the party’s use of new and social media as part of our suite of campaign tools. It was noted that Matthew McGregor, Head of Blue State Digital’s London Office and former [...]

    Read more →
  • News Labour’s London Assembly Leader responds to Woolwich attack

    Labour’s London Assembly Leader responds to Woolwich attack

    Following yesterday’s attack in Woolwich, Leader of the Labour Group on the London Assembly Len Duvall AM said: “The attack in Woolwich was horrific, the actions of local people in response and the head-teacher and staff at the school are a reflection of the values and strength of our community. “At this afternoon’s London Assembly Police and Crime Committee questions will be asked about yesterday’s attack and the response, and at a future assembly meeting we will come together to [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment If Labour is to build One Nation, it must be a safe and equal one for women

    If Labour is to build One Nation, it must be a safe and equal one for women

    By Ellie Cumbo

    Today End Violence Against Women (EVAW) releases a new report auditing the Government’s progress in acting to prevent violence against women and girls. And with the revelations from Operation Yewtree and group exploitation cases set to roll on for many months , we hope the response from Parliament, policy-makers and the media will be unanimous : that prevention must be at the top of the priority list for any government, of any colour, from now on. On that basis, it’s [...]

    Read more →