Conference Report – Compass: No Turning Back

By Tom Ogg

Compass conferences have always felt like a collective expression of exasperation with the Labour government, but this year, after the leadership and MPs’ expenses crises, it was exasperation laced with fear of electoral defeat and anger at the failures of twelve years in power.

Exasperation from Neal Lawson, Chair of Compass, as he put it in his opening address: “New Labour… we told you so”.

Anger from Chuka Umunna, Labour PPC for Streatham, who said that certain cabinet ministers need to “shut up and get on with the job”, in comments probably aimed at David “I thought about resigning, but didn’t” Miliband.

Every year Compass do a great job bringing together the left at their conference. They’re good at bringing pressure to bear on the
government to change some of the worst of its policies – such as on the privatisation of Royal Mail. But I find their overblown rhetoric a bit trying. Whilst the conference was good, I didn’t feel that today “a coalition for change came together to discuss and debate the ideas, policies and campaigns needed to build the good society!”, as their website proclaimed it would. As an audience member in the Compass Youth London session pointed out (in yet another ‘ideas facilitation’ session), they’ve been a bit too “think-tanky” for a self-described pressure group. They’re great at media pressure, sure, but where are the marches, protests and campaign organising meetings? Few and far between. In this respect, Compass hasn’t escaped Neal Lawson’s Blairite origins.

Controversially, Compass invited the Leader of the Green Party to give a keynote speech. This is strange given that, to be a full member of Compass, you have to be a Labour member or a member of no political party at all. Discussion of the Greens, and the BNP, lead to a great deal of discussion about tents. Can Labour sustain a big tent any more? Or are there to be many little tents, in our own field? (eh?) And should we have PR, so that every vote counts? The chair of the penultimate debate asked the audience to raise their hand if they were a supporter of electoral reform – nearly everyone put up their hands.

But what about if the BNP win seats? Polly Toynbee and Evan Harris MP were united – maybe the BNP will win seats, but better to have a fair voting system and BNP MPs than the current disaster. And why are people voting BNP? Paul Mason of Newsnight argued that Labour has ceased to articulate or represent a working class Labourism, a working class identity.

All the MPs and special advisers he speaks to burst into “apoplectic frenzy” just at the thought, said Mason. So we shouldn’t be surprised that parties who articulate an identity designed to appeal to the working class, like the racist socialist BNP on the one hand, and UKIP on the conservative side, actually do get votes. Oh, and the first past the post electoral system encourages parties to neglect their bases and concentrate upon the few middle England votes that swing elections. PR is on the march.

So what to do? Much more than can be said in a blog post. But more organisations like Compass, but with more determined campaigns, wouldn’t be a bad start.