An unfinished mission – why Labour must stand tall and fight on

Richard Robinson‘s Speech Bubble

Two observations immediately spring to mind; first there is a General Election imminent, second it’s a rough and tumble life in politics (especially if you are in any way currently associated with the Labour party).

Tell us something we don’t already know, you’ll say.

Interestingly enough, though, last night Peter Hain, in a speech for Progress, argued something new, or at least new-ish, about the current plight faced by Labour: it has unfinished business, and specifically has a purpose in difficult economic times.

Rough and tumble it has certainly been for Hain over the past week. Failing to prevent Nick Griffin from appearing on Question Time, he last night had the tough task of galvanising what’s left of New Labour’s intellectual grouping.

He singularly did not disappoint the faithful. “Stand tall” he resounded, recalling the fact that previous tight budgets did not stop Labour governments from introducing a welfare state in the 1940s, comprehensive education in the 1960s, or an earnings related state pension in the 1970s.

He further argued that the Prime Minister needed to set out “far more effectively” the Government’s message that Labour is on the side of pensioners and the low paid.

Looking at the coming months between now and the election, Hain stated that the next election was not simply a choice between “nice Labour cuts and nasty Tory cuts”, rather it will be between a Government driven by a desire to help the poor and a Conservative administration with a “shabby” record on child poverty, pensions and taxes.

In a line that surely will be used time and time again by Labour’s public relations machine, he argued that an “unequivocally right wing” Conservative government would return Britain to “the days of patients dying on trolleys stuck in hospital corridors” (catchy phrase).

Turning to the thorny question “what will Labour actually cut”, the Neath MP acknowledged that the cabinet has, up to now, been ineffective in making Labour’s case to the electorate; and he admitted that Gordon Brown’s preferred strategy of insisting Labour would not make cuts was abandoned after months of internal disagreement.

“Labour’s mission is more relevant than ever in the lean years that lie ahead, but it needs spelling out far more effectively than we have managed so far and it’s time the party and the Government stood tall and proud about our unfinished mission for social justice, and started fighting back”, Hain concluded.

It was probably a candid assessment of where Labour is at on October 28th 2009, thirteen points behind in the opinion polls, six months before the general election. What will make the difference between now and then is just how much the party can stand stall, slay its dragons, and fight the good fight.

Speech Bubble is the first in a new series of columns coming soon to LabourList. More details on Friday.