Causes to fight for: idealism in politics, and admitting mistakes where we fall short

By Samir Jahan

‘Progressive’ is perhaps the most widely used word when it comes to talk of Labour’s electoral fightback. Many supporters of the party emphasise the fact that Labour needs to prove that it is the ‘progressive’ party and that the Conservatives are not ‘progressive’. However, I would argue that in order for Labour to reassert itself as the party of progressive politics, we need to honestly examine what we have done thus far, a ‘regression’ of sorts.

Over the past 12/13 years, New Labour has achieved great things and completely transformed Britain — but this does not mean that mistakes have not been made. Mistakes aren’t necessarily a problem as long as they are confronted, understood and rectified but this has not always happened. In the past, the need to be ‘right’ and the need not to lose any face to either a vicious opposition or savage media has often resulted in Labour proceeding with flawed and unpopular policies without any real introspection. This is not new, and Labour is certainly not the only party to do it, I believe it was Mrs Thatcher who ‘was not for turning’, but this must change.

The recognition and reconsideration of flaws only leads to stronger policies, a stronger party and a stronger country; other parties may not turn around but that is because they are too scared to face their problems – we need to show that Labour isn’t.

However, I would also argue that the introspection and retrospection that has taken place thus far is inadequate. As a party, we tend to think only of life pre-1997 when auditing what Labour has done and is doing. There is no arguing that life has significantly improved under Labour compared to the Conservative years preceding 1997 and that we should celebrate what has been achieved. But this in itself is no basis for making forward thinking and progressive policy.

For generations such as mine, the pre-New Labour years are a distant and hazy memory and the ‘since 1997’ line is becoming increasingly redundant. If we are to retain our mantle as the ‘progressive’ party then we need to seriously contemplate our years in government and compare current policies to the policies of the first and second New Labour governments. There are good and bad lessons to learn from our past, and only by reviewing that past can we charter where we want to go and how.

When it comes to producing policy, we only have ourselves to compete with. But we can’t be complacent; rather, we should be working that much harder.

Many may say that this is idealistic and indeed it is. However, perhaps idealism is what politics needs; after all, it did win New Labour its first election.