A Dream of John Ball

By Peter Barnard

Kenneth Harris’ biography of Clem Attlee states that Attlee’s favourite passage in books that he was reading at the beginning of the last century came from the novel A Dream of John Ball, by William Morris:

“Forsooth, brothers. Fellowship is heaven and lack of fellowship is hell: fellowship is life, and lack of it is death : and the deeds ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship’s sake that ye do them.”

In his early life, Clement Attlee was not naturally inclined towards Labour. Actually, the case was exactly the opposite – when he “came down” from Oxford, he was Conservative in thought and inclination. However, he visited the Haileybury Club in Stepney in 1905 and spent the next seven years of his life in the East End of London, thereby giving up a comfortable life and living in Law. After service in the First World War, he spent a further seven years in Stepney, devoting himself to the East End poor.

As we see the parade of “ex-policy wonks” putting themselves forward for the leadership of the Labour Party, and thinking of Clem Attlee’s formative years leading him to Labour, a thought occurred to me : given Attlee’s formative years, why don’t all you six (at present) candidates each promise to take a year – or two – away from Westminster and spend it (or the two years) in your constituencies and really get to know the “condition of the people” where you live – and elsewhere?

For sure, your vote is irrelevant in the House of Commons. The coalition has a comfortable majority and whether you are there to vote or not (“representing your constituents”) will make diddly-squat difference. Indeed, a hundred Labour MPs could “take a sabbatical” away from Westminster every year and it would not make a ha’porth of difference as far as national life is concerned : their votes in Westminster are purely symbolic.

At the same time, you could for five or six days a week provide the leadership “by example” that Labour Party members in your constituency need. Attlee had some words of wisdom here, too, as he discovered the kind of people he admired “…those who did the tedious jobs, collecting our exiguous subscriptions, trying to sell literature, and carrying the improvised platform from one street to another. They got no glamour. They did not expect to live to see victory, but, uncomplainingly, they worked to try and help on the cause.”

Kenneth Harris goes on to comment, “The first requisite of the Labour leader was that he should have fought the street-corner battle… Politics should reflect a man’s compassion and concern for his neighbour, not merely his interest in broad national issues. Politics was not a career, but a charge.”

As we look at the present generation of Labour MPs (and councillors and PPCs – when they are selected), how many are willing to, and do, meet the standards set by Attlee and his biographer, how many are willing to meet the thousands of people in each of their constituencies who really need them, understand their needs and then – like Clem – actually do something about it?