Three myths we need to tackle head on from Manchester

By Luke Pollard / @lukepollard

What a conference. Intrigue, debate, discussion, emotions and more rhetoric and high drama than a typical soap opera. Manchester is fast becoming Labour’s conference venue of choice for political commotion.

Much has already been written about the outcome of the conference, the rights and the wrongs but I want to just focus briefly on three popular myths – some peddled by our opponents and some espoused by comrades on our own side.

The first myth: The party is now united. No, it is not. We are not united we are uniting. They’re different but the process is, I would argue, even more important than a final united destination which we’re quite clearly not at yet. After a lengthy leadership contest it is bonkers to believe that a few days in Manchester will resolve some cosmetic but some deeper divides between the various leadership campaigns and individuals in the party.

We should neither deny that we have differences of opinion nor should we throw our toys out of the pram if we didn’t get the results we wanted. The process of uniting is a necessary precursor for unity and forming a solid direction of travel. Without it, we’ll be cosmetically unified but divided below and this simply won’t last. This is not a time for some cheap crack filler. It is time for a proper convergence and that’s a process not a soundbite.

Ed needs time to bring together the best bits from all the campaigns and it would be foolish not to raid the skills base and expertise of all the campaigns but especially David’s. And he should do so quickly. But let’s also be clear about another thing and that is for 97% of party members the tension and strife caused by the leadership contest amongst the political class in Westminster means little, if anything. Westminster bubble disputes must not damage the overwhelming positivity of the membership at large towards the new leader and the process that elected him. Those closely aligned to leadership campaigns need to remember that members and voters will have little time for those who fail to unite after such a long process and rightly so.

The second myth: The conference was bustling and busy. No, it wasn’t. Numbers were clearly down, but let’s also be clear this is not necessarily a bad thing depending on your perspective. Labour conferences have long attracted not only delegates, candidates, trade unions and members but also commercial visitors and business interests. Conference did seem noticeably quieter than it had in previous years. But not every day. Just as last week I bemoaned the invasion of suited business interests at Lib Dem conference, this week it was clear that many of the lobbyists had shunned attending Labour conference. This means that the party will have received less money from selling the massively expensive commercial passes but, on the upside, the bar debates and the atmosphere was less diluted by corporate suits and lobby groups (though some were still present, legitimately trying to talk policy when most people were still talking first name political personalities).

The third myth: that the party has lurched to the left. No it hasn’t but let’s be careful here. Perception is reality and if this is not tackled quickly we might as well have. Labour members have long learnt to be sceptical of what Murdoch and the Mail say about us. The Tory press’ simplistic narrative of two brothers, one left, one right reflected however annoying reflected genuine questions from the contest. Instead of attacking the media for it we should address it head on.

We haven’t lurched to the left and as Ed builds his team he needs to demonstrate and reassure Middle England that we are still a centre left party. Cameron’s chums at the Daily Mail and The Sun won’t do this for us – it is up to Labour to do so. The Tory press have a job to do – to promote their own – and so do we, so let’s stop moaning about people on the right being right-wing and get on with the job at hand. The conservative-owned media will, of course, attack us remorsely and unfairly and so we must deliver this message directly via social media, via leaflets and via conversations on the doorstep.

For me though the most profound thing about this Labour Party conference, unlike any others I have ever attended, was that this was a Labour Party conference. It was a conference about us as a party, a conference about us as a movement and a conference about the future of us as a political force. As interesting as that is we now only have three weeks until the Tories announce how they are to butcher our public services with their ideological cuts going deeper and faster than economy needs.

We’ve spent enough time talking about ourselves – let’s start talking about the people who need us and the issues that matter to real people. The contest might be over but the real fight has only just begun.

Luke Pollard was Labour’s candidate in South West Devon art the last election. Visit his website at www.lukepollard.org