Cheer up Neal

By Emily Thornberry MP / @emilythornberry

For years people have been accusing me of being a tribalist. And there is a reason for that: I am. As a No to AV supporter, I’ve heard it more often recently. In fact I graduated in the eyes of some into a ‘hopeless tribalist’. Now that’s an insult.

But that’s not what annoyed me during the AV campaign. What annoyed me was being accused of being against pluralism. I am absolutely in favour of pluralism – but rather than advocating the splitting of the Labour Party through changing the voting system, I believe a move towards greater pluralism can be made by changing the Labour Party to make it more open.

We do not need to rely on the Lib Dems or any other party to provide this pluralism. I do not agree with Neal Lawson, for instance, who advocated a switch to AV that would split the Labour Party so that “centre-left politics would become more akin to a campsite of many parties and movements” (p. 13, ‘Socialism is Democracy’).

I do not understand this assumption that pluralism can only – and will inevitably – be achieved in a more multi-party system. Surely it would be better to have the political landscape covered by two open and accessible parties than, say, five closed and unresponsive ones?

And furthermore, having two open and accessible parties would allow discussion and compromise to happen before an election. Party members would be engaged in the decisions and the electorate would know what they were voting for – rather than party leaders making backroom deals after polling day, as would inevitably be the case in a more multi-party system.

Now the AV vote has been lost, and the cohesion of our party secured, we should encourage the change we need to allow, encourage, and engage with pluralism inside the big Labour tent.

At their best, political parties should offer people a space to come together and discuss their views, and then an organisation through which they can advocate a shared set of values and priorities to the electorate.

I am tribalist when it comes to campaigning for Labour in elections. But where I recognise tribalism as dangerous is when it manifests itself within a party as one faction trying to suppress others. That’s why we need a more pluralist culture within the Labour Party to counter this trend, and I believe we are moving this way. The party is now much less sectarian than I have ever seen it – I haven’t heard anyone call a fellow member a trot or a sell-out for a while.

We need to embed the attitude that fellow members are family and should be treated with respect. The current review of the Labour Party’s structure that Ed Miliband has launched and Peter Hain is leading is a valuable opportunity to improve our party and open up debate within it.

Like the government, Labour didn’t agree on AV. But unlike the government, we didn’t use it as an excuse to knock seven bells out of each other. We should now practice a New Politics by having Labour Yes and Labour No people come together in a common vision of our party. This should be a vision that encompasses pluralism and openness to all those on the Left – and one that recognises that this great party of ours is where we all belong.