Do we need to talk about Gordon?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Regular readers will know that – as a rule – I don’t tend to respond to long political essays. Who has the time? Blogposts are short and pithy. By and large that’s how the Internet works. But rules are made to be broken. Hopi Sen is back – and he wants to talk about Gordon.

Sen is, as many of you will know, one of the Labour blogosphere’s most respected and widely read writers. Unfortunately he’s not been blogging for a few months months now, but he has written an essay on Labour’s last leader for Labour renewal, and it’s a treat.

Hopi tackles what for many in the party is taboo – the mistakes of and fallout from the Gordon Brown era – from the perspective of someone who played a small role in the rise both of Brown and his predecessor. As he says in the article, Sen was the man sent to buy more Cava at victory parties. A lofty role indeed.

There are, of course, already many critiques of Brown already in existence. Some were launched upon an unsuspecting party before May 2010, adding salt and sandpaper to some pretty uncomfortable wounds. Yet most were from a perspective that painted Blair as in the right and Brown as an abberation. This new critique is unique in that it poses a question to both Brown AND Blair – and Ed Miliband too. What is Labour about when there’s no money left? What happens when the growth dries up? As Sen rightly notes, both men relied on the seemingly endless growth cycle for their own ends. Their rows about public sector reform were based on the false premise that future growth was inevitable.

How wrong they were. And yet it’s a reality that the party hasn’t adjusted too, not yet – although there are signs from Team Miliband that Ed might be heading that way. And yet Hopi also suggests that an alternative is impossible, indeed Hopi states that, “the political calculus of the Labour Party is weighted towards spending more money.” the party might be trapped in a cycle of decline – policies for a low growth world a needed, but we’d never countenance them.

All in all it’s an excellent read, a 5,000 word behemoth the likes of which you rarely see in these attention deficit prone days, and containing such wonderful turns of phrase as “rob Peter’s Comprehensive to build Paul’s Academy”. It’s a pleasure to read, albeit it a tough tale for those in the party (including on occasion myself) who view the Brown premiership as a political success but an electoral failure. Sen has shattered my illusions, but Brown – somehow – manages to escape without being made a scapegoat. That is what makes this timely review such an eye opener. So often the personal is political, but this is an intensely political critique that isn’t personal. It’s almost matter of fact – a feat in itself.

* I’m also delighted to announce that Hopi will be doing a daily conference diary or LabourList – with a twist. He’s not actually going to be at conference. “Hopi at Home” will look at how each day in conference looks from outside the bubble, and promises to be an eye-opener for those of us in the secure zone. *