A new social democratic consensus?

By Gareth Siddorn

I read Peter Oborne’s latest blog with real interest and found myself in strong agreement with much of it (an occurrence which has become disturbingly more common of late). The next stage of social democratic politics has to be about more than simply mitigating against the worst excesses of capitalism. It has to be about more than merely putting in place crash barriers and safety precautions but rather mark a fundamental shift in the direction of travel – towards building a better capitalism.

However, we underestimate the scale of these ambitions at our peril. The global financial crisis represented a profound systemic failure but it is far from historically inevitable that this will lead to genuine systemic change, let alone in the direction of a new social democratic consensus. A quick glance at the current political geography of Europe is enough to dampen any sense of certainty in this respect; as is even a cursory study of the direction of political travel in the aftermath of the Great Depression. It would be a miscalculation to assume that we are living through the death throes of neo-liberalism and, even if we are, the type of intellectual heavy-lifting necessary before we can begin to speculate about the forging of a new consensus has barely even begun.

Ed Miliband’s conference speech showed that he is not scared to think big but there is still much work to be done on crafting the kind of language needed to communicate his ambitious ideas. His speech at times felt over-worked. Talk of “something for something” is clunky. Equally, reference to a “new bargain” is not going to do the trick. No doubt various options were discussed. Perhaps a “new deal”…but we’ve been there before. A “new covenant”…overly legalistic and with religious connotations. A “new contract” was probably dismissed as too managerial and business-like. But this may be a mistake as what is potentially being proposed here is indeed no less than a new social contract to underpin a radically different kind of political economy.

There is also further appeal in appropriating the language of capital and commerce by talking about a “new contract”, for, if this is to work, we will need to find a new accommodation with business. Drawing distinctions between “predator” and “producer” companies is arguably necessary and important but we shouldn’t be surprised if this is perceived to be anti-business.

I’m also not sure that we’ve even begun to get our head around such slippery definitions. As a party our response to what makes a good or a bad business is somewhat like Justice Potter Stewart’s attitude towards pornography: we know it when we see it. But this isn’t good enough. We need to develop a concept of what it means to be a responsible, sustainable business and a good corporate citizen. And then, equipped with these new terms of doing business, we need to offer a hand of friendship and genuine partnership; finding innovate new ways to learn from the creativity, dynamism and entrepreneurialism of good businesses.

Do Labour Party members have the stomach for this sort of radical new relationship with business? It is vital that the leadership is able to bring the party with them in order to successfully begin taking this radical new project to the wider electorate. Also radicalism in opposition is one thing but, it goes without saying that, change of this magnitude is brought about from within government.

One thing in our favour in this respect is the paucity of ambition and vision displayed by our opponents. There is no guiding philosophy, no grand narrative and no optimism about the potential of a better future for our country. The government’s sole objective is to pay down the deficit and, one thing is for certain, if you set yourself such limited goals then you better make sure you succeed…and they aren’t even doing that.

It would be naïve to underestimate the scale of the challenges faced but we could do worse than remind ourselves of Tony Blair’s words during his final conference speech in 2006, when he said that; “if we can’t take this lot apart in the next few years we shouldn’t be in the business of politics at all”. He wasn’t wrong.

Gareth Siddorn works in international development and was a Labour parliamentary candidate in the 2010 general election.