Why I went from Blue to Red

Saturday May 15th 2010 is a day which will stay in my mind for some time. It is the day I joined the Labour Party. You might not think there is anything special in that, but for the previous 6 years I had been a member of the Conservatives.

I should have joined Labour much sooner, growing up in a working class household and benefiting as I did from so many of their policies: EMA enabled me to go to sixth form; student grants enabled me to go to university (the first in my family) and working tax credits allowed my mum to provide all we needed, to name a few. Like so many working class families, however, mine was firmly in the small-state, help yourself and not others mind set which typified the Tories.

It wasn’t until after university that I came into contact with a Labour politician, my local MP Nick Palmer. During the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Nick had I talked about various issues, and though we didn’t agree, the debate was constructive and sensible. This was in contrast to the Tory candidate, whose only response was to agree with all of my points, only days after she had given an interview to the Guardian where she explained her opinion was the exact opposite to mine. The seeds of doubt were sown.

A short while later I set up ‘Conservatives for Nick Palmer’ in Broxtowe, as far as I know the first group in the country where voters of one of the big parties were publically backing a candidate from another. It was a tough decision for an aspiring politician, but I knew it was right for Broxtowe, which had to be more important than my personal ambitions. By polling day we had over 300 people, including former Tory councillors, backing Nick. The Tories didn’t take this laying down, an angry phone call with the local party chairman left me in no doubt what they thought of me. Two days later came the letter in the post telling me I had been expelled.

I was always told that you didn’t really know someone until you’d spent a night in a tent with them, and I realised you never knew a political party until they were close to power. Tories in opposition seemed nice enough – I certainly fell for the rebranding exercise – but arguing over foreign aid figures, plans to privatise the NHS and cutting support for the most vulnerable in society was something totally different. When my 99 year old blind great-nan had her talking books stopped because of government cuts, I knew I had made the right decision, just too late.

Nick lost the election by 388 votes, but the experience of being part of a Labour campaign team, and the contrast with the Tory teams I’d experienced, made me realise that Labour was where my heart, and my head, belonged. Concerned with others, not just self, and the common good, rather than narrow interests of a few.

As with all political defections, the new party made a fuss, allowing me to make a speech at Conference to highlight my switch. The Tories shrugged their shoulders and said I’d always been a left-winger, and I was no great loss (both probably true). I didn’t move for the fanfare, even locally, but because it was the right thing to do. Similarly, Labour shouldn’t be overly concerned when people leave when we’re in opposition, some will have genuine policy concerns, while some will enjoy being in government regardless of party.

I hope that the group we pioneered in Broxtowe can be repeated throughout the country at elections in the future. Decent, hardworking, Labour politicians connecting with people, regardless of their own political views. The tribal ‘us and them’ of British politics which turns off so many voters should be forcing us to seek out people who wouldn’t naturally agree with us, not necessarily to get involved with campaigns, but to engage in dialogue. Who knows how many majorities we might overturn in 2015 that way?