A New Hope?

The last time I was at a gathering of the Labour tribe is was Conference, and the mood was about as low as it gets. Since then we had the coup that never was and a further narrowing of the polls. So it was with some trepidation that I approached the Fabian Society conference yesterday. What would the mood be among the activists that attend this annual gathering?

Well actually it was surprisingly upbeat. Not complacent, not even certain, but this was not the gathering of a group who feel they have been written off.

The day was full and packed and mixed strong warnings about the existential threats to Labour that currently exist, discussion of the usual Fabian hobby horses (constitutional reform, education, media reform) and a sense that we might – just might – be in with a chance of getting rid of the Tories in May. No one thinks it will be easy. No one thinks it will be pretty (and today’s ridiculous Mail on Sunday story is an indication of how grim it’s going to get). But the audience at the Institute of Education yesterday believed it possible.

They were also very keen to show their support for Ed Miliband. I don’t recall standing ovations at Fabian conferences before,  but there were three for Ed. As he arrived, at the end of his speech and at the end of his excellent Q and A.

Ed was on considerably better form than at the Annual Conference too. His speech was good, well delivered and fluent. There wasn’t a new policy offer (though his “watch this space” response on tuition fees was as close as we got to a policy announcment) but there was a confidence and a glimpse of the performer Miliband can be at his best. This Miliband is why Cameron is running scared of he debates.

It was a good day of fascinating if troubling discussion. The session on UKIP raised very real questions about the future of the Labour Pary and the fracturing of the uncomfortable coalition that has always made us electorally viable. Whether through UKIP or some other vehicle, the threats to the party Labour has become are very real and – win or lose – are not going to dissipate after the election. The Fabians have already started looking at this and will continue to do so. This session at conference was a useful airing of the very real contradictions we find ourselves in.

The last session was a look at the political disenfranchisement felt by so many and the sense of “A plague on all your houses”. Topic ranged from education to the class system and immigration. It was a light hearted panel that was kept moving both by the extremely funny Shappi Khorsandi and an astonishingly successful  and unexpected double act between right wing columnist Janet Daley and Owen Jones.

Owen was given the last word at the confeence. He used it to plead with the Labour Party to offer a message not just of managed decline – where we are better than the other lot, but that’s all we offer – to one of hope for the future. As someone who has often called for the same thing, I am happy to endorse this.

There was hope at the Fabian conference. But it is a delicate and fragile hope. It is a hope we will all have to fight hard to realise.