How well does Labour know its own members?

Reading an article on ConservativeHome provided a clear demonstration of how the Conservatives have embraced technology and have left Labour behind.  Without a clear signal of intent and without significant investment in tech, the Party will be hobbled at future elections.

Fundamentally, the Party does not appear to have the level of information and detail required about its own members, let alone its voters and potential voters.  Without this it cannot motivate anyone.  The ability to tailor a pitch, an approach or call to action is limited or, at worst, non-existent.

Take, for instance, the election materials received in our household.  The letters I received as a party member were the same as those that my wife received.  She is not a party member and not normally a Labour voter either.  And that is before we got onto whether our issues and priorities where it comes to voting are the same.

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to chat to one of Obama’s technology advisers when he came across to do a series of talks.  He had been in to see the Party that day and whilst given a warm response it was clear to him that the leadership weren’t taking technology seriously enough and certainly were not prepared to put sufficient resources behind it.  That appeared not to be an issue nearer the election when it came to paying for US campaign advisers.

With the party looking to review the platforms it uses for membership, fundraising and volunteer management, this is an ideal opportunity to consider what type of information it needs to have and what it can then do with it.

For members, it is not even the case that the Party has the correct personal details.  But the party does not really know what its members think.

The Party certainly doesn’t know what my opinion is on a range of policies, it has never asked me and I’ve rarely been asked to express a view unless it is in the formal setting of a meeting.  So if the Party is trying to motivate me, does it know which buttons to press?  General appeals to support the Party, or campaign against the Conservatives, may not be enough.

The Party does not know how active I am or what type of activity I undertake, if any.  It won’t know if and when I attend meetings and when I do how much I participate in them.  It is not aware of whether I campaign for other causes or am a member of other organisations, pressure groups etc.

This is caused by a combination of a lack of details being recorded but also the lack of infrastructure to facilitate the recording of the details as well.  There may be national systems in place or being updated but will these be opened up to local input as well.

These discussions are what makes the Deputy Leadership contest so important.  It may not grab the headlines in the same way as the Leadership race but seeing, for instance, Stella Creasy talk about her commitment to using new technologies and new techniques “to enable our activists to take the lead in rebuilding our movement” is the boost that the party actually needs.

The Conservatives look like they benefited at the election from being able to use the data it had at its fingertips.  Without a similar approach to the benefits of technology and by maintaining an over-reliance on traditional approaches, Labour will fail in 2020.  A week is a long time in politics but five years is an eon in technology terms.

Unless action is taken now the fightback cannot start.