My kinda kinder politics

So I’m back from Brighton and conferenced out for another year. I’ve danced and sung, thought and listened, discussed and debated. I’ve commiserated with former PPC who weren’t elected and celebrated with those who were.

And I’ve met Party members. So many of them. Those like me who have been members for years and those who have joined just recently enthused by Jeremy Corbyn, devastated by the election result and ready to play their part in Labour’s fightback.

What can these members expect from the Party and each other? We are not always a Party that is kind to each other. We have had a divisive leadership contest that frequently pitted members against each other in really quite disgraceful terms. All the talk of both Tories and Trots was explicitly slapped down by Corbyn in his conference speech and rightly so. Our record membership levels deserve a space where robust debate does not pour over into abuse.

We need to think very carefully about what our members want from us – new and less so. If we treat this upsurge in intake simply as leaflet fodder we will not keep them very long. They want to be involved at a much more satisfying level than that and we need them to take their enthusiasm out into their communities. We should not allow it to be blunted by the procedural mills that can be our meetings and decision making process.

Jeremy has also called for a wider democratic process in the Party. So far the details are yet to emerge. We know that it might mean a more sovereign conference  which is fine and a good thing, but the conference will not do for the number of members we have now. If you can’t take a week off to go, how do you get involved?

And what does this mean for the National Policy Forum? (I have an interest here as I sit on the NPF representing the Socialist Societies). This discursive body really came into its own over the last Parliament with real debates taking place and as a result of an exhaustive deliberative process, a consensus around the outcome. It would be kind to let us know the fate of this body.

MPs are under enormous scrutiny at the moment and this is going to continue. Everyone is expecting them to disagree with Corbyn sooner or later and how they do so will be instructive. Have they learned the lesson that is so clear from the leadership contest that heaping abuse on each other only further polarises us? MPs must respect the mandate the leader has been given and work constructively with him, and with our members, to make this work.

But we must also be kind to MPs – those who remain loyal and those who take occasional issue with the leadership. Sure we can disagree with them, but we should not and must not abuse them. Jeremy went against the leadership hundreds of times over the course of his career too don’t forget. MPs will not make these decisions lightly but because on some issues their conscience is unable to vote against their beliefs. I struggle with this (for example, I was disappointed with Labour MPs who didn’t vote to equalise marriage) but I know that where I have a right to say they have made a wrong decision, I don’t have the right to question their party affiliation.

Being kind is a choice. But it is not a choice you make once and forget about. We must be mindful and choose to be kind every day. Choose to have kinder structures that support and develop members. Choose to have more tolerance of disagreement but disagree in more tolerant ways. Choose to be a Party that lives it’s values in the small things and not just in primary colours.