The Argument is needed to renew our party

Soon after becoming a candidate in June 2013 I knew in my heart that Labour were going to lose the general election. I was speaking to huge numbers of people and whereas many of our policies were popular people didn’t fundamentally know what we stood for and what drove us as a party.

That’s because Labour stopped doing the heavy lifting it takes to refound its purpose for the challenges of the future. As a moderate Labour politician I readily accept that we have no-one but ourselves to blame for how things got to this point and the onus is on us to put it right.

Even though I’m a new MP I want to do my share of the heavy lifting it will take for Labour to regain its focus on the challenges we face today and reconnect our broken relationship with the electorate.

That’s why I’ve set up a political journal called The Argument. In the past political thinkers engaged with each-other and politics through long, well researched, essays. From 10,000 word essays, political engagement has been reduced to 140 character Tweets and the space for civility has reduced similarly.

People throughout our party kept quiet as things went wrong. I did, too. I hope that The Argument will set politics free again by providing a home for detailed and challenging positions on how we tackle the challenges faced by our communities and country and even Britain’s place in the world.

Each edition will see several keynote essays and then anyone with an interest in Labour politics can submit responses. People may agree but want to apply thinking in different ways. Others may disagree and challenge an author’s views. Having the argument is itself important because disagreeing without being disagreeable will only strengthen our party. That’s why I’ve called it The Argument.

We are publishing a journal to clearly develop our policy and politics in public. The centre left needs to develop its argument in public by engaging fully with a wide range of other positions. At the moment, the Conservatives dominate the discussion of policy and politics, but as the party of government they will be judged by the competence of their social and economic outcomes and not just intentions. Whatever their rhetoric, inequality and economic insecurity will rise. Many of our fellow citizens will remain trapped in traditional – and subservient – relationships with the public services they rely on. And, by 2020, Britain’s place in Europe and the world will be more fragile than it is now. To help solve these problems we need robust public arguments about how to change our society. The Argument will engage in that.

Each edition will see new essays but most important of all will be how people engage, respond and challenge that writing between editions. Then each ‘argument’ will be archived and authors will reassess their writing in light of the responses and we will come together to present the party with the complete and easy to digest learning.

The Argument will play a role in making centre left politics happen. That argument needs to take place at many levels. What is clear from both the general election and the Labour leadership election is that it needs to engage with people’s emotional intelligence and not just with policy technicalities. It needs to engage at the level of developing a world view that can move people.

It also needs to demonstrate practical policy that can solve real economic and social problems. There is a danger that the Labour party becomes a party that simply enjoys being the party of protest. That’s a small canvas to paint on. The Argument with others needs to ensure that we develop political solutions for the wider public and not just the fringes of demonstrations.

The Argument will be all about current renewal not past glories. Over 20 years has passed since Tony Blair’s election as Labour leader. Reeling off policies from the past will not work. From 2016, The Argument is working to renew centre left politics in entirely new conditions. Demography is different; the economy is different; the world is different.

That means spending some time fully understanding these new social and economic conditions. And then developing politics and policy that works for now and the future. So this is the renewal the centre left today. New Labour it isn’t.

At tonight’s event, Philip Collins will be delivering a short lecture on the basis of the themes he covered as one of the opening contributors to the first edition of The Argument in his article – ‘The Way Out Of The Wood’, looking at the history of our party and the current intellectual position we find ourselves in following two successive election defeats.

There will then follow a question and answer session which will be tightly focused on the themes raised by Philip in his original article and which I’m sure will provide for an interesting, challenging and politically passionate event.

Peter Kyle is Labour MP for Hove and Portslade

For more information on ‘The Argument Live’ taking place tonight, please click here