Ed Wallis: Labour’s renewal must see the end of “message discipline” and political chicanery

The disruption of mainstream politics has been felt in different ways right across Europe, where traditional parties have been buffeted by forces they seem incapable of understanding. Part of what we are seeing is the consequence of the long-term dealignment of the political system and the decline of traditional party loyalties. Alongside this stands the seemingly ever-decreasing trust in political parties, with declining participation in elections.

But these broad political trends are combining with wider changes in our economy and society to present mainstream parties of the left with a particular existential challenge. As Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford observed before the last election, social democratic parties have lost their “social anchorage in the coalitions built up around the old industrial working class”. Labour’s historic cultural connection with specific communities has been severed. It has been replaced by a professional political class who know the corridors of Westminster but not the contours of everyday life.

As this disconnection grows, the left is missing democratic energy that may not see much use for party politics, but is flourishing in many corners of the country. So while membership of political parties and trade unions generally falls, single issue campaigns and “clictivism” thrives. And outside the sphere of politics, we can see democratic strength in the healthy memberships of many large charities, and also what the author Henry Hemming calls the growing “power of association”: under the radar of mainstream politics, there are a many as 1.5 million small groups who regularly come together around common interests.

This is evidence of a strong culture of joining and doing things together, of a sense of community that can grow in both the physical and digital realm. The union branch, the labour club, the constituency Labour party: these are no longer the places people go to take collective action. So the challenge for parties of the left is whether they can join with the joiners, or whether they will remain a class apart.  

For the Labour party, this will require a political tradition that is over a century old, with entrenched structures, mindset and assumptions, to change in some fairly fundamental ways. If it cannot, it seems likely that an institution that fundamentally changed the course of the 20th century will find itself redundant in the 21st.

At the crux of this lies Labour’s instinct to control. The Labour party seeks to scoop up energy in support of electing Labour governments, who then aim to “deliver Labour values” through the machinery of the state. But today’s political culture is plural, non-deferential and non-bureaucratic, so the big question is whether a machine party with rigid structures built for another time can be flexible enough to meld with it. Instead of seeking to capture, Labour will need to learn to collaborate and combine: to work alongside the new forces of energy in society, but never try to co-opt them.

There are three ways Labour might look to begin this process and start rebuilding its relationship with the British people.

The first is about tone. John Harris described the assets that set Jeremy Corbyn apart from his rivals last summer as “clarity, moral oomph and an evident sense of purpose.” These are qualities that have not come easily to the special adviser generation who have led Labour politics in recent years. We need a Labour culture in Westminster that is able to speak clearly and convincingly about what it thinks and why, rather than the torturous circumlocution of recent years. Good judgement, sound principles and the ability to inspire – rather than message discipline, policy expertise or facility with political chicanery – should be the key qualities we look for from our political candidates and leaders.

Second, Labour politicians must start to look beyond “policy” as its modus operandi. The traditional tools of policymaking have been undermined, by tight budgets, the crisis of political trust, and the increasingly complex nature of social problems.  Rather than pulling levers, setting targets or repurposing budgets, the job of political leaders should be something else: to found institutions and inspire collective action. We need politicians to do fewer, bigger things, and look for organising solutions rather than policy ones.  

This leads to the third big task for Labour politics: to spend much more time building trusting relationships in particular places. This insight was recognised during the last parliament when Arnie Graf, the US community organiser, was brought in to shift activity away from knocking on doors and depositing leaflets towards building community power. This was quickly sidelined – but offers the Labour party a model of politics that responds to the challenges of the age. Whether the party recognises this and acts upon it is a big test of whether it is capable of leading itself back to life.

Ed Wallis is editorial director and senior research fellow at the Fabian Society. This piece is taken from the Fabian Society pamphlet Future Left: Can the left respond to a changing society?