The five pillars of Labour

This week, LabourList interviewed an exclusive panel comprising of one representative from each of the four internal organising slates, who have put forward candidates forward to run as CLP representatives on Labour’s NEC.

After polling the Party membership, it became clear that the four slates of Mainstream, CLGA, Restoration and Labour To Win would gather the most support for their candidates. Each slate represents one of the Party’s recognisable internal factions.

READ MORE: I hope Andy Burnham has ruined my Christmas

Often factions, and the resulting culture of factionalism within the Labour Party is criticised and blamed for being the root cause of many of Labour’s internal cultural problems.

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It was a fascinating conversation – not only because it was an exclusive insight into representative candidates from each of the slates, but also because they shared a panel together and you were able to watch them interact.

Watching this conversation unfold, what became clear is the way the factions are pretty accurate representations of the different types of Labour member you will meet. With each faction representing the kind of politics that would drive someone towards the Labour Party.

With CLGA, it is clear that traditional socialism is at the heart of their values. Jess Barnard consistently provided answers through this lens as she spoke. For Restoration, increasing working class culture and representation in politics is their central aim, as demonstrated by Andrew Achilleos. Labour To Win’s Jane Thomas referred often to the importance of their slate providing a pragmatic and moderate wing to the Labour Party. Finally Mainstream, represented yesterday by Cat Arnold, provides a home for the wide-spread soft left membership, with one other member of the panel even admitting they were also a member of Mainstream, while not on their slate, due to broad shared views.

Traditional socialism. Working class representation. Moderate pragmatism. The all encompassing ‘Soft-Left’. These appear clear to me as four of the five defining characteristics of the Labour movement.

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The fifth pillar would of course be the Trade Union movement – but as yesterday’s panel was focussed on the CLP representatives to the NEC, there were not trade union reps present.

If passion about one of these pillars was what made you politically interested or motivated to pursue change, then the Labour Party is your natural home.

Watching the different slates interact directly with each other as they answered the same questions expertly fielded to them by our fantastic host and editor Emma Burnell, you could see in real time just how much crossover there is in the Venn diagram of views between each slate. As Emma pointed out, in the Labour Party we have 90% in common and 10% we disagree on, but spend 90% of our time on that 10% with which we disagree .

That is the issue of factionalism. The factions themselves are not. After watching this conversation yesterday, the factions themselves appear to me more as a group of people who prioritise the different Labour Party pillars in different orders – organising together around the pillar they value highest.

LabourList will be sure to let you know once this conversation is live for you to view – trust me, you do not want to miss it.

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