I’m joining the U.K. Labour Party - here’s why
British politics has been a hot mess for years and it’s getting worse. But, I’m starting to see clarity for the future but want a say in how this shapes up.
If talk of politics makes your blood boil then click away. If you’re a die hard Brexiteer, this will definitely piss you off. If you’re a pragmatist then this might give you pause. If you choose to continue reading then grab a large beverage as I lay out how I came to a difficult decision, and what it means to me going forward.
As a retiree, I have the luxury to boil my brain by following the tragicomedy aka British politics. Until recently I had no clue for whom I’d vote in any election. Then I read Chums by Simon Kuper and suddenly, my confusion lifted.
Kuper argues that a minuscule cross section of society drawn from the Eton/Oxford educated class that has dominated politics for decades exhibits characteristics that shaped what we see today. Kuper claims that in the period 1945-2002, leading politicians could draw on experience such that:
…fighting in wars helped turn these men into serious rulers. They had learned that decisions taken by Etonians in military HQ or behind Whitehall desks could kill people. That seriousness helps explain why, in the fifty years after the Second World War, British politicians largely avoided disaster, with the brief exception of Suez. But the last MPs who were veterans of a world war – Heath, Tony Benn, Peter Emery and Geoffrey Johnson Smith – left parliament in 2001. Then Bertie Wooster rose from the dead.
Damningly, he goes on to say of the next Parliamentary intake:
British unseriousness climaxed twenty years later in the Cameron/Johnson generation. These men had no personal experience of tragedy. They were the most privileged members of the luckiest generation of a country that for 300 years had avoided revolution, dictatorship, famine, civil war, invasion or economic meltdown. Tragedies did happen in Ireland and the empire, but only as offstage noises that scarcely registered with the ruling caste.
It gets worse:
And people who arrived in the Commons as celebrities – above all Johnson, but even Gove, who had been a name at The Times – had the fastest track of all. They entered politics with a ready-made national constituency outside their own party, and with journalist friends who could help build their profiles. Ex-journalists also had the precious advantage of never having run anything – no company, local government, or colony like their forefathers. They didn’t have a record that could be attacked.
Whether you subscribe to Kuper’s analysis, there can be little argument over his take on experience and journalism.
I recall sharing a train carriage with Cameron from Kings Cross to Grantham in his pre-PM days. I was shocked at how much he needed the assistance of FOUR PR wonks to create and develop an argument. Cameron is often characterised as smart. I saw a stupid but wonderfully polished, deeply ambitious person.
Kuper is right about journalists. Most I’ve met are brilliant at asking questions and stringing together compelling content. But deep down, most I’ve met understand little of what they talk about. But by heck do they sound good!
After reading Kuper I came across The Year of the Definite Left: How Progressives Can Defeat the Right in 2023 that finally crystallised what I’ve been looking for in politics. It states that:
The Definite Left is neither the traditional social democratic politics of the mid 20th Century, nor the neoliberal market-based politics of New Labour and Clinton. It’s not socialist in an ideological way, but it does seek to govern capitalism, to ensure fundamental rights, environmental sustainability, feminist-inspired human equality and openness of identity.
A big part of what the Definite Left stands for is the idea of devolving power to local communities rather than the current focus on central control. I like that idea as it helps (but doesn’t guarantee) that decisions make sense for local need rather than the inevitable generic scattergun approach, or, worse still, the politically motivated cherry picking we see today.
All of this is a prelude to illustrate how I got to the point where Labour became an attractive proposition.
My reading confirmed that what we are currently witnessing are the last throes of what I term the Choir of the Talentless. But like many others, I’ve struggled to understand what Labour in 2023 stands for. The smaller parties might be attractive but have little chance of forming a government in our FPP system. That leaves Labour as the only viable alternative.
Its leader, Kier Starmer, has been playing a strange game which looks much more like a power play rather than offering clear alternative policy. That changed for me in his new year speech when he talked in some, but not enough, detail about devolving decision making. If I’ve heard him correctly then Starmer is starting to lay the foundation for a radical rethink that aligns with the sentiments of the Definite Left. To my mind, this contrasted with the much more narrowly defined objectives offered by PM Rishi Sunak in his new year speech. For a nuanced view of the two politicos, check this analysis from The Guardian.
For me, it’s no longer enough to see the emergence of policies I like. I want a voice and you only get that by joining a political party and then using your voice and vote to influence what happens. Shouting in a Twitter channel is like pissing in the wind. It always blows back at you. And I’m way past that.
At close to 70 years of age, all this might be the sound of an old man with nothing better to do than sabre rattle. Or the last hurrah of someone tilting at windmills. Untrue.
In back channels I’ve frequently expressed my fears for the future of my children and grandchildren, some of whom live in poverty and who we have to support. It should not be this way. But equally, I’ve long believed that moving the needle is possible if your determination is matched by informed understanding. That’s where I’m at. And it’s why I’m supporting Labour beyond putting a cross on a ballot.
P.S. If, as predicted, the Tories are wiped out in the next election, I hope they use their time in opposition to reflect on what they stand for and find candidates that are interested in supporting the people and not as a stepping stone to accruing wealth.