Okay. I’m speaking as a supporter of Liz Kendall, but I’ll
try represent her views rather than just my own – even though they are mostly
the same.
Liz Kendall’s campaign slogan is A Fresh Start. But what
does that actually mean? What it means is, what Liz offers is a new approach.
If the Labour Party is going to win the next election it has to be a very
different Labour Party. The world will have changed in 2020, the United Kingdom
- if it is still a United Kingdom - will have changed, and the Labour Party has
to change too.
But what do I mean by change? It doesn’t need to change its values.
Liz, like all the candidates, has been in the Labour Party for years, she’s
campaigned for improved maternity and paternity care; in particular, her focus
is on early education because that’s where the inequality in our society
begins. But to be honest, there isn’t a vast difference between Liz’s views and
Yvette Cooper’s views, or Andy Burnham’s views. They could all serve in each
other’s shadow cabinets.
The difference with Liz is that I think she alone has
recognised the scale of the challenge the Labour party faces. And that while
Labour’s principles remain unchanged, the Party will not win the 2020 election
if it doesn’t change its policies. As the saying attributed to Albert Einstein
goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
but expecting different results. Or as Liz says, ‘If we keep on making the same
arguments that we have done over the last five years we will lose’. Labour has
to radically change or it will be the party of the past.
Does that mean moving to the right? No. I don’t think it
does. But in our current electoral system, the outcome is decided by the middle
ground. It’s decided by floating voters. Many of whom were in favour of many of
Labour’s policies. But who, on the day of the election, voted Conservative. And
for one obvious reason. They didn’t trust us with the economy.
Those are the people we have to win over. Those people
aren’t natural Conservatives. They are just people who will vote for whoever
looks the most competent. The most businesslike.
What it comes down to is what you think the purpose of an
opposition is. If all an opposition party does is oppose everything the
government does, it means the government sets the agenda and all the Labour
party becomes is a party of protest, of internet petitions and going on
marches.
Or is opposition about being an alternative government in
waiting. Which is not about opposing everything the government does. For
example, when the Conservatives were in opposition, did they oppose Labour’s
economic policies? No. They were cleverer than that. They agreed with our
policies, to give the impression that the economy would perform just as well if
they were in power. They neutralised the issue. They made it look easy. And they
are still doing it. Whenever they see something that is Labour territory, they
attack it and try to make it their own. They see that the living wage was
popular – so they pretend to introduce it. They claim to be the party of
working people, they claim to be the party of the NHS, they claim to be the
party of progressive taxes.
Unpalatable as it may be, if Labour is to win we have to
beat them at their own game. The only way you win a war is by going on the
attack. You don’t win a war by retreating to your comfort zone. And you
don’t win a war by fighting battles you have already lost. You can only win by
capturing enemy territory and making it your own. Labour can only win if it is
not just the party of the NHS and the living wage, but if it is also the party
of business, of a strong economy, of reducing the deficit, of everything that
is currently the Conservatives' territory. As Liz said in her Facebook q and a,
‘If we tell the British public that a strong economy, backing great business
and sound public finances are Tory values then the Tories will be in power
forever.’
And that’s the question facing us. How much do you want Labour back in power? Because I don’t think Jeremy
Corbyn will deliver a victory, because to win Labour has win over the middle
ground, not just its own left-wing. And I don’t think Andy Burnham or Yvette
Cooper will deliver a victory, because they both offer basically the same approach as Ed Miliband but without Ed Miliband.
Whereas Liz Kendall does offer a fresh start. What she
offers is Labour taking a long hard look at itself, at its policies, and
changing them to reflect the modern world, what people out there, the people we
want to vote for us, actually want.
Some of the changes Labour will have to make will not be easy, but it has to reform
if it is to remain relevant. It reformed under Kinnock, under Smith and under
Blair, and it can do so again. Labour can’t win by offering yesterday’s
solutions to tomorrow’s problems. The values stay the same, we have to find new ways of achieving them.
I mean, some of Liz’s opponents accuse her of being
Tory-lite. I don’t think she is. For instance, last week Liz was the first to
speak out against Tory plans to limit union rights. ‘As Labour leader, I’ll
oppose them. As Prime Minister, I’ll reverse them’. That’s not somebody who is
Tory-lite speaking. But what worries the Tories is that floating voters will think she is Tory-lite, and will
take the low-fat option. That’s why Liz Kendall is the candidate the
Conservatives fear most. They look at her and go ‘Oh no, she is the sort of
person who is going to appeal to the people who normally vote for us!’
That’s the sort of person we want as leader. Someone who takes votes away from the Tories.
So, in summary, I’d say the choice is this. Vote for Andy,
Yvonne or Jeremy if you want a Labour leader of the opposition. Vote for Liz
Kendall if you actually want a Labour Prime Minister.