Training | 2009.10.15
Labour 'could be in cold for a generation'
Charles Clarke, Lord Falconer and Denis MacShane are among figures calling for a \'clear, progressive vision\' for the party to avert prospect of \'Britain sleepwalking into another generation of Thatcherite government\'
Labour faces a "strong" chance of being swept from power for a generation unless it sets out a clearer vision to voters, Gordon Brown was today warned by a group of senior party figures.
The prime minister\'s energy envoy Malcolm Wicks led the call for a "clear progressive vision" as a 10-strong group of mostly former ministers including ex-home secretary Charles Clarke, published its own prescription for "Labour\'s Future".
The pamphlet was written by: former lord chancellor Lord Falconer; City of York MP Hugh Bayley; former contender for the role of Commons speaker Parmjit Dhanda; ex-Labour MP Calum MacDonald; former Europe minister Denis MacShane; former women\'s minister Meg Munn; Broxtowe MP Nick Palmer; former local government minister Nick Raynsford; as well as Wicks and Clarke. The series of essays is intended to revive a party which they believe is seen an "intellectually exhausted".
Launched at 11am this morning in committee room 13 in Westminster while the prime minister begins another regional tour, Wicks\'s essay calls for the remutualisation of Northern Rock while Bayley, a former professor of health policy, calls for the scrapping of primary care trusts. Lord Falconer uses his essay to join the campaign for new powers of recall in which an unhappy electorate would be able to trigger a contest to get rid of an unpopular MP. Palmer also calls for the role of the navy and RAF to be slashed.
At least half of the group have at some point publicly called for the prime minister to move aside but the restrained tenor of the pamphlet reflects a more cautious mood in Westminster than the backbench attempt to unseat Brown in June.
Some involved in that challenge believe their chance has passed, others believe it is too soon to tell and most acknowledge a new push will again require the involvement of one of some cabinet members while also accepting that the Labour\'s party conference witnessed the cabinet rally behind Brown. One senior rebel told the Guardian: "The revolution didn\'t work, now it\'s time for a palace coup."
In the introduction the former ministers and MPs say: "Seven or so months before a general election, and it is not the best of times for the Labour party. There is a general malaise.
"Certainly the electorate are less clear about what we stand for than in, say, 1945, the elections of the mid-60s, or 1997. This is probably only partly because a clear narrative is easier to set out in opposition than in government."
They go on: "In the absence of a clear progressive agenda, many people feel that the cheap populist initiatives offered by the Conservatives are worth a try – and this will potentially open up the prospect of Britain sleepwalking into another generation of Thatcherite government."
The introduction says the "widespread perception that Labour ... has run out of steam, is intellectually exhausted" was partly fair despite the prime minister\'s efforts to make clear the government\'s direction and a rash of policy announcements at the party conference.
"It is a strong perception and it needs to be countered with a positive agenda and intellectual confidence," the Labour politicians said.
Combined with the more general discontent with politics, which meant "the prospect of a Tory election victory is therefore a strong one", they conclude that there is a possibility of the Conservatives being in power for a dozen years.
The essays can be found at www.labourfuture.net .
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/[...]nior-labour-figures-warn-brown
