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September 13, 2005
make labOUR party
I still get a warm feeling when I think back to May 1997 and Labour's election victory. A return to government for the people, or so we thought at the time. But in the end New Labour was a massive disappointment, relying on spin to disguise the inadequacy of many of its policies and the incompetance when implementing those policies of note. By 2005, membership of the Labour Party had fallen by 200,000 and in this year's General Election, 4 million fewer voters ticked the Labour box on the ballot papers.How did it happen? How did a political party founded for and by the common man become so disconnected from its heart and soul?
There are a lot of theories, but a shortage of facts.
And that's where the make labOUR party campaign comes in. LabOUR is an independant commission on Accountability, Party and Parliamentary Democracy. Chaired by Michael Meacher MP, its objective is to understand why people are turning away from Labour, and to make recommendations for reforms.
To kickstart the investigation, they need to raise £25,000 and thus the Pledgebank campaign.
One person who I'd urge to sign-up is Gordon Brown. As an article in Sunday's Observer notes:
The Observer - Gordon's Friends
His [Gordon's] conclusions will be sketched out shortly in a new drive, fuelled partly also by conversations during a holiday in Australia, to reinvigorate grassroots politics and boost Labour's vanishing membership. Brown's new big idea is that Labour should listen to its roots.
Listening to the Party's roots eh? If - and that is a big if given the way the leadership has ignored the members for the last 8 years - Brown truly does mean to open dialogue with the grass-roots of the party, then what better start than for him to sign the pledge. It'll only cost him a fiver, but would go someone to showing the membership that there is a genuine willingness to put an end to the arrogance and hubris of the Blair era.
If you're a current or former member of the Labour Party, sign-up to the pledge and make labOUR party.
PS - If you want one of those Make Poverty History style banners, then you can use either of the following:
For a banner on the left:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.theuktoday.co.uk/labourleft.js"></script>
For a banner on the right:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.theuktoday.co.uk/labourright.js"></script>
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Posted by Clive on September 13, 2005 7:51 AM in the category Politics