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March 2, 2007
2020 Blinkers
So Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn have launched The 2020 Vision.
BBC - Mr Clarke said he wanted it to be a wide-ranging "big tent" debate, rather than a narrowly focused attempt to construct an alternative manifesto, but, he added, he hoped it would not be too "woolly" and inconclusive.
Mr Milburn said he wanted the site to throw open the debate about Labour's future to the public at large. They both pointed to the influence in US politics of web-based debates.
They said current debates - such as Mr Blair's Number 10 based policy review and the deputy leadership race - were too inward looking and did not address the wider country.
It all sounds very laudable, but the mission statement is revealing.
Politics is about the future not the past. After ten years in office Labour needs a new vision and new policies if we are to successfully meet the future challenges faced by our country and the wider world. Winning future elections requires us to renew ourselves intellectually, politically and organisationally.
Not a very good start there. Ignorance of the past condems us to repeating the mistakes of the past. Politics is about understanding where we are and how we got here, and from that deciding on policies to address the resultant issues. Any twerp can sit in a bar and spout off (which seems to be how New Labour came upon many of its big ideas), but moving forward demands insights that can only be achieved by consideration of history. Carl Sagan put it more succinctly when he said "You have to know the past to understand the present." And both Clarke and Milburn would do well to keep in mind the words of Oscar Wilde, "One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged."
But the key element to that opening paragraph comes at the end. The real objective is to win elections and other policy objectives must be subservient to that goal.
Renewal cannot happen behind closed doors. It requires an open participatory debate in the Party, amongst our supporters and with the wider public about the future direction for New Labour. Ten years ago we had a clear vision about direction. And in those ten years we have done much to make both Britain and the world better and fairer. We take pride in what has been achieved under Tony Blair’s leadership.
This section starts so well, calling for open debate, not only amongst the Party membership, but also with the public. Unfortunately it is let down by the closing sentence. If you look openly and honestly at what has been achieved under Blair's leadership, you will be left more with a sense of shame than pride. Fiasco upon fiasco, war after war, and an increasing disconnect from the electorate. Does anyone remember the Big Conversation? That was so popular and engaging that the site is no longer available, and the domain is now registered to an Austrian. How about Blair's speach in Sedgefield after the 2005 General Election?
"The great thing about an election is that you get out and talk to people for week upon week and I have listened and I have learned.
I think I have a very clear idea of what the British people now expect from this government for a third term."
Anyway, enough of knocking Blair, let's get back to The 2020 Vision.
Now the world has moved on. It is the right time not just to take stock but to set out the new ideas that can give New Labour renewed momentum. A Conservative victory would be bad for Britain so we believe that we should have the courage to take the radical centre ground in British politics by setting out a compelling vision for the future rather than simply relying on what we have achieved in the past.
Obviously New Labour has found itself in a mess because everyone else has moved on. Damn us for not hanging around, putting our expectations on hold and basking in the radiant light of New Labour government. A more honest approach would have been to admit that New Labour took its eye off the ball and spent too much time playing the media game rather than concentrating on good government.
Oh look, there's the Tory bogeyman again, I wondered how long it would take for that to be thrown in the mix. It's been ten years since the last Conservative government and Cameron has yet to make any hard policy commitments, so saying that a Tory government would be a disaster for the country requires some serious crystal ball gazing.
However, once you get past the novel idea of the centre ground being a radical place - personally it just seems to be a very crowded place these days - you hit the traditional New Labour obsession with compulsion. Given previous performance by New Labour, a compelling vision is one in which we have no say, but which is forced upon us nonetheless.
The 2020 Vision is about looking to the world a decade or more ahead. It is about identifying the new challenges the world faces and the new policies needed to implement progressive values. By modernising our means but staying true to our ends we can make the twenty first century a progressive one.
The sheer hubris of the whole idea is revealed in that first sentence. The next General Election has to be held by May 2010 at the latest, in three short years. Yet the implicit assumption is that New Labour will be in power after that date, and therefore needs to adapt. Did no one tell these people that pride comes before a fall? Frighteningly, the paragraph closes with a statement not a million miles from "The end justifies the means", a proposition thousands of Iraqi civilians would disagree with, were they still alive.
We believe in radical reform. For us reform is for a progressive purpose – to make for a fairer society. We look to policies that empower individual citizens, reward aspiration, spread opportunity, tackle intolerance and inequality, provide security, protect the environment and that are internationalist not isolationist. And we look to a style of politics that is based on dialogue, debate and devolved power.
Or to paraphrase; we're exciting, we're moving forward, we're going to be all things to all men, so vote for us! Still, if they really mean that last bit about dialog, debate and devolved power then all credit to them.
The 2020 Vision is an open forum for individuals and organisations who believe in New Labour’s renewal. The 2020 Vision aims to facilitate a wide-ranging debate about the future of progressive modernisation. Through an interactive website, publications and regional and national events The 2020 Vision will seek to encourage the development of ideas and policies that can contribute to progressive reform.
Renewal cannot be about going back. It is about moving forward. That is what The 2020 Vision aims to do.
A final splurge of rhetoric takes us to the end of the mission statement.
Maybe the above is a bit cynical, but after 10 years of New Labour's media-driven empty promises I doubt that I'm any more cynical than the typical voter. We've had plenty of public engagement initiatives over the preceding decade, but not one has had the slightest impact on the policy direction of New Labour. So why should this be any different.
The voting record of messrs Clarke and Milburn do little to allay any fears or concerns. Since New Labour came to power on 1st May 1997, Clarke has rebelled against the Government only 7 times whilst Milburn managed only a solitary act of rebellion in 10 years. On that basis one can only conclude that The 2020 Vision is more concerned with the perpetuation of Blairism and its primacy over the Labour Party than engaging in meaningful debate with the public.
Posted by Clive on March 2, 2007 1:37 PM in the category Labour