Appeared on the Labour Left website October 2014
It’s rare for us to blog twice in a week, but, hey – a week is a long time in politics, and even more so in the current climate.
Our recent blog hit Twitter and Facebook around the same time as another article, rather different from ours. It suggested that Labour MPs were “in despair” under Ed Miliband’s leadership. It told of briefings by ‘nameless MPs’: a theme that we keep hearing and reading about. No, we’re not going to post a link to that piece, or any other such piece, because they won’t be good for your blood pressure; nor, in our humble opinion, do they deserve further exposure. But boy, our blog received more retweets and mentions than we’ve had in the whole time we’ve been writing together. It struck a nerve and we’ve decided to oblige again!
We have been reliably informed that these ‘un-named MPs’ – who have been happy to utter their messages of discontent to the usual journalists always on the look out for such negative stories – amount to less than a handful.
Yes, that’s right: less than a handful!!
So few making so much noise. Why don’t they just pick up the ‘phone and have a chat with Ed?
Hardly likely, as we gather that their aim is to bring down Ed Miliband! Fair enough: political parties always have their malcontents. Well, we have news for you – you might think you are speaking for ‘The Party’ but you don’t!
We’ve both received messages from party activists who are concerned at the detrimental effect these few individuals are having on the party in general.
For the purpose of this blog, let’s refer to these un-named MPs as ‘strangers’ as this is what they appear to be and, indeed, clearly wish to be.
We doubt that they are in touch with the grassroots members of our party. If they were, they would recognise the importance of Labour winning at the next election. Bev is a councillor and knows just how destructive Tory cuts have been for local communities and the hard work that so many Labour councils are doing to try to protect people from the affects of these cuts. If these strangers were sure of their ground they would speak out publicly. Instead, they hide and choose to speak ‘off the record,’ wishing to remain anonymous. Perhaps they should have the courage of their convictions and go on the record; maybe they should take to Twitter?
To counter these negative messages, we need to hear from other MPs. Party activists look to them to speak out, and they need to do so again, again and again. Knocking on doors and telephone canvassing can be a weary task. It’s always good to know that our elected members are supporting us! We read of disenchantment with politics: again in light of the by-election results in Clacton and Heywood which show people turning to UKIP. Silence in the face of this threat is not an answer.
We gather that the strangers are ‘worried about their careers’.
Oh dear. Poor them.
We’d like to think that they’re shouting loud and clear for those who try to exist on low wages or benefits, who have no food and/or no heating, who live on the edge possibly in poor housing, who pay high rents, who have trouble finding money to pay the mortgage, who are fearful of losing the roof over their heads, who are struggling to keep their families together. All of these people are victims in one way or another of policies advanced by this Tory-led coalition government.
After all, we all are in it one way or another!
How often we hear members, former members, those who are considering becoming members of the party acknowledge that Labour could and must be the party to form a government. We’re all so tired of the current rotten government that has no trouble advancing their policies to support the rich and powerful that they represent.
Some voters are just unsure: unsure about whether Labour really speaks for them, or shares their concerns about what’s happening in their daily lives.
They need to know that Labour is with them.
These are the young graduates trying to find employment apart from stacking shelves; the young folk who haven’t a clue what the future holds for them; the one parent families; families who have extended families; carers – sometimes carers are children and teenagers; the disabled and chronically sick; those professionals who work in the public sector whose jobs are disappearing and find they have to start bidding for work due to the privatisation agenda of this Tory led coalition government. And the squeezed middle. The fact of the matter is that we are all being squeezed!
This brings us to the general election.
As Labour, we need to step up and attack this Tory-led government as well as taking every opportunity to talk about the repeal of the NHS Bill, the end of the Bedroom Tax, additional childcare – just three Labour policies that will make differences to people’s lives. We hear very little of taking the fight to the Tories. The tax breaks they are offering if they are – god forbid – returned at the next election may sound attractive but no-one has said yet how these are going to be paid for. Do the Tories even know? And then there’s UKIP – they’d certainly continue NHS privatisation!
Again, the silence from too many of our MPs is deafening. We need them to confront the Tories and to push our policies in as robust a manner as we would expect.
Most importantly, Labour must stop being brow-beaten over the economy. The economy was growing when the coalition walked into No 10 – keep reminding people of that simple fact. The debt is now growing beyond anyone’s imagination – remind people that that is the case. Billions of pounds of our public money has been paid into NHS privatisation: remind people of that. And once again we see Tory privatisations putting money going into the pockets of Tory donors: remind people of that. And keep reminding them. Again, again and again!
We are furious that the attacks from those strangers, those anonymous briefers, these ‘less than a handful’ of un-named MPs, are silencing the debate that we need to be having. This can’t be allowed to happen.
These cowardly strangers who won’t go on the record must be reminded that they don’t speak for us.
We have a message for these strangers: it’s time to support the party and to speak up for the country. We’re seven months away from the general election. This really isn’t about you: it’s about the rest of us – all of us who stand to lose so much if the Tories are elected in 2015. There’s a Big Picture that you should be looking at and it’s called ‘the United Kingdom’.
Oh. Sorry. We forgot. It’s your *careers* that you’re really bothered about! Maybe time to consider that and to consider whether the Labour Party is really the best place for you.
#EM4PM
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