The Labour Conference

1st October, 2009 by Webmaster

Gordon Brown The event I’m talking about was a bizarre political rally that Neil Kinnock almost bankrupted the Labour Party with at the Sheffield Hallam Arena. Smack in the middle of Britain’s Socialist heartland, Neil and his merry men decided to celebrate victory in the General Election before it had even happened. Of course this sort of attempt of using super-hero powers (in this case supernatural foresight) would once again be utilised when Tony Blair eventually did win an election for Labour and became everyone’s everyman, but unfortunately for the now Lord Kinnock, his gamble was to fail.

It was self-satisfying and demonstrated that Labour had believed the cynical headlines. The Conservatives were supposedly finished after near on thirteen years of Thatcherism, and therefore ‘that other lot’ were simply going to stroll in to Downing Street. It showed Labour had a lot of panache but no fight. Panache would again be utilised in 1997, but of course by then, if they had decided to show fight they would have discovered the opponents had left the show down about three years earlier in the midst of scandal, shame and a Leader who was, his words not mine, steering the policy initiatives of a bunch of ‘bastards’. John Major, our most candid Prime Minister – when he wanted to be.

So here we are in 2009. Once again it seems that the headlines have conceded it will be a case of the Conservatives dancing around the real questions that need to be asked at the next election because quite simply twelve years is enough time for the wheels to come off any wagon. In this case a wagon that seems to have been in reverse since Blair left Office to set off on his continued mission of saving the world while it began to collapse around him and the rest of us. Labour though are proving this week in Brighton that even if they haven’t had time to correct policy mistakes, they certainly now know how to put on a ‘show’ with a bit of grace and a lot of Stage Management.

Conference has been pre-programmed to the hilt. Former detractors such as James Purnell and Charles Clarke are now the ones looking jaded as they go on news outlets to state they are ‘on message’ despite only months ago trying to be willing manipulators of their own political downfall. Each day, one prime-time speech has been designed to overshadow any other debates over policy. Stalwarts over the last twelve years have gone for broke in their passion, playing the role of the underdog willingly while talking with a mouthful of humble pie. The tactics? Willingness to admit that they are ready to be given the boot if needs be, but scaring us into thinking twice before we write-off the forthcoming election before even bothering to vote. Talk of a ‘fourth term’ is minimal; talk of a brand new approach to Labour Governance is the order of the day. All of a sudden they want to tear up the script and start from scratch, much to the delight of Peter Mandelson – the man driving the bare bones of this revival.

Brown’ speech today is probably the best speech he has delivered as Prime Minister. It was the perfect balance of humour, rhetoric, policy promises, real-life stories and repeat. The structure followed that order and is very similar to the sort structure that a certain Barack Obama used when delivering the speech of his life in August 2008 to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. There were hidden slights on the media and particular headlines this week regarding his health, but they were linked cunningly to the wider values of the party. For example his admittance that his eyesight is bad, but would be gone if the NHS hadn’t proved to be the best insurance deal around. All of a sudden, he is dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s at the same time, instead of bumbling from political problem to problem with no correlation between different personable and political ways to combat them. Right at the end he even dug up some of the best bits of embryonic Blairism from all those years ago, including Constitutional Reform in the House of Lords. Furore over expenses aside, those were two words I really doubted Brown would ever really bother with.

I can’t help but think that if this strategy continues to develop, next May might just shock us all. After this week, the Conservatives too will also have to take a look back at that tape from 1992. How sure will they be now that this will be their last Conference as members of the opposition? If they act that way, then after the fighting performance demonstrated this week, public opinion might turn sharply against a misplaced arrogance in a time that actually demands a fair and clear-cut policy choice, more than was the case in 1997. At the same time if they too go too much on the defensive then it might just be a concession that the fight is indeed on after all. A fine line will have to be walked by the Conservatives and their rhetoric. Any talk of division in the Government and questions over the leadership of Brown have been made redundant so how will the tact change in order to counter the obvious bounce in the polls Labour will now receive? If there is one thing Labour does well since ’92, its mobilise for a fight until the very last breath of Parliament’s session, the Conservatives will have to be wary of that and realise that a better image and a public annoyance alone will not carry them after all.

Tags: Labour