Investing in people – a view from the Fabian book launch

When I started planning the Young Fabian and Labour Staff Network campaign trip to the US presidential election, I didn’t know who the candidate would be and certainly didn’t know the extent of the effect on political debate here in the UK. My inspiration came from my experience on campaigns in North Carolina and Georgia in 2004, the subsequent research I undertook following Labour’s victory in 2005 that looked at the similarity in tactics between that campaign and the Democrats’ efforts in 2004, and my desire to give other people the opportunity to see how things were done Stateside so as to bring back ideas to Labour campaigns across the UK.

The fetishization of Obama and his campaign typically leads to an emphasis on technology and online tools. Last night’s launch of the Fabian book, The Change We Need: What Britain can learn from Obama’s victory, was no different. The line-up of the panel led itself to discussion of old media and new media and how Labour must adapt its style and operations around modern communication channels. Important stuff. But it is very much a Westminster village argument – and as empowering as the web is, I don’t see signs yet that it is anything other than a new Westminster village: more diverse but still dominated by elites and failing to consistently reach and engage the wider British public. Such a focus misses some key aspects that we saw in Ohio that were strikingly different to how the Labour party organises its campaigns. In particular, how the Obama campaign utilised its greatest resource – people.

The discussion did move over a range of issues and the audience pressed the grassroots argument to the panel. Alastair Campbell said more than once that Obama ran a brilliant old-fashioned campaign as well as his modern campaign, but it’s hard to agree with Campbell’s assertion that Labour are probably still ok at the old-fashioned stuff. The Obama campaign, like previous Democratic campaigns, but unlike the majority of Labour’s, welcomed all-comers to its fold. It did not limit participation to membership, nor to number of branch meetings attended, nor quality of sub-clauses of motions proposed. But even more, it actively sought volunteers simply by asking. Each supporter we found on a doorstep was asked to volunteer and when they agreed, they signed up to a specific time on a specific date and received a follow-up phone call. Volunteers were valued. They were trained, debriefed, thanked, and empowered to contribute; their talents were utilised for common goals – like Cecil, the ex-Colonel, who ran our committee room with military precision (and disciplined cleanliness). Relationship-building between staff, volunteers and voters, was crucial and so training developed this. Everyone was trusted and seen as important and so campaigning strategy was shared. Empowerment, personal development, trust and solidarity. The strength of common endeavour. Isn’t this what the Labour party is all about? Yet such an approach is sporadic at best.

The research I undertook a few years ago concluded that incumbency was a significant factor where the 04-05 Democrat and Labour campaigns differed. We can’t let this be the case again, we can’t get caught up in thinking that because Obama was the challenger and Labour has 12-13 years of governing to defend that we can’t learn from his campaign. Other arguments against are that America is different (Ben Brandzel offers proof this isn’t the case), or that we don’t have the same financial resources. Frankly, that’s excuses. Not everything is different and if we don’t have the money then even more cause to take on board Obama’s organisation of free resources – the many people in Britain who believe they, their neighbours, and their strangers, will be better served by a Labour government. We can’t delay any longer.

Members of the Young Fabian and Labour Staff Network delegation, and others who attended December’s workshop, have fed their extensive experience of campaigning in both countries into a publication offering practical suggestions as to what local campaigners and organisers can do in their Labour campaigns. Look out for more information soon.

Adrian Prandle, International Officer

Welfare reform

 

Young Fabian Chair, Kate Groucutt, with James Purnell

On the 12th March, the Young Fabians welcomed the Rt. Hon James Purnell MP to talk on the subject of welfare reform (the title of the talk was “Creating an egalitarian welfare state through raised expectations and fair reciprocity”).

James outlined his vision for the welfare state, discussed the welfare reform bill and dealt with questions from the floor on a range of issues, including: disabilities allowance; the impact of the recession on welfare reform; and the complexity of the welfare system.

You can find a briefing on the welfare reform bill at Labourlist here.

You can read about welfare reform on the DWP website here.

• What are your views on welfare reform? If you attended the event, what did you make of the talk? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Recession expression

There is an old addage: “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it that matters”. Never is this more true when talking about economic issues, which are usually baffling to non-experts (and, as recent history has shown, equally as baffling to experts too).

Terms like ‘quantitative easing’ or ‘fiscal stimulus’ bear little relation to the lives we lead: Jane Bloggs is more concerned about paying her bills, then whether the Bank of England is creating money to buy bonds.

But Gordon Brown is a substance man – not bad in times like these – and his oratory shows it. Consider this section from his New Year’s message:

The scale and speed of the global financial crisis was at times, almost overwhelming. I know that people felt bewildered, confused and sometimes frightened.

That is why the response had to be swift and decisive.

That is why we acted so quickly to get money into the banks.  Not for any desire to finance bankers, but because if we didn’t it would have put at risk that which is most important to you and me – your jobs, your homes, your savings, your standard of living.

What keeps me up at night, and gets me up in the morning are the hopes and aspirations of the British people. My guiding principle, at all times, is the welfare and well being of British families and British businesses.

All of this would have been put at risk if we had not intervened and simply done nothing, as some would have had us do.

This will be a challenging year for the economy but I believe, with the right policies, we can build a better tomorrow, while dealing with the challenges of today.

The failure of British governments in previous global downturns was to succumb to political expediency and to cut back investment across the board, thereby stunting our ability to grow and strangling hope during the upturn.

This will not happen on my watch.

The lesson of this crisis is that we do not let recession take its course, yield to defeatism, or simply muddle through and just hope for things to get better.

The message is – we take action: we are providing an extra £60 to pensioners immediately, on top of the winter allowance; increasing child benefit from January 1st to £20 per week; and helping 22 million basic rate taxpayers with a £145 tax cut. Added to that, the cut in VAT this year will knock around £275 off the average family household bill. Not to do this would be imprudent.

Today the risk of attempting too little is a greater threat than the risk of attempting too much.

But then contrast this with a speech David Cameron made in January:

So let me tell you my vision of a good future for our economy. It’s an economy where government and its citizens live within their means, save for a rainy day, waste not and want not. It’s an economy where everyone has the chance to own their own home with space to live and breathe – and where we work to live, not live to work. It’s an economy that’s more productive, where people can work shorter hours and spend more time with the things that matter – family and friends. It’s a better balanced economy where we spread ownership and opportunity throughout Britain, so it’s not just concentrated in the hands of the few in one corner of the country. And it’s a more modern economy, where we create rewarding, good-paying jobs in the green and technological industries of the future.

If we achieve this vision, our country will be both richer and happier – with our standard of living and our quality of life rising together. And let us be clear, the quality of life matters.  It matters a lot. It is not just something for the good times; not just something for the richest. The richest in our society can already buy themselves a decent quality of life: it’s not the rich we need to worry about. So our economic vision is not driven by money alone, but by our view of what is right.

Spot the difference? Gordon’s tone is matter-of-fact, laden with economic terms and sprinkled with figures from policy announcements. David’s tone is soft, empathetic and somewhat lyrical.

Being in Government shouldn’t prevent Gordon, or Labour, from talking in more poetic language. Instead the electorate is bombarded with fact after fact, or with terms used by policy wonks but which aren’t always understood on the doorstep. At this time in the economic cycle, the party needs to appear sympathetic to the needs of the electorate; Labour needs to focus on people in its communications, not policies.

The same Labour communications technique has been in use since 1994, and has worked well for three elections. But in this new economic reality, isn’t it about time it was decommissioned?

• Do you agree? Share your views by posting a comment.

The goalkeeping performance of Brad Jones

This may seem a strange title for a Young Fabian blog post but it shows just what the Labour Party is up against politically.

Irish broadcaster and challenger to the Murdoch monopoly, Setanta, today published their FA Cup ‘plums of the weekend’; the players adjudged to have performed the worst across the three FA Cup quarter finals and one 5^th round tie that took place on Saturday and Sunday. Everton’s victory over Middlesbrough put a big smile on my face but it also got Brad Jones, Boro’s goalie, a place in this list. In Setanta.com’s justification for his selection, his performance was described as ‘about as convincing as a Labour party economic forecast’.

Let’s put aside the economics here and the unique circumstances we are in. Instead, the politics. Over the course of the 1990s – and definitely by 2003 and Iraq – television satire began to move away from a heavily anti-Thatcherite agenda to being critical of the Labour government. Natural, most people would argue, whether or nor they found it funny or agreed with it. This slightly obscure internet article, however, goes beyond critique and hits a severe level of either distrust, disdain, hatred, or all three, for the Labour party and the government. It’s a very light-hearted piece, and not at all about politics, but that in many ways serves to emphasise the anti-Labour feeling.

Never mind the polls, Labour politicians, advisers, organisers and candidates should be under no illusions as to the scale of the challenge that this indicates. The public must be convinced of three things. Firstly, that Labour is capable of governing (which the Setanta article seriously questions) and secondly, that we have the ideas and values not just to manage the recession but to improve the country in the more typical economic times that will return soon I hope. Thirdly, we must be explicit about the risk of electing a Tory government led by David Cameron.

Let’s start here on the latter. For me, Brad Jones performance was about as convincing as David Cameron’s claim to be truly progressive. His vision of a fair society is no doubt different to most people and now is not the time for government to withdraw.

Over to you for more suggestions …

Young Fabian Policy Forums

 

Young Fabian members will be incredibly excited to know that our new policy forums are just about up and running.

 

You’ll remember last year that our former chair Mark Rusling oversaw a fantastic policy consultation process with six policy commissions and two all-member manifesto surgeries with Ed Miliband MP.

 

Well this year we’ve slimmed it down a bit – we’ve got four policy forums discussing International & Security; Communities & Democracy; Public Services; and Economy & Prosperity.

 

If you took part in the YF Survey recently you’ve had a chance to join the policy forums. For those who didn’t get a chance, you can still get involved… just email me on dchaplin@youngfabians.org.uk.

 

Our Web Editor Sam Strudwick is busy locked in a dark room working on a new page for our website where you’ll be able to keep track on the policy forums as they really get going. In the meantime, check out last years submissions…

 

David Chaplin.  

Is Brown the new Barack?

I missed the beginning because of work stuff – yes the Young Fabian Executive have day jobs too – but I thought our Prime Minister did very well just now in his address to Congress.

He came across as passionate, knowledgeable, a man with ideas about bringing us out of recession and preventing similar failures in our interdependent financial world in the future. And at times human. These are the characteristics that many Labour supporters have seen before at private or party events but which he has struggled to convey to the wider British public. It will be interesting to see which clips are shown on the TV tonight and whether the slightly pointless ovation count is played up.

On The Apology that most of the Cabinet were apparently advocating, he was absolutely right not to do it. Yes, because of the poster argument, but also because the key benefit of apologising would be to draw a line under the past and be able to focus on plans for now and for the future. But this would not have happened. The media – particularly the tabloids and Tory press – rather than say thank you, would have plagued Brown for apologising in America and he would have faced increased pressure to ‘tell us to our faces’. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are beginning to find some more appropriate language about how we got here, and hopefully it isn’t too late, because acknowledgement (but not apology) is necessary. It is frankly ridiculous that the whole of the world’s financial trouble is being seen as something Brown should take the blame for and he is right to try and ride the clamour.

Despite the ups and downs of yesterday’s scheduling, a successful trip. But if he learns one thing from Obama, and the behaviour of the White House yesterday, it is that he can not just be the world statesman he’s playing to be, but must also be seen to be concentrating on Britain. The public here will want to know how global solutions to recession will keep them in work and keep the roof over their heads.

Look out soon for Young Fabian work and events - with international and domestic focuses – on what this means for young people.