The Labour Party has come a long way since Foot’s leadership and the dark depths of Thatcher and 1983. I may have disagreed with Foot on policy. But I stand firmly in his camp when it comes to the purpose of politics. Tories may reduce politics to cynicism and pragmatism. For Labour it must always be about ideology, values and mission. Even in our darkest days we never gave up on that. As Gordon Brown said of Foot today, “[he] was a man of deep principle and great idealism.” That is what we all aspire to in the Labour movement.
So what can we learn from Michael Foot? In many ways British politics has changed irrevocably since his day. The stark left/ right divide that characterised the 1980s has been replaced by a cross-party scramble for the centre ground. But when you scratch beneath the surface the differences between left and right remain clear to see. Today is not the day for electioneering. However, Foot’s death serves as a pertinent reminder of what we’re fighting for at the next election.
A rich Labour tradition.
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