Chuka Umunna: My vision for One Nation Labour

Chuka Umunna is the Member of Parliament for Streatham; he is a member of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition

At the next General Election, we must be able to explain what the country will look like after five years of Labour government and what vision we offer; as Ed Miliband sets the party’s direction of travel, Blue Labour has much to offer.

Chuka-Umunna A year ago this month I was immensely privileged to become Member of Parliament for the area I love and have called home since my birth. I have relished every week in the role and still pinch myself when I arrive in Westminster every Monday morning.

Since joining the Commons, most debate has revolved around the economy and the extreme deficit reduction programme being pursued by the Conservative led government. In its downgraded growth forecast in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted GDP growth of 0.8% for the first quarter of 2011; ONS statisticians now tell us the economy undershot this by 0.3%.

That the economy has been flatlining since the government took office is deeply worrying when one considers the full force of its measures have yet to feed through.

As the shadow chancellor Ed Balls has made clear: there is no disagreement on the need to address the deficit – despite coalition claims to the contrary. Where the disputed terrain lies is around the speed and depth of reduction and what that means for growth and jobs. We have been engaged in trench warfare on this point month after month because we believe the government is jeopardising the recovery.

That will continue so long as the chancellor keeps faith with his belief in “expansionary fiscal contraction” – the notion that as the public sector retrenches, the private sector will automatically step in to fill the gap.

The composite purchasing managers’ index – that consolidates surveys of private services, manufacturing and building – suffered its biggest drop since 2008 last month, suggesting George Osborne is profoundly misguided on this.

The next General Election

Yet, if the Coalition runs its full course and achieves its spending cuts (a big “if”), the bulk of the fiscal contraction will have been delivered with a £110 billion a year consolidation by the next General Election. With much of that contraction complete, the debate then will have moved on.

What if, having been subject to £80bn of spending reductions and £30bn of tax increases, the British people determine that it hurt but it worked? What will be the offer then? The point is not that Labour should not continue making the case against government economic policy – we should and their policies are certainly hurting and not working right now – but we cannot presume the pain of government cuts will deliver victory in 2015.

At the next General Election (which could fall earlier than 2015) people will want to know what Labour’s offer is beyond opposition to cuts. What will the country look like after five years of Ed Miliband’s premiership? What vision will we be offering? It is unrealistic to expect a complete response to these questions a year on from a heavy defeat but a complete answer is a prerequisite to our next General Election campaign.

Ed is leading from the front on this – he recognises we have much work to do and has spelt out the task ahead: rebuilding the British Promise – the prospect that each generation will pass on a life of greater opportunity, prosperity and wellbeing to the next; the urgent construction of a political economy that prioritises the long term and works for all; a great revival of our commitment to the civic bonds that pull us together; and the need to become a movement once again.

At the root of this is a belief in our innate mutual dependence. We believe individuals should be given the freedom to flourish, thrive and prosper, not just economically but in spirit and heart too. This can only be achieved in the context of a strong, cohesive society supporting each of us and our families in that endeavour, promoting the common good.

This is where our offer begins, before it is boiled down to a language, narrative and message that easily transmits on to the doorstep. These essential tenets speak to something in each and every one of us-– the desire to get on, ambitious not just for ourselves and our families, but for the communities we live in as well. It is key to what Maurice Glasman – along with Jon Cruddas, Jonathan Rutherford and others – have been arguing long before their thinking was tagged with the “Blue Labour” label.

The Market and the State

What I call “bad capitalism” – unrestrained capital, highly speculative, obsessed with the short term, dismissive of the ties that bind – acts as a barrier to this notion of the good society; whereas “good capitalism” – one that is entrepreneurial and productive with good democratic corporate governance – can smooth the path to a better tomorrow.

The state, fostering greater fairness and equality, has an important role to play – not as an overbearing top down manager but, far more importantly, as a partner, enabler and friend in our pursuit of this vision. In this context, Ed Miliband is pursuing an agenda that moves the party beyond both the prospectus offered by Labour in the 1970s and 80s, and the formula adopted in the mid 1990s and noughties – the British people need a programme that speaks to the circumstances in which they find themselves in 2011.

In his recent Observer piece, Glasman said:

“The Labour tradition understands something important about capitalism, which is that finance capital wishes to pursue the maximum returns on its investment. To that end it exerts great pressure to turn human beings and nature into commodities.”

Left to its own devices, unrestrained capital fixated on maximising the bottom line delivered slave wages for some of our fellow citizens pre-1997 when wages as low as £1.20 an hour were common and legal. This is why Labour implemented the 1998 National Minimum Wage Act and why many in our party, rightly in my view, now advocate going further and implementing a Living Wage.

In his Fabian Conference speech earlier this year Ed Miliband said “our economy was too vulnerable to the [financial] crisis because we were too reliant on financial services”. He was right – in 2007 our banks invested just £50 billion in manufacturing but a whopping £800 billion in complex financial products.

One solution to this offered by Glasman is the concept of regional banks prohibited from lending outside their region, making capital available locally to businesses and households, countering the City effect of “sucking all surplus to speculation, and [engaging] in the necessary task of generating real private sector growth in the areas that need it”. This is pro business and promotes “good capitalism” – it deserves due consideration.

As for the state, in the same Observer piece Glasman said:

“New Labour’s public sector reforms were almost Maoist in their conception of year zero managerial restructuring. As an academic at London Metropolitan University I lost count of the number of line managers that were assigned to supervise and assess me, but I do know that departmental meetings were abolished and academics had no decision-making power.”

We achieved a huge amount in terms of public service investment and outcomes, but any Labour member – like me – who has sat on a school governing body and witnessed the deluge of policies and procedures emanating from the Department for Education will recognise what Glasman refers to. And, in our time in government, there was a tendency – if public sector entities could not be controlled and managed – simply to contract out and transfer to the private sector when more collaborative and democratic options were available.

Newcastle City Council provides a good example. Its “City Service” which runs its ICT systems was the product of a successful in-house bid to transform local services led by managers (who believed in the creative capacities and commitment of council staff), the local UNISON branch and was supported by local people.

Tradition and nostalgia

Glasman has been accused of indulging in nostalgia, which some cite as the “blue” in Blue Labour. This misses the point. When the case is made for the conservation of certain cherished national institutions such as our forests, the post office, Dover Port or, in London, the Billingsgate fish market porters, it is not made for tradition’s sake but because these institutions are part of the social fabric of our country that bind us together – they institutionalise our social democracy for future generations, something we failed to do sufficiently enough in government.

Citing E P Thompson, Jon Cruddas explains tradition thus:

“It is a love of home, of place and of the local. It is a resistance against the uncontrollable forces of capitalism and dispossession; a struggle for liberty and democracy, to feel part of a community, for a sense of belonging that brings with it esteem and meaning.”

In this context, a return to traditions of the Labour movement such as the mutuals, co-operatives and organised citizens should be promoted – something our sister party, the Co-Op Party, has long advocated. It has inspired my parliamentary campaign to remutualise Northern Rock Plc, supported by many MPs.

The promotion of “faith, flag and family” – often used as a short hand description of the Blue Labour prospectus – has made some people distinctly uncomfortable. This is understandable because the phrase alone – admittedly one not meant for use as an election slogan – doesn’t do justice to Blue Labour thinking and requires closer examination.

Modern Labour always had a paradoxical relationship with faith. On the one hand, there was and still is a tension between the social liberalism that Labour has legislated for since the 1960s and the social conservatism of many of our faith communities; on the other hand, in my constituency there are more than 40 different places of worship and common to all of them is their promotion of association between individuals.

As Glasman puts it, different faith communities talk about “matters of common concern” where people have “common interests”. I met with a delegation from one of my churches recently and was lobbied about housing, school places and other issues affecting the entire constituency. I frequently have similar meetings with other faith groups – this will accord with the experience of every member of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

For me, “flag” talks to a sense of nationhood and togetherness. I was roundly condemned by some (on the Left) on twitter for attending street parties to celebrate the Royal Wedding in my constituency. I make no apology for doing so and am proud of the events that took place in my area. Thousands attended and what I witnessed was not some doe-eyed, adulatory worship of the Royal couple but a sense of pride in our country and a delight in the excuse to coalesce, relate, mingle and share some time with neighbours one often only sees in passing.

Moreover, a recognition of the importance of family is nothing new, nor would the proponents of Blue Labour claim it to be so. It lies behind Labour’s introduction of the plethora of parental employee rights in government, such as the right to request flexible working to better enable people to manage their careers and working lives around their families; likewise SureStart children centres were established to support young families.

The Vision Thing

Some say all this Blue Labour chat it is all rather self indulgent. Here was former MP Colin Challen on LabourList earlier this month:

“Let’s have no truck with [Blue Labour]. Instead of trying to fill our ransacked ideological kit bag with some new fangled ideology… let’s have some policies.”

Labour had plenty of policies in 2010, including a Post Bank, High Speed rail, broadband for all, more social housing etc. but we lost. We didn’t win for many reasons – a lack of vision, tying together those policies and giving a sense of what the country might look like after another five years of Labour government, was certainly one of them. That is why, far from indulgent, heavy lifting on what we’re for and the story we wish to tell is essential.

Others see it in the context of sticking to the centre ground and winning back middle class support. Blue Labour does happen to have cross-demographic appeal across the coalition of middle and working class groups that brought us to power in 1997 and whose support we will need again if we are to return to power. Good. What it is not is some crude tool for political triangulation.

Anyone doubting this should read what Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford said of such a political strategy in the New Stateman in January last year:

“The government calculated that it could triangulate the Conservatives and subject the underclass to punitive measures without alienating Labour’s core supporters… But the so-called underclass is not a class apart as the new right and the social investigators of the 19th^-century tried to prove.

“It is an imagined body of people – chavs, hoodies, junkies – projected on to single mothers, the sick and parts of the working class impoverished by the impact of recession and unemployment.”

So the “Blue Labour” label can perhaps be misleading – “One Nation Labour” perhaps would be more appropriate, signposting Ed Miliband and Labour’s determination to win back support across the country and across all demographics. But let us not get bogged down in labels at this stage – its the ideas that matter and Glasman, Cruddas and co are on to something.

If I am wrong, let us hear your alternatives; the prize is a better Britain.

http://twitter.com/benlittle/status/68570503476023296 Ben Little

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/2me2you2me/status/68571183771164672 2me2you

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/duncanweldon/status/68571316688650240 Duncan Weldon

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/vriyait/status/68577192770154496 Vijay Singh Riyait

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/blue_labour/status/68580686105284608 Blue Labour

Chuka Umunna | My vision for one nation Labour http://bit.ly/kpkp5h @chukaumunna
http://twitter.com/fosterjon/status/68581141409579008 Jon Foster

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/mike_wiltshire/status/68582190497271808 Mike Wiltshire

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
Robert

Under class, faith flag and family, with family in third place, new labour I’ve yet to be told how taking on the colour of the Tories is going to lift this party out of the mire.

13 years of new labour, with welfare reforms, with wages being kept low, with a government who felt the banks were doing a great job, with an ideology of New labour.

And now your telling us prayer, stand up for a flag and then look after your family in third place.

I would say if you think the flag is so important your off to fight for your queen and country then.

Interesting.
http://twitter.com/adam_b_richards/status/68590962988953600 Adam Blane Richards

RT @blue_labour: Chuka Umunna | My vision for one nation Labour http://bit.ly/kpkp5h @chukaumunna
http://twitter.com/therightarticle/status/68594512955584512 Michael

My vision for One Nation Labour I Chuka Umunna – http://j.mp/ljewGA
Anon E Mouse

Robert – I’m Labour’s biggest critic but at least there does seem to be a (belated) realisation that the public in this country are not stupid and the waffle from the shadow cabinet in the last 12 month has resulted in the dire poll showing for the party.

I realise having such a poor leader doesn’t help but in fairness the PLP nor the Labour Party members actually voted for him so they do have an excuse.

Although derided in many circles as being nothing more than a lame leader’s bag carrier, to me this Chuka Umunna seems like he could be a future winner – something clearly lacking at present and I think he represents a new breed of Labour politicians that aren’t tainted with the previous bunches shenanigans and lies.

This is good…
http://twitter.com/paul_burgin/status/68598057545113600 Paul Burgin

RT @TheRightArticle: My vision for One Nation Labour I Chuka Umunna – http://j.mp/ljewGA
http://twitter.com/torypresshq/status/68602995524386816 Tory Press HQ

Chuka says at last election Labour "lacked vision’. Maybe he should tell his boss EdM, who wrote Labour’s manifesto… (http://bit.ly/kpkp5h)
http://twitter.com/oldpolitics/status/68606519553429505 The Old Politics

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/ Éoin Clarke

Well done Chuka. Certainly, it is eminently more preferable to a return to Blairism.
http://twitter.com/chukaumunna/status/68612002305683457 Chuka Umunna

"One Nation Labour" – my take on where we are and where we need to go @leftfootfwd – http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/coloneldax/status/68612678863683584 Colonel Dax

RT @ChukaUmunna: "One Nation Labour" – my take on where we are and where we need to go @leftfootfwd – http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
Ed’s Talking Balls

Blue Labour?

I don’t know what you mean by that. Is it an attempt to counter Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ with a meaningless, woolly concept of your own?

Please, let’s have less of this pseudo-philosophical claptrap and make a genuine effort to understand voters’ needs. To be fair, this isn’t a criticism I direct solely at Labour. The nonsense emananting from think tanks doesn’t seem to improve the lives of ‘ordinary’ people across Britain.

Some perspective in politics would be appreciated. Sometimes people try to make it too complicated and abstract. Personally, I’ve always believed that politics should be about making people’s lives better: that should be the aim, albeit all governments struggle to achieve it.
http://twitter.com/andy_coates/status/68614430493114368 Andy Coates

RT @ChukaUmunna: "One Nation Labour" – my take on where we are and where we need to go @leftfootfwd – http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://twitter.com/arran_russell/status/68618988653002752 Arran Russell

RT @leftfootfwd: . @ChukaUmunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://theoldpolitics.blogspot.com/ oldpolitics

“4.Blue Labour? I don’t know what you mean by that”.

Why don’t you read the article, then?
http://twitter.com/ghww/status/68624528242249729 Gareth Williams

RT @ChukaUmunna: "One Nation Labour" – my take on where we are and where we need to go @leftfootfwd – http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
http://order-order.com/2011/05/12/labour-still-struggling-with-human/ Labour Still Struggling With “Human” – Guy Fawkes’ blog

[...] party than an “excuse to coalesce, relate, mingle”. Not according to Ed’s teaboy Chuku Umunna. No wonder the venerable bede for Generation Ed, Anthony Painter, has come to the conclusion [...]
purpleline

God forbid Labour ever get near governing again I would say after 5-years of a Labour government the country would look like a mix between Greece and Ireland. Bankrupt. Never ever again will the British people allow you to spend like Viv Nicholson disguising spending as investment.

When one makes an investment one normally get a return for ones money.

Anyway once Scotland gets pushed out of the union Labour will become a fringe party on a par with UKIP and the BNP quite apt really.
Michael Fitchett

I’ve just finished reading a biography of Ernest Bevin. His politics was all abut how to make life better for working people in the here and now. Red labour, Blue Labour, I don’t really care, but we could take inspiration from our past, people such as Bevin and Herbert Morrison, and concentrate on how to improve the lives of working people in the here and now. If that is what Chuka is on about, I am with him.
Jules Wright

“… coalesce, relate, mingle …” What an extraordinarily detached way to describe what people do at a street party. Little tip Chuka – use Plain English; not think-tank wonk-speak.
http://scrubbedupstudent.blogspot.com Chris

I am as dubious as anyone when I see what looks like an attempt to move Labour to the right, but that doesn’t seem to be the point here. I agree that ‘Faith, Flag, and Family’ is a terrible description that will alienate people, as is the ‘blue’ in the name which people will see as an attempt at triangulation.

Beyond that though, Chuka sets out some very interesting points here, and I find it hard to point to where he’s misguided. In particular, his points on mutuals should be given a very good hearing because I believe its in the very best of Labour traditions.

As for Chuka himself, what a prospect for the future, and he’ll get massive respect if anything comes from his mutualisation plan for Northern Rock. Very exciting indeed.
Sean

Interesting… if companies say that the minimum wage or higher regulation harms their investments will Labour roll back minimum wage hikes or regulation? Given that this is about ‘“good capitalism” – one that is entrepreneurial and productive with good democratic corporate governance’?

If a manufacturer says that he has to move production because of environmental controls, is that good capitalism or bad capitalism? He might be thinking 10 years down the track with investment decisions, which is long term, but his concerns are about government intrusion which runs contrary to Labour practices.

What is “good governance” as well? It is nice to get these slogans but can there be concrete examples. Does this mean a larger role for the unions in the private sector, which is moving away from the union-heavy model?
http://twitter.com/jjwood83/status/68634788516470784 Justin Wood

RT @ChukaUmunna: "One Nation Labour" – my take on where we are and where we need to go @leftfootfwd – http://bit.ly/mOCK2x
Jeremy Poynton

Sean – “Good governance” means that key stakeholders see core policies intramurally dependent on multi-agency gobbledygook working.

“Good governance” is what we pay these clowns to do. That they feel the need to draw our attention to what we pay them to do underlines the growing gap between the political classes (and their parasite servants, the dead wood press and the BBC) and the rest of us.
Hardigan

While Blue Labour is busy importing “faith, flag and family” from the Americans, why are you always excluding the fourth F – freedom?

The British Left is still terrified of individual freedoms outside of those offered to the privileged few.
Ed’s Talking Balls

oldpolitics,

One can read something, understand the words on the page and still discern no meaning. That was rather my point, but I guess it escaped you.
Obstgarten

All very well, but can you please sort out the shambles on your back door with South Streatham falling to pieces because of a hopeless deal with Tesco and because your friends at Lambeth council are only interested in the area immediately around the town hall in Brixton.
Billy Blofeld

You can almost hear the cogs in the brain whirring……….

…..”Labour”…. can’t use that word because the brand is tarnished with financial and economic incompetence.

….”New Labour”…. oh poo – that brand is also tarnished with financial and economic incompetence.

….how about “Blue Labour” – it rhymes with “new” and it makes people forget the routine financial and economic incompetence they associate with the colour red.
Tim Rose

The enormous gulf between rich and poor – our massively unequal society – should be a big priority for Labour to address; mutuals may go some way towards this but surely more is needed?
Far greater encouragement of manufacturing is another; the economy is much too biased towards financial services.
The Lib Dems may be on the floor at the moment but we’re not about to return a 1950s style 2 party system and with the growth of the SNP eroding Labour’s support it’s doubtful if Labour will be able to win an election outright ever again; we need to be thinking about cooperating/allying with other left of centre groupings: here in Brighton the Greens took votes not only from the Tories but from Labour too, which resulted in the Greens taking control from the Conservatives while Labour marked time on the sidelines, yet the Labour & Green manifestoes for the City were very similar! What’s the sense in 2 left of centre parties competing for votes when we’re obvioulsy now studk with FPTP for a generation? The result of that nationwide will be to let the Tories win, as happened in the 1980s.
http://www.thetruth.co.uk Andy Gray

Keep making cuts Dave and Nick, make deep and make ‘em last. We don’t work to keep millions of public sector workers in non jobs. After getting us into an illegal war and leaving us burdened with £120million a day!!!! debt repayments (how many hospital wards it that?) get the country on it’s feet and keep Liebour out!
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/david-miliband-eu-relations-with-great-national-powers-are-a-cause-for-concern/ David Miliband: EU relations with “great national powers” are a cause for concern | Left Foot Forward

[...] former cabinet minister is in contrast to recent remarks made by other Labour heavy weights like Chuka Umunna, Douglas Alexander and Ivan Lewis which have focused on more domestic concerns. Share | [...]
Dave Citizen

What Tim said and then, yes, follow Jules’ tip about cutting the think-tank wonk-speak to create a principled vision that deals with the difficult issues we can all see but no politician has the guts (or lack of vested interests) to address – like extreme inequality in property and land ownership, the profitable but socially destructive commercial activity like advertising junk food/throwaway chinese toys to kids and the like. If any of the leading political figures has got the guts for this, my money is on Ed Milliband.
Ben2

I really wouldn’t name it with a reference to the Australian facist party, One Nation. I know New Labour are looking to steal the BNPs clothes as Blue Labour, talking about faith and family and flag.
Doesn’t emphasising faith stigmatise the secular in society? How far would you go? Would you shame unbelievers and apostates? Would you ban criticism of religion? Would you persecute homosexuals, and deny them equal rights as many religious people want?

On family, would you stigmatise single mothers? Would you do the same to widows, or are they ‘good’ single mothers? What family types would you set out to lionise or stigmatize?

On flag, what would you do with people protesting against the war in Iraq? What punishment would fit their crimes? If patriotism is the highest value, what do we do with those we judge insufficiently patriotic, because of their objections to the use of torture against our enemies, or civilian casualties in our foreign wars?

It puts me in mind of this quote -

‘Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.’

- Hermann Goering

I take it Blue Labour would take a similar view the next time we invade a middle eastern country?

Is this based on the notion that the working class are all religious xenophobic bigots, and the way to get their votes is to pander to this?

This isn’t America.
http://twitter.com/sandywolfe303/status/68978352991633408 sandy wolfe

Chuka Umunna: My vision for One Nation Labour: I make no apology for doing so and am proud of the events that to… http://bit.ly/mbazLt
http://caspertk.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/link-loving-13-05-11/ Link Loving 13.05.11 « Casper ter Kuile

[...] Chuka Umunna‘s vision for the Labour Party. [...]
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/look-left-13-05-11/ Look Left – One week on from the referendum, one year on from the coalition | Left Foot Forward

[...] Umunna, Labour MP for Streatham and Ed Miliband’s PPS, who outlined his vision for ‘One Nation Labour’ on Left Foot Forward yesterday, building on the [...]
http://twitter.com/justinpickard/status/69165565503209473 Justin Pickard

Et tu, Umunna? http://bit.ly/iQT3Sl #bluelabour #uk #politicalcrossdressing
mickelmas

Well, Chuka, you’ve certainly stimulated a number of bigoted,brainless buffoons to comment on your article. I am impressed with your grasp of economic matters and the positive contributions you have made to the PLP. However, I am not persuaded by your ‘Blue Labour’ analyses of “where we went wrong” and “what we must turn into if we are to regain power”. Firstly, many of the Glasman/Cruddas et al ideas seem naff (regional banks?). Glasman, I’ve never heard of before the present urge to navel-gaze and Cruddas has traditionally gravitated to the ‘nutty’ fringe of the Party so I am not sure why you and the leadership think they are the best thing since sliced bread!
Secondly, I do not understand why you have this obsession with “localism” as if it is the universal formula for future happiness. After the Tory launch of the “big society” every party leader is frantically advocating greater “power to the people” than Cameron’s con. I do not believe that Labour should be travelling down this ridiculously unprofitable political path. Putting unbridled power into the hands of self-centred bigots (‘free school’ applicants for example) can only lead to social disaster. Cameron’s ‘big society’ con is, of course, about radically reducing public sector investment and transferring that national wealth to private enterprise. Is that what ‘Blue Labour’ want?
Thirdly, why the need to trash past Labour? Why have 13 years of Labour governance turned into a national disaster? Unlike you, Chuka, I am proud of what Labour achieved between 1997 and 2010. Unlike ‘Ben2′, ‘Andy Gray’, ‘purpleline’ etc. I am able to be objective about Blair and Brown. Errors made? Of course (no one is perfect) but the mistakes were insignificant compared to the triumphs. Do you think the we would be in a better, more egalitarian position now if Cameron had been PM from 1997? Unlike you, Chuka, I thank Tony Blair for his ability to transform the Party, persuade the country to change political allegiances and the moral strength to make difficult political decisions and I thank Gordon Brown for his exceptional economic acumen, demonstrated on both domestic and global stages, and his morally upright approach to politics. Why, I ask, is ‘blue Labour’ so eager to trash our past? Would it be anything to do with the media’s obsession with being anti-Labour? Why is Labour ball-less when it comes to the media? Why are you so feckless in defending our record in government? I cringe when I hear Ed Miliband, during a media interview, wrongly apologize for past Labour decisions.
In short, the key to electoral success is to con(vince) enough of the electorate that your pledges will improve their lives in a more convincing way than the other political parties. Simple!
http://twitter.com/djskelton/status/69807007372296192 David Skelton

Very interesting piece on Blue Labour by @ChukaUmunna suggests term 'One Nation Labour' may be more appropriate: http://tinyurl.com/3wkfhrk
http://www.chuka.org.uk/2011/05/one-nation-labour/ Chuka Umunna MP » One Nation Labour

[...] wrote, “One Nation Labour”, an essay for Left Foot Forward recently. In it he argues that at the next General Labour will need to be able to explain what [...]
http://www.labourland.org Carol Wilcox

Chuka. I’m still an LP member, but I’m red and will remain so. I realise that the LP is not ready to contemplate an economy based on the common ownership of the means of production (including land), even though if you looked hard enough there are real policy options which could achieve this to the benefit of all. So can I suggest a policy which would make a huge impact on inequality and economic efficiency, whilst still maintaining the capitalist system. This is the collection of all land rent for public benefit. It’s actually simple to implement – though you won’t get the usual suspects to accept this – there are vast vested interests. Please get your researchers to do some ‘proper’ unbiased research. We met EdM a few years ago but he does not seem to understand (at least that’s what he admitted at a later fringe event). He needs a nudge. Speak to Andy Burnham, who does ‘get it’. Thanks.
Ed’s Talking Balls

‘I thank Gordon Brown for his … morally upright approach to politics’

That is a gem of a quotation. I’ll be sure to mention it to Alistair Darling and Tony Blair, should I ever meet them!
ILoveLenin

“rebuilding the British Promise – the prospect that each generation will pass on a life of greater opportunity, prosperity and wellbeing to the next”

And how can you rebuild it?

If we get another Labour govt we’ll get more govt spending, which means higher taxes and fewer private sector jobs, and we can all wave goodbye to the multi-nationals as they move to some canton of Switzerland.

Meanwhile the gap between the rich and poor will rise and we’ll have millions of working class kids left with zero opportunities, just as we did when Labour were last running the show.

As for “One-nation Labour”, I’m presuming that’s some sort of joke.
http://twitter.com/wdjstraw/status/70388938577158144 Will Straw

Mary Riddell's article today on Blue Labour mentions @ChukaUmunna's online essay for @leftfootfwd on One Nation Labour http://bit.ly/iQT3Sl
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/05/globalisation-isnt-what-we-think-it-is/ Globalisation isn’t what we think it is | Left Foot Forward

[...] can’t protect families and communities against the ravages of what Chuka Umunna calls ‘bad capitalism‘. Every attempt to return to Labour’s tradition of organising people against the power [...]
http://twitter.com/sharif16/status/73146315005100032 sharif anderson

Chuka Umunna | My vision for one nation Labour http://bit.ly/kpkp5h @chukaumunna
richard mackinnon

After all the bloated rhetoric the new slogan appears to be ‘one nation labour’.
May I point out some basic facts that the Labour party in England should seriously consider before they try and develop a new strategy. Scotland no longer belongs to them. Regardless of the the recent success of the SNP, and regardless of any future success in progressing Scottish independence, Labour are finished as a political force in Scotland. Trust me on this, Westminster politicians including Ed Miliband do not understand Scottish politics. That is why the SNP did so well on 5 May. Scottish Labour at local level, that is the west of Scotland is corrupt and the voters know it. At the Holyrood level their ‘big hitters’ lost the first past the post vote and because they didnt understand the Scottish PR voting system they are out of a job (they did not use the party list system to ensure their return) That kind of stupidity does not go unnoticed by Scottish voters. The MSPs that survived are lost and leaderless. The MPs at Westminster are perceived accurately by Scotland and England as without purpose, ie the West Lothian Question.
So in summary think before you come up with a new slogan. One Labour nation? What does ‘nation’ mean?
Mike

In Oxford we have lots of street parties but we had less for the Royal Wedding than anywhere else in the South-East I think. We do things like that to celebrate out City and our community, not faith and certainly not flag.

I’m sympathetic to where Lord Glasman is coming from but I think his error is that he tries to turn it into an ideology. We already have an ideology, democratic socialism, and in a sense it’s a good thing that that consists only of general principles. When it comes to the details, what we need to do to win again is be rooted in communities of many different kinds across the country, which is a matter of practice not ideology. With roots in our communities we will be able to develop policies that resonate with them, guided by our basic democratic socialist values.