A Despatch from the Trenches

Sometimes it is frustrating to be a party member. Recall how it felt at the time of the last Labour Government when the vast majority of us were sitting in the trenches waiting to go over the top and take on the Tories whilst in Westminster there was rumour and counter rumour about coups and resignations. A quarrel between so called "Blairites" and "Brownites" that had little resonance to the average activist.The events of the last few weeks has taken me back to those days, to endless argument about who are the true standard bearers of New Labour to Westminster gossip about putsch and counter putsch and to colleagues speaking out in such a way that can only give succour to the enemy. Its time I believe to take a stand on behalf of the poor bloody infantry.

Firstly few in the party care whether the current leadership have deviated from the path of new labour. It was never an ideological obsession for us in the first place. I believe in two key things. Economic competence and supporting people to realise their full potential in life. I always accepted the need for modernisation of the party but on the basis of principle and the ideals I had fought for all my political life. I do not regard it as "Old Labour" to protect the vulnerable. I do on the other hand understand that we need to win elections in order to have any chance of putting our policies into action.So we have the combined efforts of the Tory Social Media turned on Ed Milliband determined to make sure that any attempt to say something fresh is drowned out. They must think that we have short memories. They did the same when he spoke at our conference about the need to control Capitalism. First they deride us then they slavishly follow our Agenda.

The problem is that there are too many in the party waiting to scream "betrayal" at the first sign of any deviance from the true path and they feed the Tory trolls. As Ed Milliband said on the Andrew Marr show it is perfectly consistent to oppose the cuts today and yet at the same time not be able to promise that in three years time after further wrecking of the economy we will automatically be able to reverse every cut.

Unfortunately such a statement satisfies none of the defenders of the true path. So they reinterpret to suit their own view of Labour History. To Patrick Wintour and the Guardian it was clear that Ed Balls had accepted the need for the cuts programme being put forward by the Coalition Government. Leaving aside the fact that these are the people whose flawed political judgement had led them to urge all of us to vote for the Lib Deems at the last election, it was a distortion of Eds views that would play into the hands of the Tories. Once again it raised the question of whose side they were on.

Then we have those who believe that we are deviating from the road to true socialism. Preferring to believe the Tory/Guardian line that all this is a major climb down they fail to put forward an alternative. Lets promise that the economy will be in such good shape in three years time that day one of a Labour Government will see a Labour Chancellor announcing that hey presto all cuts are reversed and we can pretend the Tories never happened.If we know that something will never occur. I have always believed we should be politically honest and state it. Do not keep pretending that it might in the interests of keeping that warm comfortable feeling.

As long as I have been a party member there have trade union leaders who were not content with the party leadership. They have a perfect right to reflect their views of their members. The party was created by the Unions (although not exclusively as some would have you believe) and most of us are members of one. What we cannot do is grant any section the right of veto over party policy. It appears that Lens main concern was pay restraint in the public sector. I understand that and I as a local Authority Leader want to do something for those at the bottom of the scale but not at the expense of jobs. Like all public sector bodies I have a finite budget and cannot promise over the next few years to deliver wage rises without cutting jobs or services.

The party I think understands all of this. It is entitled to ask however why the review of party policy has made so little progress and why there are still those who urge the leadership to appear to stand up to sections of the party in order to gain some apparent macho status. Blair's big weakness was his failure to feel at ease with the Party. He often assumed incorrectly activists would not understand the challenge of governing. We must not continue to fall into the same trap. The party knows Ed what an immensely difficult task you have. It wants to get behind you and take the fight to the enemy but it needs to feel it is more than a useful army of leaflet deliverers and door knockers. Then we can truly fight with fire in our soul