Thread by @docrussjackson

A #THREAD about John Smith's recognition of the need for unity in @UKLabour.

In an article from May 2014, entitled 'John Smith would have led us to a decent world', John McTernan — Blair’s Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007 — wrote:

When John Smith became @UKLabour leader in July 1992. he introduced the ‘one member one vote’ system for electing the Party leader but otherwise wanted to minimise conflict within the Labour Party, which was still smarting from the general election defeat under Kinnock.

John Smith wanted to heal divisions and focus instead on the unpopularity of the Tory Government.

John McTernan stated John Smith and @UKLabour were heading for “certain victory” in the 1997 general election.

It’s hard to disagree with anything McTernan said in his article.

Feeling nostalgic, I looked up the then new @UKLabour leader’s speech given by John Smith to the Party, in Brighton, in 1993 — his last before his untimely death.

I was struck by how so much of John Smith's leader's speech could very easily be mistaken for any of Jeremy Corbyn’s speeches given at any point during his leadership of the @UKLabour Party.

Yet while Smith was almost universally respected by the Left & deemed to be heading for ‘certain victory’, Corbyn, saying almost identical things in a very similar context, was despised by many within @UKLabour, & relentlessly deemed ‘unelectable’, despite narrow defeat in 2017.

That Corbyn & his supporters are STILL regularly demonised as ‘hard or ‘far’ left, not just by the @Conservatives & almost the entire news media but also by detractors within the @UKLabour movement, shows just how far away from Smith’s ideals Labour has travelled since 1993.

This #THREAD is not about comparing the different qualities & attributes of the SIX different @UKLabour leaders over the last thirty years, but instead is designed to highlight two important factors:

First, just how far to the right @UKLabour lurched in the New Labour years; & second, to suggest that Labour should at least try & unite around a set of shared values & policies that articulate a clear alternative to Tory ‘austerity’ cuts, & which challenge neoliberal orthodoxy.

Smith’s 1993 speech started by emphasising the urgency and importance of forging nothing short of a ‘new world’, characterised by ‘peace and progress’ and ‘economic justice’ and which foregrounded “@UKLabour’s proud history of international action”.

Resembling Corbyn, more than any other @UKLabour leader, Smith had no qualms about stressing the necessity to “maintain the momentum of disarmament, both nuclear & conventional”, adding “We must work to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”

Today, this position is deemed to ‘weak’ on defence & foreign policy. However, Smith’s stance was well received by the PLP & the wider public & he was more than happy to state @UKLabour’s “commitment to a strong UN (which) must be the foundation stone of our foreign policy”.

His forward & outward-looking demeanour, like Corbyn’s, was bold & refreshing from today’s perspective & his deep concern for global postcolonial & environmental issues shone through, standing in stark contrast to the ‘Little Englander’ mentality that characterises Tory rhetoric.

Smith proudly demonstrated & articulated his internationalist & social justice credentials by saying “We must set a new agenda of international economic justice that can release millions of people in the developing world from their lives of debt, disease and poverty.”

“And we must also face the new challenge to the security of our planet, protecting and enhancing the world environment, in the recognition that we are the sole guardians of a world we have borrowed from future generations.”

On the domestic front, Smith pulled no punches in telling it as it was (& still is), repeatedly calling out the Tories for missing the opportunity to “rebuild, to re-equip and to restore the strength and vitality of a country that once was famed as the workshop of the world”.

Smith blamed “fourteen years of casino economics” for the dismal state of Britain, the dangers of which culminated in the catastrophic events of 2008 and the lessons from which appear to have been willfully disregarded by the Tories and the rest of the establishment to this day.

In fact, many of the economic similarities between then and now are uncanny:

“a multi-billion (now £TRILLION) pound deficit in both our public finances and our overseas trade; record levels of homelessness… a gap between rich and poor wider than in Victorian times”.

With 24 hour rolling news and social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the present and to lose sight of the wider ongoing and underlying structural problems which are rarely mentioned in mainstream public and commercial news and political commentary.

Imho, the words of John Smith in his passionate, insightful, & inspirational 1993 leader’s speech are the words that the British people need to hear today, from a leader of a unified @UKLabour Party.

“People in Britain today are angry: not just disappointed, not just disillusioned, but angry. They are angry at the state of Britain; angry at the total absence of leadership; angry at the absence of vision; angry at the hypocrisy and double standards.”

“And they are angry at the incessant incompetence of a (Tory) Government they no longer respect and increasingly despise.”

“And are they not — and are we not — entitled to be angry… angry at the cruel denial of opportunity to our young people; angry at the callous acceptance of injustice; angry at Government without purpose, and politics without principle?”

“What Labour stands for is investment: long term investment in the productive capacity of our economy; investment in people and their skills; investment in technology and innovation; investment in our regions and in the infrastructure that underpins our nation’s prosperity.”

“A strategy that embraces the changes taking place in the industrial world: a strategy for a modern labour force, where women are equal partners both at home & at work. A strategy that puts the skills & the talents of ALL our people at the very heart of our economic programme.”

“Wealth creation is not the exclusive preserve of a privileged few but requires — indeed it depends upon — the active involvement of the whole community.”

“We reject the absurd double standard which encourages massive rewards for those at the top whilst everyone else has to suffer pay cuts, longer hours, and fewer and fewer employment rights. It is the old Tory trick — one special rule for their elite, another for all the rest”.

Turning to the deliberate underfunding & destruction of our #NHS & other public services, Smith admonished Ken Clarke for telling nurses & other public sector workers “that they will not get any pay increase at all this year — unless, of course, they become more productive.”

“What utter nonsense is this? How does a nurse become more productive? Does she juggle two bed pans at the same time? And is a fire-fighter expected to put out fires in two different places at one and the same time?”

In a bid to distance themselves from the Major Govt, the Tories attempted to rebrand themselves as ‘one nation’ or ‘compassionate @Conservatives’, but it is increasingly apparent that the Tories haven’t changed their spots one jot over the years. As Smith noted:

The @Conservatives will “always finds ways of hitting low-waged people hardest, whilst the very rich seem to get bigger and bigger pay rises all the time. Because that is the double standard practised by this Government. That is their choice.”

“That is the sickening hypocrisy of their trickle-down economics. And that is the reality of a (Tory) Government that cares more about lining the pockets of its rich friends than it does about the real needs of individuals and families in our country today.”

Smith promised to deliver “a @UKLabour Government that will restore to every working man and woman the dignity, the respect, and the rights to which they are entitled... We will give the same legal rights to every worker, part-time or full-time, temporary or permanent.”

“We will give every working man and woman the right to protection against unfair dismissal, and access to health and safety protection. And every worker will have the right to join a trade union and have the right to union recognition.”

The ‘Living Wage’ is widely thought of as a relatively new innovation but this is incorrect.

Smith stated “Our choice is founded on a very simple principle — when people work for a living, they should be paid a living wage”.

Smith emphasised what Labour “as democratic socialists, have always believed, that it is the duty of Government to match unmet needs with unused resources. For surely it must be blindingly obvious to anyone in this country… that there is much work waiting to be done:”

“Work needing to be done to improve our schools, our hospitals, our transport system, and to improve and invest in our environment. All this work is waiting to be done, and crying out to be done NOW.”

And thirty years on, it STILL needs doing!

Smith picked up the theme of Tory economic incompetence by focusing on the catastrophic rail and other proposed privatisations - catastrophic failures we can see clear as day today in rail, energy, water, probation & many other failed privatisations.

Then, as now:

“We know that there is barely a single person in this country outside Downing Street who thinks it is a good idea to privatise British Rail… And what is all this designed to achieve?”

“A system which will undoubtedly provide fewer services, which it is already clear will force substantial fare increases, and which sadly threatens the very existence of many rural lines.”

“Some responsibilities are the responsibilities of the nation and nobody else. You cannot privatise a national rail network and expect it to stay intact”.

Tory neoliberal policies were still in their relative infancy in 1993 and Tony Blair's New Labour continued to support neoliberalism both as an economic rationale and as a political ideology throughout its three terms.

New Labour believed it could remoralise society through market (de)regulation with its ‘Third Way’ politics but economic interests always trumped morality & many in New Labour became “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich - as long as they pay their taxes”.

In 2014, echoing Peter Mandelson, ex-shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna remarked “I don't have a problem with people making a lot of money”.

However, Smith made a passionate case for an alternative, an alternative banished from Labour until Corbyn threw his hat in the ring.

“This Government seems to think that the only thing that can possibly motivate people is greed, and if not greed, then fear. The concept of pride in public service for its own sake is utterly beyond the understanding of this Tory Government.”

“But we know there is a different set of values. We know there are millions of people in this country who choose to work for the sake of the public good, because they want to deliver a service, because they want to help their community.”

“We see these values at work every day, in schools, in hospitals, in community centres and in homes for the elderly: people who spend their lives helping others; fire-fighters who risk their lives saving others.”

“Every person in this hall this afternoon knows somebody who does a job of work, not for greed, not purely for profit, but for the satisfaction of helping and caring for other people. And not a word of thanks do they get from this Government, not a word of praise.”

“All they get is a constant barrage of attack. They see their work devalued, their jobs threatened by cuts, their status & their conditions undermined, & they see their wages frozen, cut in real terms by a Govt that have NO IDEA of how ordinary people live or how hard they work.”

Smith was fearless in critiquing free market ideology in a way that is almost taboo with today's spineless MPs, & he predicted the crises we currently face with academisation, #NHS privatisation, & the slashing of other public services & local authority funding more generally.

“This Tory Government are deluded by the bizarre notion that the free market is intrinsically good & the public sector is intrinsically bad. So they try to sell everything off to the private sector, & the things they cannot sell, they try to run according to free market rules.”

“But schools are not businesses & neither are hospitals. Head teachers are not entrepreneurs. Doctors are not accountants, nor should they be forced to act like them. They should be allowed to get on with the job they are trained to do: to teach the children & to heal the sick.”

“We in the Labour Party believe in the value of public service. We are a Party that believes in the public good, & to the nurses & the teachers & the midwives & the fire-­fighters, & to everyone who works so hard to deliver decent services to the people of this country we say:

“We are proud of what you do. We recognise your vital contribution to the life of our communities, and we abhor the disgraceful attempt by this Conservative Government to make you pay the price of their miserable failure.”

The ’revolving door’ between senior ministers, large corporations, and their increasingly powerful & opaquely funded lobbying 'think tank' organisations - now located primarily on #55TuftonStreet - was deemed worthy of mention too when Smith asked:

“What is the nation to think when they see so many former Cabinet ministers popping up on the boards of companies they helped privatise? Ministers, one after the other, taking that slippery sleazy slide from Cabinet room to the boardroom; cashing in on their privatisation plans.”

“This is a Government that cares less about democracy than about power, that cares less about people than political dogma, that cares less about fairness and justice than about defending its own interests and the interests of its own rich benefactors.”

Smith promised “a new constitution for a new century: a new & modern conception of citizenship, which recognises the importance of the community acting together to advance individual freedom; a revitalised democracy which protects the fundamental rights of each & EVERY citizen.”

“A system of government that is open, accountable, & close to the people it is elected to serve” and which would go “right to the heart of what is wrong with the Government of Britain today — a Government that is arrogant, centralised, and unresponsive to people.”

The Tories have recently confirmed their intention to scrap leave the ECHR & scrap the Human Rights Act.

And so THIRTY YEARS after John Smith's prophetic speech, it seems we’re pretty much right back to where we were all those years ago, as if ‘New Labour’ had never existed.

It strikes me that pretty much everyone who does — and might — support Labour now, would support everything articulated and proposed by John Smith back in 1993.

The common ground is there, & the desire to achieve essential progressive change continues to grow stronger.

In terms of diagnosing the causes of the multiple crises we face, & offering the necessary solutions, Corbyn picked up the baton from Smith, & Starmer became @UKLabour leader by promising that he would continue in their vein - promises for whatever reasons, he has now reneged on.

Imho, the important thing NOW is to agree on & clearly articulate to voters the shape & look of a positive alternative to Tory rule, which inspires the population to recognise, embrace, & then vote for the possibility of a MUCH better future, under an inspiring @UKLabour Govt.

To end, see if you can discern whether these next quotes are the words of the ‘son of a Britain-hating Marxist’, Ed Miliband, the ‘unelectable antisemitic terrorist sympathiser’ Jeremy Corbyn, ‘bland focus group’ Keir Starmer, or of the near universally respected John Smith:

“No wonder people feel disillusioned with politics. No wonder they feel dismayed and disappointed. And no wonder they feel disgusted with a Government that has proved itself time and time again unfit to run this country.”

“Our choice — Labour’s choice — is to build a democracy founded on pluralism, participation, & justice: a politics that springs from the roots of democratic socialism & from the writings of Tom Paine, the struggle for votes for women, & trade union campaigns.”

“We in the Labour Party — unlike any other Party — see the vital link between rights in the workplace and rights at the ballot box. For surely we need both, if we are to create a society of free and self-confident citizens.”

“We will stop the rot & start once again to build a country where strong communities help each one of us to live a fulfilling life, in which racism has no place. This is the choice we set out before the British people — the Tory Britain of today, or Labour’s Britain of tomorrow?”

“I am deeply conscious of the huge challenges we face, of the vital choices we will have to make, for we will inherit an enfeebled economy & a demoralised society. But we will face these challenges. We will make these choices, with confidence in our ideals & pride in our values.”

“So we must be bold in our ambitions: bold in our determination to get our country back to work; bold in our unyielding commitment to social justice; bold in our vision of a truly free and democratic society.”

“For I tell you this: there is no other force, no other power, no other party, that can turn this country round. It is up to us, all of us, together. This is our time of opportunity: the time to summon up all our commitment; the time to gather round us all our strength.”

“And, united in our common purpose, it is the time to lead our country forward to the great tasks that lie ahead.”

These are the words of John Smith.

My suspicion is that Keir Starmer has gambled on assuming victory is assured - as long as he avoids saying anything meaningful.

Despite @UKLabour still having a twenty-point lead over the catastrophic @Conservatives, this can & still might quickly change.

I’m not going to dwell on the implications of John Smith’s most unfortunate and untimely death. He is, and will remain, much loved and sorely missed.

We urgently need a unified, strong, & decent opposition with a clear narrative, a bold vision, & effective popular policies.

There is still far too much factionalism on the Left. Maybe there always will be. But we all desperately need rid of the catastrophically awful Tories.

It's naïve in the extreme to suggest we on the Left can magically heal divisions, but regardless of which camp we're in, surely we can all focus on the terrible things the Tories continue to get away with, while offering our own vision for a much fairer & better Britain & world.