by Greig Baker
They say a recession is the best time to set up in business, because if you can make it then, you know you’re onto a good thing. Smart Labour MPs should look at Jeremy Corbyn’s political downturn in the same way. It might not feel like it, but if you are a sensible centrist MP with ambitions for the top job, you now have three things in your favour…
First, you don’t have a choice. If you or someone like you doesn’t come up with a plan to make Labour electable again and soon, you face either being rejected by the voters, deselected by your party, or a decade or more of a backbench job with less power and more acrimony than you’d get as a local Councillor. You can make a successful pitch for what you believe in, or join the political dole queue.
Second, in times of crisis, merit wins through. MPs with verve are ten-a-penny in three figure majority Governments. But, like the successful entrepreneur who beats a bad market, it takes special skill and dedication to create political success out of a downhearted shambles. Even better for you (and as much as it pains me to say this given that I used to work for them), the Conservatives are divided, unloved and performing poorly – so there’s plenty to get your teeth into.
And third, if your bid to bring Labour back into the black is going to succeed, you will need to fashion the party in your image. This means forging alliances with people you like, value, respect and trust, and who will be around for long enough to help you achieve real change – so the prospect of working with a genuinely capable executive team beckons.
From an outsider’s perspective, it looks like Labour’s political contraction is already well underway. However, the right moves by the right people could stop the “recession” becoming a “depression” – in every sense of the word.
Greig Baker is Chief Executive of The GUIDE Consultancy
Tags: centrism, crisis, electability, Greig Baker, Jeremy Corbyn, leadership, trust
Well I hope there weren’t too many ‘moderates’ banking on Angela Eagle. Her interview on Sunday on Marr’s show was truly awful. Would she get the poor Yvette Cooper result or the even worse 4.5% Liz Kendall one?
Just watched The Andrew Marr show on catch up – excellent interview from Angela Eagle – she was clear in her reasons why we should remain in the EU – for workers rights and keeping our place in the world. Hope she does PM question time again soon.
she was clear in her reasons why we should remain in the EU – for workers rights
Remind us what the Bolkestein Directive is, in particular the ‘Country of Origin’ clause and what it’s ramifications would have been – and it hasn’t gone away, it will re-appear – it was only temporarily omitted.
Oh, there were;-)