Must Labour Always Lose?

Have spent 3 enjoyable days at UK's Labour Party conference talking to MPs, Labour party officials, journalists, doing TV, radio interviews about by new book "Must Labour Always Lose?". Below a review by former Labour MP, Tom Harris, in Daily Telegraph. Book based on fact that in last 50 years Labour has won election in only 4 years - 1974, 1997, 2001, 2005. If Labour was a private business there would be questions about its continuing to trade. I hope to talk to as many Labour local groups, in universities, at think tanks. My main thesis is that there are 3 'Ps' in politics - Personalities, Policies and Power. Labour spends all its energy on the first two 'Ps' - personalities and policies but leaves to the Conservatives the business of thinking and planning about winning power. Can this change?

Must Labour Always Lose? by former Europe minister Denis MacShane proves he

is a more astute observer than his critics give him credit for

By Tom Harris 26 September 2021 ? 5:00am

The Labour Party is not short of advice on how it can get back into

contention for government at the next general election. It could do a lot

worse than pay close attention to Denis MacShane, Minister for Europe the

last time the party was in office, who has neatly encompassed Labour’s

dilemma in a short but fascinating history of the past 50 years.

His title, Must Labour Always Lose?, is a deliberate reference to Must

Labour Lose? by Mark Abrams and Richard Rose, published in 1960 after three

consecutive Conservative general elections victories. MacShane’s musings

come at an even more difficult time for his party, after four election

defeats – on a scale much greater than was suffered in the 1950s.

MacShane’s chosen time period, which he examines year by year, mirrors his

own political career, first in journalism, then in parliament, and lastly

outside it. Since it is partly autobiographical it can hardly fail to avoid

the elephant in the room: his own incarceration in Belmarsh Prison in 2013

after being found guilty of false accounting in the wake of the MPs’

expenses scandal.

His writing style – more newspaper than novel – is effective, concise and,

as his parliamentary colleagues at the time will attest, entirely authentic.

“I came out of Brixton prison [where he had spent the latter part of his

short sentence] fitter, healthier, weighing less than I had ever managed in

eighteen years as an MP. I was earning more money than as an MP. People in

London and on the continent laughed at the idea I was a serious criminal.”

This unapologetic, matter-of-fact tone infuses the book with a confidence

from which his party could benefit. MacShane is a far more complex and

sophisticated observer and practitioner of politics than his critics give

him credit for. He was never a straightforward proponent of New Labour and

reserves some tough criticism for Tony Blair’s regime.

It was too managerial, at least in its latter years, he writes, and was

guilty of a lack of imagination on policy, which swiftly left Labour’s

supporters uninspired. He traces the party’s downfall to the 2001 general

election, in which Blair won re-election with a landslide similar to the one

he had achieved four years earlier, but on a worrying, historically low

turnout.

MacShane never stops reminding his readers of his own qualifications to

speak on the subject of Europe: he is multilingual and spent many years

working for trade unions on the continent before being elected to

parliament. His wide network of friends and politicians across Europe lent

him a unique perspective on the fortunes of other social democratic and

centre Left parties from which Labour could have learned, but chose not to.

It is Britain’s – and Labour’s – relationship with the EEC (and then the EU)

that provides the narrative thread of the past half century. His frustration

at media criticism of the European project, and his party’s refusal to

champion it, is his constant regret, going back all the way to Harold Wilson

and Jim Callaghan. Even if you don’t share MacShane’s enthusiasm for the EU

(and I do not), it’s difficult to resist the genuine passion and wit of his

analysis, not just of the events that led to Brexit, but which inform his

entire narrative. And unlike lesser authors, MacShane actually proposes some

solutions, instead of simply observing Labour’s mistakes in and out of

government.

The book is liberally dotted with suggestions, some of them more persuasive

than others. Term limits for MPs, for example, would be unworkable and would

provide few, if any, advantages. Similarly, bringing back shadow cabinet

elections smacks of process politics that would have no relevance to

ordinary voters.

On the other hand, his suggestion that there should be a formal mechanism

for deposing a failing party leader can hardly be challenged, given the

party’s record in the past 15 years.

Perhaps his most valuable advice is for Labour to behave in opposition as a

government – “measured, responsible, representing a broader national

interest” – and, when in government, as an opposition – constantly inventing

new policies and welcoming argument and debate.

As a (somewhat jaded and eurocentric) account of the past 50 years, Must

Labour Always Lose? is lucid, intelligent and readable. Only time will tell

if its lessons will be learned by the current party leadership.

Must Labour Always Lose? is published by Claret at ?11.99. To order your

e-book copy for ?4.99 call 0844 871 1514 or visit the Telegraph Bookshop