Understanding the South

In many southern seats a Labour MP is a recent memory, not a pipedream explains Paul Richards

In conversation with a couple of old comrades in a Westminster pub last week, I was lobbied about the next meeting of my CLP by someone standing for the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC), seeking the all-important Eastbourne nomination. I don’t know when the next meeting is, and neither does anyone else, because there isn’t one planned. No doubt we’ll get round to one in the Spring to choose some candidates for the council elections. That’s not to say the CLP is moribund. We’ve had some excellent meetings recently – to see Made in Dagenham at the local fleapit, the Christmas quiz at the Unite conference centre on the seafront, and the BBQ in my back garden last August. Our nominating meeting for the Labour leadership resulted in Ed Miliband in the fourth round of transfers. There are many new members, and a healthy, fraternal atmosphere.

It’s just that in towns such as Eastbourne, with no Labour representation at all, not even a parish councillor, the pace is less full-on, frenetic, factional. It was the same when I was the candidate in Lewes up the road back in 2001. The party in such areas is filled with decent, earnest people, often Londoners who’ve moved out, with backgrounds in trade unionism or public service. Come election time, a decent campaign can be mounted, with parliamentary hopefuls who put in the hours and expend the shoe-leather.

The kinds of fiercely-fought selection battles for council seats, or tightly-whipped votes on resolutions that characterise London CLP meetings (which I attended for 19 years) simply don’t exist in the same way. In Brighton, or Hastings, where we have representation and the possibility of winning seats, it’s a bit more organised. But across most of the South of England the Labour Party represents a harmless minority interest, like real ale, Morris Dancing or nudism.

The south fell out of love with Labour spectacularly in 2010. Gordon Brown was an alien being to most voters in Crawley, Hove, Dover or Gillingham. He spoke a foreign language. The animosity was mutual. There was no sense that he had any understanding or sympathy with southern England. I always felt that he blamed the south for voting Tory and condemning his own country to economic decline and exploitation. At times, it felt like he blamed the south for the Highland Clearances. No matter how many Asdas he visited in the campaign, there was no meeting of minds between the Enlightenment economist, and people in Sussex and Kent who had never been to Scotland, and would never have any cause to do so. For this vast section of the electorate, the closest they would come to Scottish culture was re-runs of Balamory.
With Ed, there is a better chance of reconnection. Ed sounds English; his vowels are rounded, and he can connect with the Waitrose-shopping English middle-classes. His choice of shadow chancellor shows that this need to connect outweighs the need for detailed economic knowledge. ‘Appearing human’ may seem like setting the bar quite low for Labour’s leadership. After the past three years, it’s the right place to start.

The task for local Labour parties is similar – to look and seem like a normal part of the community in southern towns and counties. That might mean simple things – such as making sure Labour activities are listed in local papers alongside the bowls club and WI, or having a presence at community events, county fairs and in the high streets and town squares. It might mean more labour-intensive activity, such as trying for a full slate of candidates in local elections, so no part of the south is a no-go area. The success of Duncan Enright winning a town council seat in Witney in Oxfordshire last week shows that it’s always worth having a go, and with the Lib Dems in meltdown, Labour candidates can pull surprises.

There are potential Labour supporters across the south of England, especially young people growing up against the backdrop of riots, cuts and shrinking opportunities. I grew up in south Bucks, for heaven’s sake – hardly the most likely of precursors to a lifetime in the Labour Party. Labour can win back the south, with a combination of credible leaders, policies which reflect southern concerns around jobs, business, crime and public services, and hard work on the ground. We have one massive advantage over previous generations – the knowledge that it’s possible. In Crawley, Hove, Brighton, Hastings, Dover, and Dartford and many more places, a Labour MP is a recent memory, not a distant pipedream. Where once Labour won, Labour can win again.

Paul Richards is the author of Labour’s Revival and a former special adviser to the Labour Government. He is vice-chair of Eastbourne CLP.