I dropped into a speech by Lord Mandelson this evening organised by Progress at Portcullis House in Westminster. He was fairly calm and restrained, but made a few interesting points:
* Politics needs more people from the real world, not just party apparatchiks and former union chiefs in the Westminster bubble. Labour needs politicians “from every region and every social background,” he said. True – but the point would be more forceful coming from someone with a different background.
* The Labour party needs to get more money from beyond the trade unions, because being dependent on Unite, Unison, GMB et al is neither “healthy” nor “good public relations“. True – but his solution (copying Obama’s net-based donations model) may not work in a UK, Ed Miliband context.
* We must all support the new boss. Miliband is the leader, Mandelson said, “no ifs and buts“, and the party should end its “in-fighting”. By laying off Miliband it will give him a chance to direct his attention to the country rather than fire-fighting his internal enemies. Hard to disagree with.
* Lord Mandelson urged the shadow cabinet to become “more interesting” and “less parochial”, saying that the party seemed “almost too tactical” to the general public.
Mr Miliband needed to be “more innovative and more courageous” as leader, and stop appearing “too afraid that something we might say might suddenly trigger some disagreement in our party“. Controversial – but probably correct.
It’s been observed that Derek Draper was at the event: here is a link to his new business venture.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey