Robert Marshall-Andrews

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Captain Brown is steering his ship onto the rocks - Nonsensical excuses for Labour failure

The Sunday Telegraph, 4 May 2008

For us, the minor Labour politicians still clinging to the wreckage after last week's humiliations at polls across the country, there are two things more depressing than the dire results themselves. These are the conflicting, contradictory apologia advanced by members of the Government and The first of these, which may be described as the "Harman/Blears nautical metaphor" goes like this: It's not our fault. There is nothing wrong with our Labour ship of state, indeed it is in fine, robust shape. The problem is the prevailing climate.

At present the ship is battered by economic weather systems over which we have no control. The hurricane has its origin in the volcanic failure of beastly bankers (mainly American) in lending vast sums of unsecured debt to the indigent poor. It is not our fault that the ship is pitching and heaving in such violent seas and that the passengers are all feeling sick.

There have been other and varied descriptions of the state of the passengers: "worried", "deeply concerned for their families", "unstable" and "insecure". All have been employed to describe the national mood. In other words, they are feeling sick.

It is as a result of this temporary nausea, Harman/Blears maintain, that the passengers have passed a resounding, though temporary, vote of no confidence in the captain.

The essential corollary of this nonsense is that when the storm passes so will the mutiny. When the economic barometer returns to "fair" the good ship will resume its cruise in the sublime monetarist Mediterranean and the Captain's Table will again attract happy voyageurs.

All this is in contrast to the Prime Minister who, while acknowledging bad weather, solemnly states that he will "listen and learn".

Insofar as this is not a meaningless platitude, it contrasts sharply with the nautical line. If the ship of state is sound and resolutely riding the storm then there is surely nothing to learn. To weary the metaphor, you do not alter a good course because passengers are vomiting over the rail.
So which of these is right? Is everything stable and shipshape apart from the adverse conditions, or should we be listening and learning, and if so, to what?

The most depressing fallacy of the Harman/Blears metaphor, illustrated by its patronising tone, is the idea that people are so stupid that they will blame the hurricane on the skipper. In adversity most passengers cleave to a popular captain rather than pushing him along the plank. Indeed, history frequently records even poor governments (as in 1992) deriving positive benefit from economic recession, as the electorate clings to the familiar in a threatening world.

At root, the Harman/Blears fallacy stems from the essential New Labour belief that all psephology is about money, that the only real yardstick for political success is the economic satisfaction of Mondeo man, the unprincipled voter immortalised by Tony Blair.

For the immediate future (or survival) of the Labour Party this belief is now deadly, as it simultaneously provides a false alibi for failure and perpetuates a belief that resounding rejection last week was based upon self-interest and not principle.

This, in turn, fails to recognise that the prevailing, widespread public disaffection has its roots in issues divorced from crude economic calculation. In no particular order I would suggest the following.

First, serious disaffection among virtually all public-sector professionals - doctors, nurses, social workers, probation officers, legal aid lawyers and, most obviously, teachers. This growing and serious unrest is not based on a lack of money but a systematic, contemptuous removal of status by a government whose leading members are widely thought never to have done a serious job outside politics.

For professional teachers labouring at the coal face of indiscipline and indifference, pious lectures from Ed Balls (a professional politician to his boots) on exclusion policy are far more alienating than meagre pay awards which become in reality the casus belli for wider grievance.

The second, barely acknowledged, cause of rejection is the growing and palpable concern at the continued erosion of civil liberty. Populist attacks on civil liberties have long been the stock-in-trade of New Labour and it was an essential ingredient of the project to outflank and ambush the Tories on law and order.

At first this may have worked, but it has produced a growing sense of alarm which has finally found expression. This alarm is now fuelled by the (albeit unjust) perception of the Prime Minister as a gloomy authoritarian who tolerates no dissent.

Third, despite the vociferous, self-motivated fuel protests, the wider, thoughtful, electorate is increasingly concerned at an environment policy that is long on discredited targets but woefully short on confronting powerful vested interests such as the aviation industry, the oil giants and the energy companies.

Fourth, foreign policy motivates far more of the electorate than the "economy stupid" pundits allow. In particular a continued failure to confront Israel on its near-genocidal treatment of the Palestinians is increasingly perceived as culpable weakness. It is seen to continue a servile relationship with neo-conservative America with all its disastrous consequences.

Finally, the Government is now paradoxically regarded as too old and too immature. The brief renaissance on the arrival of a new appointed Prime Minister was eclipsed by his failure to become an elected leader. Worse still is the perception that he has, through patronage, surrounded himself with acolytes whose counsel is at best lacking in maturity.

So to the second apologia: "I will listen and learn". If this is serious then I propose the following political week for the Prime Minister, which will bring about a dramatic revival in Labour's fortunes.

Monday: announce an immediate programme to return power and responsibility in public services to the excellent professionals who operate within them with an associated substantial reduction in targets and other official impertinence.

Tuesday: termination of the identity card programme, with the billions saved to be spent on the alleviation of poverty, sensibly increased security intelligence and improved conditions for service personnel injured in conflict.

Wednesday: announce that 42 days' detention is now recognised as unnecessary and that existing sanctions have proved effective. This should be accompanied by an announcement that hyperactive criminal justice legislation will cease and the Law Commission has been instructed to carry out an urgent review of recent statutes with a view to repealing vast tracts that are unworkable or incomprehensible.
Thursday: announce that there will be no third runway at Heathrow or anywhere else, and levies on oil companies and aviation to enhance renewables research.

Friday: summon the Israeli ambassador who will be told that unless there is an immediate, verifiable programme for dismantling the illegal settlements on the West Bank, Britain will press the UN for a programme of economic sanctions against his country.

Saturday (half day): Cabinet reshuffle to introduce members likely to disagree with the Prime Minister.
A week like that would create the worst nightmares for the Tories but, in reality, they may sleep easy. None of this will happen. Instead the Labour ship of state will sail on, indifferent to the true currents driving it towards inevitable shipwreck.

The author is the Labour MP for Medway - Bob Marshall-Andrews