Austin Mitchell
London Mayoral Elections
Mixed reactions to the London Mayoral result. Congratulations to Ken. He`sfought an exciting campaign with imagination, flair and, in view of all themalevolence thrown at him, with cool nerve. Commiserations to Frank. He`sdone a tough job loyally, paid the price of machinations for which he wasn`tresponsible, and should now be restored to the senior position he deserves.
Now it`s time to get down to the nitty gritty of government. No use havinga period of Labour and Ken circling each other like sniffing, snarling,dogs, growling and ready to fight. That does no one on other side any good.Yet Labour has more lessons to learn from this humbling experience than Ken.
Our first mistake was to think that when we devolve power to the people wedon`t have to devolve it also to the Labour Party in the new units. Whenpower is handed down from the centre control freakery towards the party istotally out of place. I wouldn`t want to repeat this situation either inWales or Scotland, and certainly not when devolution is extended, as itshould be, to the civilised part of the world and regions like Yorkshire andHumberside.
Negative campaigning
The second is that negative campaigning builds antibodies in the electorate.The people don`t like smears, allegations and character assassination,whether it comes from the party or from a media who all pushed Ken`sindependent stand because they want to stir things, then sanctimoniouslydenounced him on the verge of his victory just to safeguard their tenuouspurity. All that`s been decisively rejected. The viciousness put peopleoff and has produced sympathy and support for Ken as victim of a clobberingmachine which must not be used again, particularly not against our own.
The third is that it`s no use sulking. Government has to work with Ken,help and support him and listen to the views of London which he`s now in aposition to express. If it doesn`t it`s not damaging him, but it isattacking Londoners and undermining Labour`s relationship with them. TheMayor`s powers are limited - too limited in my view - but they mustn`t beobstructed. Labour must make this new system work.
There has to be some compromise to bring Ken back into the fold quickly.Not on his terms or the party`s, but on a basis of a sensible recognitionthat we shouldn`t have put him in the position he`s been forced into in thefirst place. Tony Blair has already apologised for what happened in Waleswhen Alun Michael was effectively imposed to keep out Rhrodri Morgan.That`s an important precedent. There are apologies to be made now overLondon. That suggests compromise if they're to be sincere.
Acolytes
I don`t think Tony Blair was responsible for what happened but the Thomas aBeckett syndrome certainly pushed acolytes into doing what they thoughtwould please him. We`ve had the selection mess as a result. Faced withbeing the choice of the members but excluded by the machine, anyone ofspirit and vigour would have responded in the way Ken did. What alternativedid he have? Lying down and dying isn`t Ken`s style. Nor should we expectit of anyone.
Ken`s difficult to deal with. Especially for party hacks. Yet nothingjustifies the outpouring of hate and bile that`s been thrown at him. Itputs people off party and particularly a fraternal party such as ours shouldbe. It conveys the implicit message to everyone else that to think foryourself, or criticise the leadership, is unacceptable in New Labour.Criticisms will all be taken down and used in evidence against you if youstep out of line in any way. The logical extension of that is that weshould be a party of clones, our only job to sing adoring hymns about ourleaders. That`s not a party for anyone of spirit.
The basic problem is Labour`s. There has to be some accommodation. Itwould be wrong to insist on the same inflexible exclusion as might beimposed on a Militant infiltrator. Ken`s given good service to Labour. Heis Labour through and through. He`s shown us how to approach campaigning.We`re better off with him in Labour`s big tent than outside peering in.
Coalition politics
The balance of power in the new assembly means that coalition politics willnow be the norm in London. We don`t want to add to the problems of that byexcluding the mayor from the Labour fold. Nor do we want a situation wherean independent mayor has to build up his own support, and possibly party, torun against us. That would produce conflict in London. So let`s all worktogether. Otherwise we fail the people. My advice to Tony Blair andMilitant is to lie back and think of London.
