标题: 2022.04.29 阿拉斯泰尔-坎贝尔的当今政治原则 [打印本页] 作者: shiyi18 时间: 2022-5-1 08:40 标题: 2022.04.29 阿拉斯泰尔-坎贝尔的当今政治原则 By Invitation | British politics
Alastair Campbell’s principles for politics today
The former media chief writes 25 years after Tony Blair’s first victory
Apr 29th 2022 (Updated Apr 29th 2022)
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NEW LABOUR, and all who sailed in it, can take some satisfaction from the fact that most politically engaged people of all ages can recall the date when it went from campaign mode to government mode: May 1st 1997. It was an important moment, and is still seen as such. A quarter of a century is a very long time in politics, as Harold Wilson didn’t say.
When Tories toured television studios recently to list the achievements of Boris Johnson’s first 1,000 days as prime minister, the sum total of their talking points appeared to be getting Brexit done, the world’s best roll-out of covid-19 vaccines and leading the international response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Yet all three are up for debate.
I have a long list of New Labour’s achievements which I happily recite at public meetings when I am challenged either by Conservatives or New Labour’s opponents inside the party over the three terms secured under Tony Blair’s leadership. By the end of his first 1,000 days in office, among many other things, the government he led had made the Bank of England independent, introduced a minimum wage, cut youth and long-term unemployment, created the Scottish Parliament, begun the spending and reform process that led to smaller class sizes in schools and shorter NHS waiting times, helped reverse ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and negotiated the Good Friday Agreement to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
I have a whole lot more achievements to list when someone shouts “what about Iraq?” It’s a fair question, the invasion and its aftermath forming an important part of the Blair record, but the many acts of progress and advance delivered in the 13 years of New Labour are a good part of the answer. Judge governments in the round.
More important than arguing about the past, however, or even comparing the Blair record with that of David Cameron, Theresa May and Mr Johnson, is whether there are any positive lessons to learn from New Labour for the present and the future. I believe there are, not least the enduring principles of our approach, rooted in an understanding and respect of human beings and democratic institutions. Some are focused on internal party workings, others on voter-facing political strategy and delivery in government. You need to do all of them well to win elections, and keep winning them.
1. Be obsessed about winning. You achieve very little change to people’s lives from permanent opposition. Labour lost the four general elections before Mr Blair won, and has lost four more since. We never believed, no matter how badly the Major government was doing, that “governments lose elections”. The opposition has to win them. That framed a mindset that was constantly looking to improve, constantly fearing defeat, and that acted accordingly.
2. Have a vision, a clearly defined strategy and most importantly have a plan that flows from both. People are less likely to jump ship if it's moving steadily and the destination is clear; people are more likely to join if they see that steady progress too. “New Labour, New Britain” was more than merely the slogan we plastered on conference backdrops and campaign leaflets. It encapsulated our entire strategy: a changed Labour Party seeking permission to change the country, with a relentless focus on modernisation. In government we maintained the determination to deliver on promises made.
3. Lean into the future, don’t fear it or ignore its trends. That is what the changed party constitution was all about. We also changed the approach on the economy, not merely through the Bank of England’s independence, but through tough rules on tax and spending. We changed attitudes on issues as varied as devolution, public-service reform and crime, with the “tough on crime” message every bit as important as the more traditionally Labour “tough on the causes of crime”.
4. Meet voters and their concerns where they are, and then take them with you to create progress. Don’t wait for them to come to you. This is not about being driven by polling and focus groups, helpful though they can be. It is about ensuring you fully understand the reality of public opinion, which is rarely the same as media opinion, and that your strategy and ideas are not too far removed from it. For all the passion he exhibited and inspired, this is something Jeremy Corbyn did not manage, not least because on defence and security issues, for example, he never countered or conquered fears about where his heart lay on major strategic issues.
5. Make a virtue of debate and participate actively and enthusiastically in the exchange of ideas. Never stop stress-testing your arguments and your policies. The relentless and often rancorous debate between the major figures in New Labour could be draining, and brutal at times. But, especially in the early years, it led to positions and policies we were better able to defend. And though we could doubtless have done it better, for example in the various stages of public-sector reform, when too often those at the front line felt they were not fully consulted, involving outside voices in policy development made for better policy too.
6. There is no such thing as campaigning without policy, or policy without campaigning, and communication matters. This may sound obvious, but if I look at both main parties today, I am not sure they fully grasp this. For the Tories, campaigning still seems to take precedence over the feasibility of their policies. As for Labour, its MPs keep telling me they have lots of policies, but the public don’t know what they are. And you can’t blame the public for that. Though a biased and trivialising media is a massive barrier, you can’t blame journalists either. Labour has to communicate relentlessly about the difference it would make. The different policies. The different values. The different approach.
7. The public decides the important questions of the day, not politicians: don’t waste time trying to change the question, focus instead on getting the right answer that wins support whilst also reflecting your values. Perhaps our reluctance always to do this led us to be slow to understand just how big an issue immigration was becoming. This is highly relevant to the so-called culture wars today. Though the Tories and their media supporters exaggerate the need for a “war on woke”, related issues do cause concern among many people. Labour needs to show it understands those concerns, even while accusing the Tories of exploiting them rather than addressing them. Similarly, on Brexit, to have both the government and the opposition seemingly avoid serious debate about its problems and challenges, strikes many as bizarre in the extreme. Real problems require real debate, and solutions.
8. The past can be a guide to the future but you'll rarely find solutions to today's problems in yesterday's ideological textbooks. Mr Blair read voraciously about the history of attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, but he was concerned as much to study what failed and why. He knew that to make progress, discussions must be founded on a new approach and new ideas, albeit rooted in principle and history.
9. Govern for the benefit of the whole nation, not just the parts that vote for you, and exercise this commitment in opposition too. Mr Johnson fails to do this and, alongside his dishonesty, I think it could lead to his undoing.
10. Understand that politics is not a standalone operation or an academic exercise—it is society, it is culture, and local as well as national and international concerns. Political parties and leaders need to reflect and reach across all of that. Most people do not identify themselves as being “political”. It is a challenge to persuade them to make the link between their own lives and the political process. That is where a determination to try to live your politics “outside the bubble” becomes important. Of course Westminster and Whitehall are at the heart of our politics. But politicians should get out of there as often as they can, and speak the language of people and communities, not political process and intrigue.
11. Money alone will not deliver improvement to public services. It has to be matched by reform and innovation. This is especially important given the public are largely oblivious to the huge sums talked about in government. Especially when times are tough in their own lives, people become rightly offended when they see waste in government spending.
12. Words alone will not bring about what you promise. It is about the delivery. The words are easy. Delivery is hard. The Number 10 “delivery unit” under Michael Barber was a hugely important initiative, and the processes to track progress helped to deliver on our policy objectives. It was a huge mistake for Mr Cameron to scrap it, in my view. Getting rid of things that were “not invented here” is one of the worst aspects of our system.
Fond though I am of our leaders and team, and proud of all we achieved, I am not calling for a “return” to New Labour. Britain in 2022, and the world in 2022, are very different to Britain and the world of 1997. New leaders and teams have to find new ideas to meet the challenges of today, in a very different political world, defined in all too many places, including Britain right now, by the three Ps that help form the foundations of autocracy, namely populism, polarisation and post-truth.
Our values and principles are more important than ever, precisely because of the scale of threat now faced by liberal democracy. I believe they are relevant, whether for Keir Starmer leading Labour now, or indeed for whoever succeeds Mr Johnson as Tory leader and seeks to restore some basic professionalism, seriousness and honesty to the public realm. We need to hold firm to our principles, but apply them to the modern world.
Alastair Campbell is a political strategist, author and journalist. He co-hosts the podcast “The Rest is Politics”.
