Disappointing article by Andrew Harrop on the Fabian Society website.
Discussing One Nation Milibandism he tells us:
"One Nation provides not just intellectual synthesis for the left. It challenges the practice of our politics too. The One Nation trope brilliantly positions Labour on the side of the small businessman as well as the public sector worker; and against sectional interests in favour of the national interest. In this Ed achieved something Tony Blair never managed, by defining himself as ‘for’ the whole nation, and the private sector in particular, without being ‘against’ the unions and public sector workers."
As the left, post-Callaghan, became a coalition of sectional interests it is unclear how the new One Nation policy is going to achieve "synthesis" of these often competing interests.
If this means the Shadow Cabinet is going to put national interests before the sectional interests of their supporters this is going to make for an combative next two years.
There have been One Nation leaders of the Labour Party in the past - Ramsey McDonald and Clement Attlee come to mind.
But is it possible that the current Labour leadership will have the strength of character and resilience to confront and face down sectional lobbies and put the nation first?
And implicit in the concept of One Nation is an acceptance that the nation is the organising unit of society. Not the working class, not the unionised public sector, not multi-cultural communities, but the nation. Lefties such as Owen Jones, Zoe Williams, Diane Abbott (and many others) are not going to like this!
http://www.fabians.org.uk/the-many-layers-of-one-nation-labour/
Discussing One Nation Milibandism he tells us:
"One Nation provides not just intellectual synthesis for the left. It challenges the practice of our politics too. The One Nation trope brilliantly positions Labour on the side of the small businessman as well as the public sector worker; and against sectional interests in favour of the national interest. In this Ed achieved something Tony Blair never managed, by defining himself as ‘for’ the whole nation, and the private sector in particular, without being ‘against’ the unions and public sector workers."
As the left, post-Callaghan, became a coalition of sectional interests it is unclear how the new One Nation policy is going to achieve "synthesis" of these often competing interests.
If this means the Shadow Cabinet is going to put national interests before the sectional interests of their supporters this is going to make for an combative next two years.
There have been One Nation leaders of the Labour Party in the past - Ramsey McDonald and Clement Attlee come to mind.
But is it possible that the current Labour leadership will have the strength of character and resilience to confront and face down sectional lobbies and put the nation first?
And implicit in the concept of One Nation is an acceptance that the nation is the organising unit of society. Not the working class, not the unionised public sector, not multi-cultural communities, but the nation. Lefties such as Owen Jones, Zoe Williams, Diane Abbott (and many others) are not going to like this!
http://www.fabians.org.uk/the-many-layers-of-one-nation-labour/
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