Labour Together, which describes itself as a network of activists from all traditions, is setting up a commission to “map out a route back to power”. It will give a considerable role to defeated 2015 leader Ed Milliband who famously knifed his brother in the back to take over the leadership of the party.
Labour Together’s commissioners intend to:
- Interview all 59 MPs who lost their seats this month, as well as defeated candidates in target seats
- Analyse election data
- Ask organisers, councillors and activists what went right and wrong
- Survey members
The review will be spearheaded by Lucy Powell, who ran Ed Miliband’s 2015 election campaign.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, she said there was “a real appetite” for Labour members of all traditions to come together and analyse what has changed.
“I think retreating into a factional-based analysis would be the worst thing we could do at this juncture,” she said.
The Labour coalition has fundamentally changed over the last 20 years.
“Unless we properly reflect on that, then whoever is leader next won’t be able to deal with it.”
Other confirmed commissars include Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood, Jo Platt, who lost her seat in the former stronghold of Leigh, Greater Manchester, Sienna Rodgers, editor of the news website LabourList, and James Meadway, former economic adviser to shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
The panel is also set to recruit a trade union representative and a local organiser.
Labour last won a General Election in 2005 with their former leader Tony Blair launching a scathing attack on the direction of the party. Blair said last week that the “takeover of the Labour Party by the far left” had “turned it into a glorified protest movement, with cult trimmings, utterly incapable of being a credible government”.
Many MPs who lost their seat blame Mr Corbyn’s unpopularity with voters.
Mr Corbyn says Labour “won the argument” but blamed the media and the fact that the campaign was dominated by Brexit, rather than Labour’s plans to boost public spending.
But internal opponents of Mr Corbyn say the party must ditch his left-wing policy agenda to stand any chance of regaining power.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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