On Saturday Ed Miliband set out plans for union reform, the latest in a series of initiatives that some claim add up to a coherent and original philosophy
"This man, our leader, has put his head on the block. Now it is time to vote. Give us a little trust!"
September 1993 in Brighton: Labour was terribly split over union reforms. John Smith's leadership was on the line. The only thing for it was to let loose John Prescott – former seaman and union man – to make a desperate last-ditch call for unity.
His rousing speech to party delegates – so emotional that it was almost incomprehensible – saved Smith. The vote for one-member-one-vote in the selection of parliamentary candidates was narrowly won. But a party that Tony Blair always said had a tendency to delight in division, and seemed sometimes more suited to opposition, had come close to breaking point.
On Saturday Ed Miliband, a less commanding figure in the party than Smith was in 1993, spelled out plans to extend the one-member-one-vote principle far wider across the party, weakening the unions' collective power, while creating new types of registered supporters and affiliated members. In its range and sweep, the package made the Smith reforms seem incremental.
Yet hardly a note of serious Labour discord has been sounded. Len McCluskey, leader of the super-union Unite, is said to be unhappy about parts of the reforms but it would be odd if he wasn't and has so far kept his counsel. But in the main, a set of changes that Miliband says are among the biggest in party history have been met with an unLabour-like outbreak of unity.
By contrast, the Conservative party, which should have enjoyed a week of uninterrupted celebration, has blown its moment. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the economy growing by 1.9% in 2013, its strongest rate since 2007. At prime minister's questions last Wednesday, David Cameron said at one point that there was so much "good news" that he did not know where to begin. Two opinion polls had showed Labour's lead down to 2% and 3% respectively.
Yet for the next two days the Tories were the ones tearing themselves apart, over the linked issues of Europe and immigration. Former party leader Michael Howard was prompted to warn of the disastrous consequences of division: "We are now 15 months away from a general election, and as we know from past history, elections don't favour parties that are divided. What is needed is a degree of self-discipline from Conservative backbenchers."
But his plea came to nothing as 85 Tories prepared to defy Cameron by voting for an amendment to the immigration bill to stop foreign prisoners appealing against deportation on human rights grounds.
After a farcical series of twists and turns by Downing Street, Tory commentators joined Howard in their despair. Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that "the left has found its love of discipline again, just when the Tories seem to have lost it". The Tory rebels on Europe and immigration were the toast of the Labour party and Miliband's "single best chance of success."
Meanwhile, Ukip – at 17% in today's Opinium/Observer poll – is making hay. Tory MPs say privately that they are putting pressure on Cameron to pull the anti-EU levers ever harder because they are afraid of what Ukip will do to them in their constituencies at the general election if they don't. As the economy improves, the Tories seem unable to reap the dividends.
Labour knows that, with the economy mending, the party faces a huge challenge. Its narrow lead over the Tories hardly breeds confidence and Miliband's personal ratings remain dire. His union reforms are not yet a done deal, and they threaten the party's income stream in a way no one can predict. Our Opinium poll puts Labour on only 36%, seven points ahead of the Tories. That is far from comfortable. And the fact that Cameron and George Osborne remain far more trusted on the economy than the two Eds (Miliband and Balls) is a problem that may be impossible to solve.
But the size of Labour's challenge – and the fact that it is willing to experiment with new ideas and new thinking – is beginning to foster togetherness around the Miliband project.
"It is the recognition of the scale of what we have to do with a really new agenda which is focusing minds," says a shadow cabinet member. "There is greater discipline. Things are starting to happen. We've grown up as a party."
In one of his first interviews as leader, Miliband said that those devising new policies were starting with a "blank piece of paper". Now some of the blank spaces are being filled in. As well as Miliband's focus on the cost of living, individual policy announcements – from freezing energy bills to splitting up the banks, forcing developers to build on land and restoring the 50p tax rate – have begun to flesh out the offering. The union reforms are another piece of the jigsaw.
Team Miliband says there is now real intellectual energy in the party, a sense that their vision for a post-crash economy (not anti-business, just anti business-as-usual) is beginning to coalesce into a coherent, radical message. It may not please some on the party's right who want more to be done to court middle ground voters but, in an age of disillusionment with politicians, it is different.
Those who argue that Miliband has abandoned the centre ground say this is to miss the point. His message, they argue, is about reforming a system that failed, not ditching the system itself. Many more ideas will be coming through before a policy conference in July in Milton Keynes. "We are awash with gurus and books and new thinking," says a member of the inner circle.
Today Prescott, in his column for the Sunday Mirror, again calls for unity over union reform, writing under the headline, "Our leader has put his Ed on the block." It is a playful reference to past battles with the unions – ones he hopes the current leader will successfully consign to history.
• What is Milibandism: the texts, the thinkers, the activists Reported by guardian.co.uk 52 minutes ago.
"This man, our leader, has put his head on the block. Now it is time to vote. Give us a little trust!"
September 1993 in Brighton: Labour was terribly split over union reforms. John Smith's leadership was on the line. The only thing for it was to let loose John Prescott – former seaman and union man – to make a desperate last-ditch call for unity.
His rousing speech to party delegates – so emotional that it was almost incomprehensible – saved Smith. The vote for one-member-one-vote in the selection of parliamentary candidates was narrowly won. But a party that Tony Blair always said had a tendency to delight in division, and seemed sometimes more suited to opposition, had come close to breaking point.
On Saturday Ed Miliband, a less commanding figure in the party than Smith was in 1993, spelled out plans to extend the one-member-one-vote principle far wider across the party, weakening the unions' collective power, while creating new types of registered supporters and affiliated members. In its range and sweep, the package made the Smith reforms seem incremental.
Yet hardly a note of serious Labour discord has been sounded. Len McCluskey, leader of the super-union Unite, is said to be unhappy about parts of the reforms but it would be odd if he wasn't and has so far kept his counsel. But in the main, a set of changes that Miliband says are among the biggest in party history have been met with an unLabour-like outbreak of unity.
By contrast, the Conservative party, which should have enjoyed a week of uninterrupted celebration, has blown its moment. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the economy growing by 1.9% in 2013, its strongest rate since 2007. At prime minister's questions last Wednesday, David Cameron said at one point that there was so much "good news" that he did not know where to begin. Two opinion polls had showed Labour's lead down to 2% and 3% respectively.
Yet for the next two days the Tories were the ones tearing themselves apart, over the linked issues of Europe and immigration. Former party leader Michael Howard was prompted to warn of the disastrous consequences of division: "We are now 15 months away from a general election, and as we know from past history, elections don't favour parties that are divided. What is needed is a degree of self-discipline from Conservative backbenchers."
But his plea came to nothing as 85 Tories prepared to defy Cameron by voting for an amendment to the immigration bill to stop foreign prisoners appealing against deportation on human rights grounds.
After a farcical series of twists and turns by Downing Street, Tory commentators joined Howard in their despair. Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that "the left has found its love of discipline again, just when the Tories seem to have lost it". The Tory rebels on Europe and immigration were the toast of the Labour party and Miliband's "single best chance of success."
Meanwhile, Ukip – at 17% in today's Opinium/Observer poll – is making hay. Tory MPs say privately that they are putting pressure on Cameron to pull the anti-EU levers ever harder because they are afraid of what Ukip will do to them in their constituencies at the general election if they don't. As the economy improves, the Tories seem unable to reap the dividends.
Labour knows that, with the economy mending, the party faces a huge challenge. Its narrow lead over the Tories hardly breeds confidence and Miliband's personal ratings remain dire. His union reforms are not yet a done deal, and they threaten the party's income stream in a way no one can predict. Our Opinium poll puts Labour on only 36%, seven points ahead of the Tories. That is far from comfortable. And the fact that Cameron and George Osborne remain far more trusted on the economy than the two Eds (Miliband and Balls) is a problem that may be impossible to solve.
But the size of Labour's challenge – and the fact that it is willing to experiment with new ideas and new thinking – is beginning to foster togetherness around the Miliband project.
"It is the recognition of the scale of what we have to do with a really new agenda which is focusing minds," says a shadow cabinet member. "There is greater discipline. Things are starting to happen. We've grown up as a party."
In one of his first interviews as leader, Miliband said that those devising new policies were starting with a "blank piece of paper". Now some of the blank spaces are being filled in. As well as Miliband's focus on the cost of living, individual policy announcements – from freezing energy bills to splitting up the banks, forcing developers to build on land and restoring the 50p tax rate – have begun to flesh out the offering. The union reforms are another piece of the jigsaw.
Team Miliband says there is now real intellectual energy in the party, a sense that their vision for a post-crash economy (not anti-business, just anti business-as-usual) is beginning to coalesce into a coherent, radical message. It may not please some on the party's right who want more to be done to court middle ground voters but, in an age of disillusionment with politicians, it is different.
Those who argue that Miliband has abandoned the centre ground say this is to miss the point. His message, they argue, is about reforming a system that failed, not ditching the system itself. Many more ideas will be coming through before a policy conference in July in Milton Keynes. "We are awash with gurus and books and new thinking," says a member of the inner circle.
Today Prescott, in his column for the Sunday Mirror, again calls for unity over union reform, writing under the headline, "Our leader has put his Ed on the block." It is a playful reference to past battles with the unions – ones he hopes the current leader will successfully consign to history.
• What is Milibandism: the texts, the thinkers, the activists Reported by guardian.co.uk 52 minutes ago.