There’s never been a better time to join Labour

10 June 2009

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The big story of the European elections was the failure of the Lib Dems, says Ross Clark. Aspiring young politicians should sign up to Labour now with a view to running the country

Labour had a good night on Sunday. Not Gordon Brown, not Ed Balls, not the Milibands, nor any other of the other ministers who will have been bundled out of office within the next 12 months. They are, of course, doomed. For them ahead lies nothing but months of humiliation, followed, for many of them, by unemployment. But for the Labour party as an institution it is another matter. In spite of suffering an even heavier drubbing in the local and European elections than had been predicted, the Labour party on Sunday ensured its survival and recovery to power some time in the 2020s. I am so sure of this that I would advise anyone in their twenties who is contemplating a political career to join up at once. Given that Labour asks under-27s to pay a subscription of only £1 a year, booking your place in a future cabinet now will only cost you the price of a coffee.

I know it might seem a little perverse to talk up the Labour party in this week of all weeks. As Daniel Finkelstein quipped on the BBC coverage of the Euro elections, the biggest winner of the night was Michael Foot: Gordon Brown has managed to make the former leader’s performance in the 1983 general election look good. But amid the carnage of Labour’s European and local elections, and the triumph of two BNP candidates as MEPs, most pundits missed the biggest story of the evening: the complete and utter failure of the Liberal Democrats.

You can still watch Nick Clegg on YouTube, grinning from ear to ear, saying he was ‘absolutely delighted, thrilled’ that his party had won the modest prize of Bristol City Council. Yet unless the height of his ambitions really is organising wheelie-bin collections on the Avon, he must know his party’s performance was dire. Last week there was serious speculation that Labour would lose its position as the second party, and that the Liberal Democrats might squeak through into second place in the general election to become Her Majesty’s Opposition. On Sunday Labour did fall into third place, but to Ukip. The Lib Dems not only failed to capitalise on the government’s deep unpopularity, they actually went backwards. Their share of the vote in the European elections fell from 14.9 per cent in 2004 to 13.7 per cent. In the local elections they lost control of Devon and Cornwall. Given that the Lib Dems have been relatively lightly affected by the MPs’ expenses scandal, it is incredible that they could not make substantial ground on Labour’s right flank, from the many voters disillusioned with Labour but who could never bring themselves to vote Tory.

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Daragh Nugent

June 11th, 2009 12:56pm Report this comment

Court editors of newspapers, conservative or otherwise?
Will there be any left in 2016?

Richard Manns

June 11th, 2009 5:55pm Report this comment

I have to say that, given that your new "parliamentary cycle" prediction has yet to complete one revolution, and little in parliamentary history suggests a stable long-term pattern, your ideas seem to be on shaky ground!

Carol-Ann

June 11th, 2009 10:49pm Report this comment

I think the Blair quote you were looking for was:

"Never underestimate the Conservatives and never overestimate the Liberal Democrats"

He was right then and it still holds true now!

Johnny

June 11th, 2009 10:50pm Report this comment

Reading this article I came across more proof, if any were needed, that Blair was really a Tory.

Mark Adrian Solomon

June 12th, 2009 11:48pm Report this comment

The Liberal Democrats failed as ever to capitalise on disillusion on the Labour right because over the Blair years the LibDems have worked their way over to the left of the Labour party on policy issues so won't get any 'right-wing' Labour voters. And for those on the Left, the Labour brand has image and loyalty, and they remember it was not so long ago the LibDems were trying to convince everyone they were going to replace the Conservative party.

Basically since 1918 the Liberals have no further relevance to British political life except as a repository for protest votes and those pathologically against ever being on a winning team. There are only two ways to organise society in the modern world, the only thing to argue about is the balance and how far down the road one goes in any one direction. A party without a grounding ideology, like the LibDems, can NEVER have any relevance.

Also, their people tend to be too serious, holier than thou goody two shoes, too keen to censure others, and with a narrower class basis than either the Tories or Labour - never an attractive election-winning combination!

Richard

June 13th, 2009 11:44am Report this comment

The BNP is not far-right. It is left-wing.

They have no right-wing policies, they are all about nationalisation, workers, protectionism, statism. These are left-wing policies. Their racism is nothing to do with the right. There is as much racism ont he left as the right, if not more.

john problem

June 25th, 2009 6:56pm Report this comment

I dunno. Is there good money in it or is there better in being a banker or working at the BBC? I tell you, I've got my degree in PPE, my year at Harvud, done my gap year at MacDonalds and I still haven't decided. No, I think it will be the City - no controls even after the economic drought, whereas the MPs are cutting back (OK, only a bit, but...) and the BBC will get hammered by the public and the media. Could try the Euro Parliament, of course. That won't get changed by public opinion and the money's better. Still, it's abroad, isn't it, and I'd rather be in a Georgian box with a zillion acres, the Opera and the Ivy, and the good old British public that never demonstrates in the streets except for killing foxes. All round, it's safer.

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