Few Labour MPs had expected Margaret Beckett’s report into the 2015 election loss to be the thing that saved the party. But they had hoped that it might give the current leadership pause for thought with a reasonable distance before the next election. Instead, much like an IMF report, the document contained something for everyone, with its author even describing it as a ‘compilation’ when interviewed about it on Today.
What is odd about the report and about Beckett’s own tone is that both don’t really convey what many Labour MPs believe is the desperation of the situation. This might be because the party leadership doesn’t think there’s anything desperate about a party signing up many more members and most of those members being happy. But given that buried within the pages of Beckett’s analysis is the acknowledgement that Labour under Miliband lost votes to or failed to regain voters from left and right, it’s odd that the whole thing has a time of weary resignation, rather than urgency.
This may be because all those Labour MPs who did want to act with some urgency to change the direction and leadership of the party are now realising that they are stuck waiting for the long haul, probably at least until after the 2020 election, before the two most powerful groups, the membership and the leadership, also get that sense of urgency about winning again. Which means that Beckett might as well start on the Learning the Lessons report for the next election now.
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