Daniel Chandler aims to bring new values to British politics – so how will that work out?

As this country stumbles towards a Labour victory at the next election, the mood on the left remains subdued. The problem is not Keir Starmer’s personal charisma, achingly absent though that may be. No, it lies much deeper than that, in what Tony Benn liked to call the ishoos. The cry goes up from focus groups across the land: what does Labour really stand for? What are its Big Ideas? Does anyone know?

Well, perhaps they will quite soon. Step forward Daniel Chandler, a Cambridge-educated policy adviser and think-tanker who is now completing a doctorate at the LSE. The pre-publicity for his new book, with glowing eulogies from Thomas Piketty, Amartya Sen, Rowan Williams and other grandees, plus those well-known political theorists Zadie Smith and Stephen Fry, suggests that (a) he is very well connected; (b) this is a truly compelling work; (c) the psychology of wish-fulfilment has turned this book into an answer to a prayer. Answers: (a) don’t know; (b) not really; (c) very probably.

At one level, Free and Equal does read like a grand programme of policy proposals, or perhaps a job application for senior policy adviser at Labour HQ. Chandler traverses a range of political, economic and social issues, suggesting one reform or innovation after another. The manner in which he does this is impressive; he writes with great clarity, avoiding wonkish jargon, and his prolific end-notes show that he has processed huge amounts of academic analysis, albeit the sort of analysis that tends to support his argument.

Many of these policy proposals are familiar ones, and the reasons in their favour are mostly familiar too; the standard reasons against them are treated more summarily, or sometimes not at all. Chandler explains, for example, that we need a written constitution to protect our liberties.