Miliband’s Message: Neoliberalism is Dead. But What Comes Next?

I know one isn’t supposed to say this but there was an idea somewhere in the middle of Ed Miliband’s confused speech to the Labour party conference. Unfortunately it was smothered by 4000 words of contradictory waffling that, accompanied by Miliband’s desperate delivery, made the whole thing almost unbearable. If the Labour leader lacks presence that can’t be helped, but nor was he assisted by the tired format of these conference addresses. That is something he could have done something about, so to speak.

And the idea was simple: the neoliberal age has ended. He could, even should, have been clearer about this. Had he been so, his speech would have been more coherent and, for that matter, gracious. It would have allowed him to praise the best parts of the Thatcher-Blair era before arguing that the problems rightly addressed in the 1980s and 1990s are not the problems that face Britain now. Instead, however, he said this:

With such great people, how have we ended up with the problems we face? It’s because of the way we have chosen to run our country. Not just for a year or so but for decades.

Really? Why did he then praise so many policies pursued by both Conservative and Labour governments these past 30 years? Elementary standards of speech-structuring demand you praise past achievements first and then move on to the bit about why the time has come to “move on” since what was appropriate then is no longer fit to answer the next set of challenges. Indeed, you could also say that some of the problems we face are at least in part the unforeseen consequences of past successes. That means a new course is needed to rebalance the ship of state.

That would make for a Big Picture type of speech that is, perhaps, ill-suited to the conventions of the party conference address. But it would have had the virtue of making some kind of sense. And it is, I think, where Miliband would like to go. That said, there’s the beginning of something here though one also suspects that even if Labour are finding their message they’ve not found the right man to deliver it.

Nevertheless, if this is an Age of Austerity it is also an Age of Anxiety. Miliband is surely correct to note the pensive uncertainty of the times. He might have made more of this, arguing that even as unemployment remains stubbornly high, inflation is returning and business brio remains dangerously-low. All of these sap confidence and foster anxiety. Which is why he’s not wholly daft – tactically speaking – to play on envy and resentment: of the untouched wealthy on the one hand and the undeserving welfare-dependent on the other. This is not, to be sure, an especially pleasant brand of politics but it’s not necessarily a stupid one either.

But again, Miliband lacked the courage of his convictions. Perhaps he’s aware of his own limitations, appreciating that he’s ill-suited to lead a bombastic, populist People Against the Powerful crusade. But that’s the logic of his speech, I think. Then again, it’s also clear that, in the shadow of the eurozone crisis, Miliband has little idea of what should replace his (inadequate) diagnosis of neoliberalism’s (alleged) failures or excesses.

That became evident in his attempt to divide businesses into two camps marked “Good” and “Bad”. This was not, again, a sensible suggestion not least since in a speech short on specifics anything that looks like an even half-formed proposal is bound to be subjectd to some, perhaps even excessive, scrutiny.

That’s the trouble, however. Miliband’s attempt to portray himself as an “outsider” was transparently ridiculous. So too, to mention one of many examples, his desire to distance himself from the energy companies whose brief he oversaw as, yes, Secretary of State for Energy. It’s tough to reject the past 15 years when you were there at the heart of government. Perhaps that’s why, despite everything, Miliband couldn’t quite make a clean break. He remains tainted by his own past associations.

Overall, the logic of Miliband’s argument, I think, pulls him to the left; his suspicion that the electorate aren’t super-comfortable with a rush to the left pulls him back, not just to the centre, but compels him to accept a large part of the Conservative critique of the Blair-Brown years. The result is a mush of blather and waffle and twaddle that leaves no-one thinking This Man Could Be Prime Minister.

Even if Miliband is right to think that neoliberalism is yesterday’s business he’s only half-way there. He’s not yet said what he thinks comes after the End of History. Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t know. Few of the alternatives seem especially attractive. These are not problems confined to these islands, of course, but if Miliband is determined to reject liberalism then he needs to find some answers from somewhere and he needs to do it soon. What is his alternative? We still don’t know.