27.09.2006

Build support for McDonnell

As the Labour Party conference comes to an end, Graham Bash of Labour Left Briefing calls for the leadership contest to be linked to the fight for a fundamental change of direction

The Labour conference started as a very low-key affair. However, it ended on a high note with a tremendous victory over NHS privatisation and an excellent, packed Labour Representation Committee fringe meeting, in which leadership candidate John McDonnell made the speech of his life.

There were more constituency motions ruled out of order than allowed and - scandalously - all the motions on the leadership and on the renewal of Trident were barred from reaching conference floor.

The most controversial subjects were therefore not discussed and were relegated to the fringe. The one constituency resolution that managed to scrape by the censors was on direct investment in council housing - what is commonly called the fourth option. The resolution was passed on a card vote. However, an NEC statement that in effect shunts the whole issue off to a sub-committee of a policy commission undermined this.

The trade unions did, though, win their usual victories against the platform. The GMB motion on pensions opposed government plans to increase the retirement age to 68 and called for the pension link with earnings to be restored earlier than the 2012 official target. The Amicus motion on rights at work, which resolved to extend protection to agency workers, was also passed. A resolution from Unison opposing further health privatisations was overwhelmingly passed against the recommendation of the platform, while a TGWU motion arguing for the extension of corporate liability to enable prosecution of individual directors made a similar impact.

On balance, though, the union motions were slightly more limited in their opposition than in previous years. But the guts had actually already been torn out of conference once the constituency resolutions on the leadership and on Trident were ruled out of order.

This was Blair's last appearance as leader. There has been a lot of concentration on the Brown-Blair relationship which ignores the real truth that on the fundamentals, they were the co-architects of New Labour and that there are no basic policy divisions between them. The crucial task is to ensure that there is not a coronation of Brown or, indeed, any other New Labour successor, but a real choice for the movement. So, while the conference paid its respects to Blair on his farewell, there is a groundswell of opinion against some of the key planks of New Labour's policies - that is, the movement against the imperialist adventures in the Middle East and the appalling refusal to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon, on the one hand, and, on the other, the opposition to further privatisations, especially in the health service.

The task is to ensure that the feelings of many sections of the movement on these issues are translated into a leadership challenge. That means backing the candidacy of John McDonnell. John spoke at meeting after meeting, hour after hour, continuing the task of building support in all three sections of the movement - the trade unions, the constituency parties and among the MPs.

The question, of course, is whether he will be able to get on the ballot paper. For that he needs 44 Labour MPs to nominate him. It still seems likely that there will be no immediate leadership contest and he therefore has several more months. John's challenge is one designed to build from the grassroots up, where he undoubtedly has growing support. That, in turn, is starting to put pressure on members of the parliamentary party - a number were certainly made to feel a little uncomfortable at various fringe meetings during the week about their failure to support John. But there is still time and a lot of work to be done.

Perhaps an encouraging straw in the wind is that one non-Campaign Group MP - David Drew - came out in support of John at conference. Now we need more. What is clear to me is that if John can get on the ballot paper, he could get a surprisingly high vote, especially in the trade union section.

The main task is clearly to fight for a fundamental change of political direction. But for this to have any real effect, it has to be linked to a fight for a particular leadership candidate: John McDonnell is the only candidate that the left can support. There are no others who have not been implicated in some way in New Labour's stranglehold on the party.

The best scenario for the left would be a straight Brown versus McDonnell run-off. But, whoever is the main standard-bearer for New Labour, although I think it is going to be Brown, the fact is that the failure to mount any sort of challenge from the left would be a disaster. Therefore, it does not really matter who New Labour stands - that person must be challenged.

Of course, it was incredibly enjoyable to watch Brown's carefully sculpted speech being creamed by Cherie Blair's indiscretions, but that was just a sideshow. The important thing is not just to see Brown's ambitions thwarted, but to see the brand of politics he and his kind represent annihilated.