We learned on Thursday that 62 Labour MPs have signed a letter to Keir Starmer, urging him to help create new opportunities for British young people to work and travel in Europe. A small ray of hope, perhaps, and all the smaller and dimmer when we realise that 341 MPs perhaps didn’t.
They were the Labour MPs who didn’t sign the letter. Was this an oversight on their part? Were 341 MPs busy on committee work when the letter was circulated? Were they all washing their hair at the time? Or were all 341 keeping their heads down? Pecksniff has written at the time of the election with optimism and approval of the difference that so many new MPs would make to the culture not only of the Commons but of the parliamentary Labour Party. But that spirit of optimism seems to have been misplaced.
Of the 62, only two so far from this region are known to be signatories: Andrew Lewin (Welwyn and Hatfield) who promoted the letter, and Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford). The full list is not known yet.
With these and some other honourable exceptions, it seems Labour’s new MPs may have been born into captivity. The party’s bully-boy tactics have worked again. So while 62 MPs plaintively request even the flimsiest acceptance of the EU, Rachel Reeves can only repeat her usual grudging dogma on the government’s red lines.
So what of that other 341? Did they not believe they were elected as MPs to fight far right populism, rather than give them credibility? As they look back on that first exhilarating day in Parliament, did they believe then they would be asked by Morgan McSweeney effectively to pimp for the xenophobic views of Reform?
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So one of our Labour MPs who we can proudly hoist on our shoulders is Andrew Lewin (Welwyn Hatfield), who not only promoted the letter to the prime minister about a youth mobility scheme (above) but also instigated a debate yesterday on our trading relationship with the EU. It was only a Westminster Hall debate, so there was no vote. It was an occasion to exchange views and to remind the government that supporters of EU membership are not going away. Mr Lewin introduced the debate, and others among our MPs who spoke were Ben Goldsborough (S Norfolk) and Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) – all Labour.
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Labour’s bizarre terror of the Reform bogeyman is causing acute frustration among voters of the centre left. But the party’s reluctance to fight for its traditional causes is only part of the wealth of disillusionment. It is difficult to see Labour as being the champion of the liberal cause anymore.
While Yvette Cooper publishes lists of foreign criminals by their nationality, presumably so Reform supporters can argue in the pub about which foreigners to hate most, the Greens are on the march. Politico features Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley), joint Greens leader, and quotes an unnamed Labour MP:
“The Greens have the potential to be a real threat,” he says, going on to declare that Labour is heading for a “crash course collision” with many of the people who voted for it at the last election.
There is also an interesting observation from John McTernan, former Blair strategist, who tells Politico: “Labour sits in a very exposed position in a country that has repeatedly voted for change for the last decade. Rather than chase one bit of its coalition support, Labour needs to deliver change to every single part of the country that voted for it, and create a new coalition of voters to support it for the next election.”
That point about creating a new coalition is key, yet is apparently lost on Labour’s leadership. In politics, victory goes to the party which controls the narrative. Labour’s chief strategist is Morgan McSweeney, and he is not only not seeking to impose a new Labour narrative, but deliberately choosing to contribute to the story that Reform want to tell.
Dear reader, let us hope he knows far more about politics and how to influence people than your humble diarist.
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There was a small and mostly unnoticed council by-election in Ipswich on Thursday, but the result could be hugely significant to this debate. It was in St John’s ward, already held by Labour, whose candidate Adele Cook kept the seat with 600 votes. The first surprise was the turn-out: 30% – at first glance miserable, but these days unusually high for a local by-election. It suggested the parties had been throwing some welly at it.
The second surprise was that in second place came Green candidate Adria Pittock with 458. Third were Reform (442), Liberal Democrats next (323) and Tories last (318). (If you know the LibDems’ history in Ipswich you’ll realise that second from bottom would have occasioned high fives.)
But until now, the only sign of a Green in Ipswich has been a name on a ballot paper. This time they worked at it, and second place will be seen as a triumph.
The killer facts though are hidden in the small print. Canvassing returns show the Tories lost their votes to Reform; but Labour lost votes not to Reform – of whom they are so terrified – but to the Greens. Labour are obsessing with the party who is actually taking votes from their main opponent on the right, while they are losing their votes (and almost the seat) to the left.
One small result, in itself not significant. But a result which shows how the voters are thinking, and poses serious questions for Labour’s strategists.
It looks as though the Greens are committing their tanks.
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Many Labour members are shocked at how their own government is behaving. For example, the party is overwhelmingly in favour of proportional representation and a return to Europe, yet the leadership has vetoed both subjects. Still, members are prepared to remain docile in the face of what amounts to a blatant misrepresentation of much they hold dear.
There have been mutterings of discontent for some time, with tales of many leaving the party. Pecksniff hears of bitter arguments at branch meetings over national party policies which have been pushed through roughshod, with angry members walking out of one meeting this week.
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The Liberal Democrats have hit upon a good wheeze. Raising money is always a problem for a political party. The thing is to make the appeal as focused and attractive as possible, and the LibDems have a doozy: the Farage Fighting Fund.
For all his supporters, Clacton’s prodigal MP has far more enemies, and the prospect of chucking in a few quid specifically to cause him embarrassment may seem for many like money well spent.
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Last week’s diary pointed out the discrepancy between Ed Davey’s high approval rating by the public, and his coverage by the media. It brought a strong response, some of it reflecting ruefully on the Liberal Democrats’ performance in the coalition.
This isn’t an attempt to rehabilitate a party which specifically chose a manifesto promise, had it signed in blood by the leader and then, while in the coalition, utterly betrayed it. The party will have to live with that. But the LibDems’ attempts at government were not helped by their partners in that coalition. In fact, they were actively undermined.
Pecksniff at the time had access to correspondence, and also discussion with involved parties, which showed quite clearly a plot by the Conservative leadership to frustrate and undermine policies put forward by ‘Liberal Democrat’ government departments.
One Tory minister who later achieved a notoriously high profile had a job in two departments – one Tory-led and one LibDem. The aim was supposedly to achieve greater co-ordination. In fact, the Tory cuckoo in the LibDem nest was there to make sure those policies failed.
Imagine if you will, dear reader, a governing party so cynical as to disrupt policies intended for the better running of this country, solely to destroy the credibility of their coalition partners.
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A tale of two leaks. Honest Bob Jenrick doesn’t usually feature in this diary, since he has no connection with this region. But in deference to what has become the convention of his party, Mr Jenrick has not let defeat by Kemi Badenoch (NW Essex) in any way deter his ambition of taking her place.
This week he contrived to circulate news of his running a marathon for charity to his entire parliamentary party. Probably an accident, but when it concerns Honest Bob, one can’t blame observers for harbouring doubts. Then we learn that Ms Badenoch has also been leaking, though on this occasion we can be sure it was in error. As embarrassments go, this one is nuclear. One of her aides contrived to email out all the Tories’ top secret cunning plans on how to beat Labour to, er, Labour.
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Then at PMQs on Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch gave a spirited display at the despatch box, roared on by her backbenchers. The subject was ‘What is a woman?’ and the Supreme Court’s verdict last week.
But her problem is that as women and equalities minister, she did nothing, since her party is fundamentally unsympathetic to any form of equality. And the argument against transsexual women may go down well with her MPs, but it’s another of those trophy issues which have little traction beyond Westminster and the more spittle-flecked sites of social media.
Meanwhile she prevaricates over talk of any kind of deal with Reform, while Honest Bob Jenrick first declares he is determined the right-wing vote shouldn’t be split and talks up the idea of a Tory-Reform coalition, only then to poo-poo it.
Should such a coalition ever come to pass, Reformers might do well to bear in mind the revelation (above) of what happened to the Liberal democrats in the Tories’ last coalition.
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The local elections loom, though only for some, and this time they include mayoral elections too. One which should preoccupy us is the mayoral election for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, not least because of its bitter, controversial and somewhat dubious history. It should preoccupy us, but sadly it doesn’t. In fact, it doesn’t preoccupy anybody much. Survation have carried out a poll of Labour List members (weighted to the profile of Labour members) on their expected outcome.
Findings show Labour activists – and bear in mind these are the troops on the ground – disillusioned at what they find on the doorsteps, and not only on behalf of their own party. They reckon ‘don’t knows’ will sweep the board, with 50%. Conservatives will just pip the LibDems to win, with 16% to 13%. Close behind they reckon Reform with 10%, and their own Labour vote they see at a humiliating 9%. Greens have 1%.
Another illustration, dear reader, of this nadir of our political culture.
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Pecksniff is always interested to hear from readers, especially if it involves dobbing in some errant politician who deserves exposing; or one who deserves applause. MPs and other politicians can DM with the guarantee of discretion and anonymity, @pecksniffsiary.bsky.social on BlueSky, or email to pecksniffsdiary@gmail.com
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Every week, Pecksniff picks through the vicissitudes of politics on your behalf. Guiding your diarist in his travails (other than the wise men at the Muckrakers) is this remark from Charles de Gaulle: “I have come to the conclusion that politics are far too serious a matter to be left to politicians”. It is a view fervently held by this humble scribe, and as equally fervently shared (as far as one can judge) by you, dear reader. But though nobody at East Anglia Bylines is paid, we have overheads which we have to meet in order to continue publication.
So though Pecksniff is never one to promote abstinence, if you could possibly eschew that occasional last pint of Old Unprintable and, instead, send three quid a month to this fine organisation, we can guarantee that we shall continue to fight the good fight on your behalf.
Thank you for anything you can send us but, with or without the money, we treasure the trust you place in us.
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Thanks go to Karl Whiteman and Celina Błędowska.
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