So here we are again.

A #THREAD on some lessons for @Keir_Starmer & @UKLabour from when John Smith became Labour leader back in 1992, after another humiliating defeat.

How does Labour become electable again?

When John Smith became leader of the Labour Party in July 1992 he introduced the ‘one member one vote’ system for electing the Party leader but otherwise wanted to minimise conflict within the Labour Party, which was still smarting from the general election defeat under Kinnock.

He wanted to heal divisions and focus instead on the unpopularity of the Tory Government.

Blair's henchman John McTernan stated John Smith and Labour were heading for “certain victory” in the 1997 general election.

Feeling nostalgic, I looked up John Smith's 1993 leader's speech, given to the @UKLabour Party, in Brighton, his last before his untimely death.

I was struck by how so much of it could easily be mistaken for one of Corbyn’s speeches given at any point since he became LOTO.

While Smith was almost universally respected & supported by the Left, and was deemed to be heading for ‘certain victory’, Corbyn, saying almost identical things in 2016, was despised by many within the Labour PLP, and was almost immediately deemed ‘unelectable’.

That Corbyn & the Left are now demonised with the labels ‘hard’ or ‘far’ left, not just by the Conservatives and almost the entire mainstream media, but also by detractors within the @UKLabour movement, shows just how far away from Smith’s ideals Labour has travelled since 1993.

This #THREAD is designed to show far to the right New Labour lurched, & to argue that Starmer's @UKLabour should try to unite around a set of shared values & policies that challenge neoliberal orthodoxy, in order to inspire the electorate, & to help make Labour electable again.

Smith’s inspirational & aspirational 1993 speech started by emphasising the urgency and importance of forging nothing short of a ‘new world’, characterised by ‘peace and progress’ and ‘economic justice’, and which foregrounded “ @UKLabour’s proud history of international action”.

Just like Jeremy Corbyn, Smith had no qualms about stressing the necessity to “maintain the momentum of disarmament, both nuclear and conventional”, adding “We must work to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and agree a comprehensive test ban treaty.”

Smith’s stance was well received by the PLP and the wider public, and he was more than happy to clearly state @UKLabour’s “commitment to a strong United Nations (which) must be the foundation stone of our foreign policy”.

The UN has been extremely critical of many Tory policies.

His forward & outward-looking demeanour, was bold & refreshing from today’s perspective, & his deep concern for global postcolonial & environmental issues shine through, standing in stark contrast to the ‘little Englander’ mentality that characterises Tory policies & rhetoric.

His speech stands in stark contrast to recent Tory cuts to foreign aid: “We must set a new agenda of international economic justice that can release millions of people in the developing world from their lives of debt, disease & poverty."

Environmentally, he was ahead of the curve: "And we must also face the new challenge to the security of our planet, protecting & enhancing the world environment, in the recognition that we are the sole guardians of a world we have borrowed from future generations.”

On the domestic front he pulled no punches in telling it as it was (& how it remains), repeatedly calling out the Tories for missing the opportunity to “rebuild, to re-equip & to restore the strength & vitality of a country that once was famed as the workshop of the world”.

He blamed “fourteen years of casino economics” for the dismal state of the nation, the dangers of which culminated in the catastrophic events of 2008 & the lessons from which appear to have been willfully disregarded by the Tories & the rest of the establishment to this day.

In fact, many of the economic similarities between then and now are uncanny: “a multi-billion pound deficit in both our public finances and our overseas trade; record levels of homelessness…..a gap between rich and poor wider than in Victorian times”.

With 24 hour rolling news and social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the present and to lose sight of the wider ongoing and underlying structural problems which are rarely mentioned in mainstream public and commercial news and political commentary.

Again and again, the words of John Smith in his leader’s speech are the words the British people need to hear today from the leader of a unified @UKLabour Party: “People in Britain today are angry: not just disappointed, not just disillusioned, but angry."

"They are angry at the state of Britain; angry at the total absence of leadership; angry at the absence of vision; angry at the hypocrisy and double standards; and they are angry at the incessant incompetence of a Government they no longer respect and increasingly despise."

"And are they not — and are we not — entitled to be angry? Angry at the cruel denial of opportunity to our young people; angry at the callous acceptance of injustice; angry at Government without purpose, and politics without principle?”

It could have been written in 2021.

While his speech contained some legitimately angry rhetoric, it also had strategy components from which @UKLabour today can learn a great deal: “What Labour stands for is investment: long term investment in the productive capacity of our economy..."

"Investment in people and their skills; investment in technology and innovation; investment in our regions and in the infrastructure that underpins our nation’s prosperity. Ours is a strategy that looks to the future. It is a strategy that embraces the changes taking place...

"in the industrial world: a strategy for a modern labour force, where women are equal partners both at home and at work. And it is a strategy that puts the skills and the talents of all our people at the very heart of our economic programme.”

Green New Deal anyone?

John Smith recognised the central importance of the economy, community, & aspiration: “Wealth creation is not the exclusive preserve of a privileged few but requires — indeed it depends upon — the active involvement of the whole community."

"We reject the absurd double standard which encourages massive rewards for those at the top whilst everyone else has to suffer pay cuts, longer hours, and fewer and fewer employment rights. It is the old Tory trick — one special rule for their elite, another for all the rest”.

Turning to the Tory destruction of public services, he admonishes Ken Clarke for telling nurses and other public sector workers “that they will not get any pay increase at all this year — unless, of course, they become more productive. What utter nonsense is this?"

"How does a nurse become more productive? Does she juggle two bed pans at the same time? And is a fire-fighter expected to put out fires in two different places at one and the same time?”

Smith noted, the Tories will “always finds ways of hitting low-waged people hardest, whilst the very rich seem to get bigger and bigger pay rises all the time. Because that is the double standard practiced by this Government. That is their choice."

"That is the sickening hypocrisy of their trickle-down economics. And that is the reality of a Government that cares more about lining the pockets of its rich friends than it does about the real needs of individuals and families in our country today.”

Some things never change.

Smith promised a @UKLabour Govt would "restore to every working man and woman the dignity, the respect, and the rights to which they are entitled... We will give the same legal rights to every worker, part-time or full-time, temporary or permanent."

Starmer should do the same.

"We will give every working man and woman the right to protection against unfair dismissal, and access to health and safety protection. And every worker will have the right to join a trade union and have the right to union recognition.”

The ‘Living Wage’ is widely thought of as a relatively new innovation but this is incorrect. Smith stated “Our choice is founded on a very simple principle — when people work for a living, they should be paid a living wage”.

John Smith wasn't afraid to let voters know that @UKLabour was a democratic socialist party, & he wasn't afraid to use the word 'socialism': "As democratic socialists, (we) have always believed, that it is the duty of Government to match unmet needs with unused resources."

"It must be blindingly obvious to anyone... that there is much work waiting to be done: work needing to be done to improve our schools, our hospitals, our transport system & to improve & invest in our environment. All this work is waiting to be done" & crying out to be done NOW.”

Smith picked up the theme of Tory economic incompetence by focusing on the catastrophic rail & other proposed privatisations: “We know that there is barely a single person in this country outside Downing Street who thinks it is a good idea to privatise British Rail…."

"A system which will undoubtedly provide fewer services, which it is already clear will force substantial fare increases... Some responsibilities are the responsibilities of the nation and nobody else. You cannot privatise a national rail network and expect it to stay intact!"

Tory deregulated free-market policies were still in their relative infancy in 1993, but when Tony Blair became LOTO, New Labour - tragically & mistakenly imho - continued to support neoliberalism both as an economic rationale & as a political ideology throughout its three terms.

New Labour believed it could remoralise society through market (de)regulation with its ‘Third Way’ politics, but economic interests always trumped morality & many in New Labour - Peter Mandelson for example - became “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” .

In 2014 ex-shadow business secretary Chuka Ummuna echoed this view when he remarked, “I don't have a problem with people making a lot of money”.

Smith made a passionate case for an alternative, an alternative largely excluded from the @UKLabour narrative until Corbyn's arrival:

"This Govt seems to think that the only thing that can possibly motivate people is greed, & if not greed, then fear. The concept of pride in public service for its own sake is utterly beyond the understanding of this Tory Govt. But we know there is a different set of values."

Corbyn's words in 2016 became more, not less, true during the coronavirus pandemic: "We know there are millions of people in this country who choose to work for the sake of the public good, because they want to deliver a service, because they want to help their community."

"We see these values at work every day, in schools, in hospitals, in community centres & in homes for the elderly: people who spend their lives helping others; fire-fighters who risk their lives saving others…"

We all know "somebody who does a job of work, not for greed, not purely for profit but for the satisfaction of helping & caring for other people & (pre-COVID) not a word of thanks do they get from this Govt, not a word of praise, nor any recognition of the value of their effort."

"They see their work devalued, their jobs threatened by cuts, their status & their conditions undermined. And they see their wages frozen, cut in real terms by a Government that have no idea of how ordinary people live or how hard they work". THIS is why so many people are angry!

Smith was fearless in critiquing free market ideology in a way Starmer is reluctant to, & he predicted the crises we currently face with academisation & the privatisation of the #NHS in particular, & the slashing of other public services & local authority funding more generally:

“This Tory Government are deluded by the bizarre notion that the free market is intrinsically good & the public sector is intrinsically bad. So they try to sell everything off to the private sector, & the things they cannot sell, they try to run according to free market rules."

"But schools are not businesses & neither are hospitals. Head teachers are not entrepreneurs & doctors are not accountants, nor should they be forced to act like them. They should all be allowed to get on with the job they are trained to do: to teach children & to heal the sick.”

“We in the Labour Party believe in the value of public service. We are a Party that believes in the public good. And to the nurses & the teachers & the midwives & the fire-­fighters, & to EVERYONE who works so hard to deliver decent services to the people of this country we say:

"that we are proud of what you do. We recognise your vital contribution to the life of our communities, & we abhor the disgraceful attempt by this Conservative Government to make you pay the price of their miserable failure.”

THIS is the voice Starmer needs to urgently find.

The ’revolving door’ between senior ministers, large corporations & their lobbying organisations, & the associated cronyism & lobbying scandals that STILL haunt the Tories, was also deemed worthy of mention too when Smith asked:

“What is the nation to think when we see former ministers popping up on the boards of companies they themselves helped to privatise? Ministers one after the other take that slippery sleazy slide from the Cabinet room to the boardroom; cashing in on their own privatisation plans.”

Honestly, the speech given by John Smith could have been written yesterday - the themes of #TorySleaze, #ToryCorruption & #ToryCronyism are never far away.

In curtailing local responsibility & accountability, Smith reflected on the Tories’ preference for power over democracy:

“This is a Government that cares less about democracy than about power, that cares less about people than political dogma, that cares less about fairness and justice than about defending its own interests and the interests of its own rich benefactors.”

Uncanny.

Smith proposed “a new constitution for a new century: a new & modern conception of citizenship, which recognises the importance of the community acting together to advance individual freedom; a revitalised democracy which protects the fundamental rights of each & every citizen"

"regardless of race, colour, gender or creed; a system of govt that is open, accountable & close to the people it is elected to serve”, which would go “right to the heart of what is wrong with the Govt of Britain — a Govt that is arrogant, centralised, & unresponsive to people.”

And so, now, in 2021, it seems we’re pretty much back to where we were 28 years ago. It's almost as if ‘New Labour’ had never happened. But wouldn't pretty much *everyone* who does — and might — support Labour now, support *everything* articulated & proposed by John Smith in 93?

Corbyn was saying almost identical things, & we had the opportunity in 2017 to unite on common ground. But too many in the PLP had already decided in 2016 that Smith's & Corbyn's ideals were antiquated & unappealing to the electorate. They were wrong in 2016, & they're wrong now.

The common ground IS STILL there, & the desire to achieve progressive change is strong.

If @UKLabour is to step back from the brink, it has to agree & articulate the shape & look of the alternative to Tory rule in a clear & unified way, which inspires the population.

Fewer than 3 in 10 of the electorate voted Tory at #GE2019.

"No wonder people feel disillusioned with politics. No wonder they feel dismayed & disappointed. And no wonder they feel disgusted with a Govt that has proved itself time & time again unfit to run this country" (Smith).

“Labour’s choice is to build a democracy founded on pluralism, participation, & justice: a politics that springs from the roots of democratic socialism & from the writings of Tom Paine, the struggle for votes for women, & trade union campaigns for the rights of people at work."

"And we in the @UKLabour Party — unlike any other Party — see the vital link between rights in the workplace & rights at the ballot box. For surely we need both, if we are to create a society of free & self-confident citizens.”

“In @UKLabour’s Britain, we will stop the rot & start once again to build a country where strong communities help each one of us to live a fulfilling life, in which racism has no place & no quarter. This is the choice we set out before the British people:"

"The Tory Britain of today, or Labour’s Britain of tomorrow? Where the Tories have clearly failed, Labour must succeed. I'm deeply conscious of the huge challenges we face, of the vital choices we will have to make, for we'll inherit an enfeebled economy & a demoralised society."

"But we will face these challenges. We will make these choices, with confidence in our ideals & pride in our values. So we must be bold in our ambitions... bold in our unyielding commitment to social justice; bold in our vision of a truly free & democratic society.”

“For I tell you this: there is no other force, no other power, no other party, that can turn this country round. It is up to us, all of us, together. This is our time of opportunity: the time to summon up all our commitment; the time to gather round us all our strength."

"And, united in our common purpose, it is the time to lead our country forward to the great tasks that lie ahead.”

For a fleeting moment in 2017, @UKLabour reconnected with its core values & principles, & people all over the country & the world, were genuinely excited by that.

I’m not going to dwell on John Smith’s most untimely death. He is much loved & sorely missed.

I want to end with a plea to @Keir_Starmer: stop your purge - Britain urgently needs a strong, decent & #unified opposition, with a bold vision, a clear narrative, & effective policies.

Please, be more like John Smith: try to heal the divisions & focus on the terrible things the Tories continue to get away with; & then get to work on forging a better world - a world characterised by peace, & by economic, environmental & social justice for the many, not the few.

Everyone in Britain has far more in common than what divides us, & we all want the same things: respect, decent opportunities, homes, jobs, & public services, & hope for a better, much fairer future.

This would be a truly worthy & fitting memorial to John Smith.

Thanks for reading.

I'm reposting this #THREAD which summarises the consequences of forty years of deregulated free-market #capitalism.

Imho, @Keir_Starmer's @UKLabour need to understand & accept exactly why a radical change of direction is essential. https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1359445197113950208

And here's a link to a video of John Smith's speech.

Thanks to @ungrandfront

https://www.c-span.org/video/?51087-1/labour-party-convention