Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). It is one of the United Kingdom's three main political parties and is currently the party of government in the United Kingdom. It describes itself as a Democratic Socialist party and is a member of the Socialist International. Under the leadership of Tony Blair it won by a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, and formed its first government since the 1979 general election. It retained its position with two further large victories in the 2001 and the 2005 general elections. Under Blair's leadership, the party has adopted a number of neoliberal policies.

New Labour

"New Labour" is an alternative name for Labour Party which originated from 1994. The name is primarily used by the party itself in its literature but is also sometimes used by political commentators and the wider media; it was also the basis of a Conservative Party poster campaign of 1997, headlined "New Labour, New Danger". The rise of the name coincided with a rightwards shift of the British political spectrum, albeit that this was a trend to more centrist policies commenced under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. The party is now viewed by some to be slightly (or more than slightly) right-of-centre, much like the United States Democratic Party (under the recent influence of Democratic Leadership Council). "Old Labour" is sometimes used by commentators to describe the older, more left wing members of the party, or those with strong Trades Union connections.

Related Topics:
Media - Conservative Party - Neil Kinnock - United States Democratic Party - Democratic Leadership Council

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The name originates from a conference slogan first used by the Labour Party in 1994, which was later seen in a draft manifesto published by the party in 1996, called New Labour, New Life For Britain. However the term was intended to incorporate a wider rebranding of the party in the eyes of the electorate. The new name coincided with the re-writing of Clause IV of the party's constitution in 1995. Peter Mandelson was a senior figure in this process, and exercised a great deal of authority in the party following the death of John Smith and the subsequent election of Tony Blair as party leader.

Related Topics:
1994 - Manifesto - 1996 - Rebranding - Clause IV - 1995 - Peter Mandelson - John Smith - Tony Blair

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Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell are most commonly cited as the creators and architects of the New Labour ethos, but it is also argued that the intellectual underpinnings were originally developed in the Communist Party of Great Britain's theoretical journal, Marxism Today, under the editorship of Martin Jacques. This interpretation is rejected by Jacques and by Professor Stuart Hall, another central figure in what might be loosely described as Eurocommunist thinking in Britain.

Related Topics:
Tony Blair - Gordon Brown - Peter Mandelson - Alastair Campbell - Communist Party of Great Britain - Marxism Today - Martin Jacques - Professor Stuart Hall - Eurocommunist

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However, it is undoubtedly the case that Hall and others were bitterly critical of the failures of the Labour Party, and the left more generally, to understand working class demands for an end of deference (even in a 'welfarist' form), and for a failure to understand that whilst working class voters may not regard the market as equitable, they did see it as delivering prosperity and choice, and also for a deep organisational conservatism. Blairism/New Labour is in part a reaction to these failures of the left. In that sense it is not all that different from the reactions of other European parties of the left - such as the transformation of the Marxist PCI to the social democratic DS in Italy or the attempts of Gerhard Schröder to reform the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Related Topics:
PCI - DS - Gerhard Schröder - Social Democratic Party of Germany

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The use of "New" echoes slogans in American politics, particularly those of the Democratic Party, such as Roosevelt's New Deal, Kennedy's New Frontier

Related Topics:
American politics - Roosevelt - New Deal - Kennedy's - New Frontier

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and Clinton's New Covenant.

Related Topics:
Clinton's - New Covenant

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New Labour (as a series of values) is often characterised as a belief in 'rights and duties', i.e. that a citizen should recognise that s/he possesses responsibilities linked with any legal rights they hold. The concept of a 'stakeholder society' is quite prominent in New Labour thinking. New Labour thought also embraces the notion of the 'Third Way', although critics pointed to the lack of any concise statement of its meaning, and the term later fell from use. Labour's economic policy sought to balance the laissez-faire capitalism of the Thatcherite era with measures that would lessen or reverse their negative impact on society. One of the most popular policies introduced was Britain's first National Minimum Wage Act.

Related Topics:
Third Way - National Minimum Wage Act

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Tony Blair secured the revision of Clause IV of the party constitution, which had been adopted in 1918, and which committed the party to 'the common ownership of the means of production'. This was widely interpreted in the past as a policy of nationalisation:

Related Topics:
Clause IV - 1918 - Common ownership - Nationalisation

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:"To secure for all the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry of service."

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A special conference of the party approved the change in March 1995. The key phrase of the new clause IV is:

Related Topics:
March - 1995

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:"The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each one of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect."

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In the past the old Clause IV had been ridiculed, by Anthony Crosland and others, as a commitment to nationalise the "corner shops". An earlier attempt to reform it, by Hugh Gaitskell, had failed, after which most Labour leaders regarded it as a distraction. Tony Blair was, however, determined to signal his mastery of the party and his complete rejection of those policies, such as nationalisation, which were seen to damage Labour.

Related Topics:
Anthony Crosland - Nationalise - Corner shops - Hugh Gaitskell

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The name change coincided with a dramatic revival of the party's fortunes. The "modernisation" of Labour party policy, and the unpopularity of the Conservative government, greatly increased Labour's appeal to "middle England". The party was concerned not to put off potential voters who had previously supported the Conservatives, and pledged to keep to the spending plans of the previous government, and not to increase the basic rate of income tax. Unexpectedly defeated for a fourth consecutive time in the 1992 election, the party won the 1997 election with a majority of 179. Following a period of government and in particular after a second election victory in 2001, the name has diminished in significance in British political life. The Labour Party is generally referred to in the media as 'the Government' rather than 'new Labour'. However, the name is still used in party literature.

Related Topics:
Middle England - 1992 election - 1997 election - 2001

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One of the first acts of the Labour government was to give the Bank of England operational independence in setting interest rates, a move that had not been foreshadowed in the manifesto or during the election campaign. Labour held to its pledges to keep to the spending plans set by the Conservatives, causing strain with those members of the party who had hoped that the landslide would lead to more radical policies. Left-wing MPs rebelled when the government moved to cut benefits paid to lone parents in December 1997. The government also promoted wider use of Public Private Partnerships and the Private Finance Initiative, which were opposed particularly by trade unions as a form of privatisation.

Related Topics:
Bank of England - 1997 - Public Private Partnerships - Private Finance Initiative - Privatisation

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The party won a further landslide majority (on a very low turnout) in 2001, the first time ever that the Labour Party won two successive full terms of office. The second term saw increases in public spending, especially on the National Health Service, which the government insisted must be linked to the reforms it was proposing. Spending on education was likewise increased, with schools encouraged to adopt "specialisms". The Prime Minister's spokesman Alastair Campbell was much criticised by education professionals and teachers' trade unions when he stated that this policy meant the end of "the bog-standard comprehensive".

Related Topics:
2001 - National Health Service - Alastair Campbell - Comprehensive

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Labour's foreign policy kept it close to the United States. Tony Blair managed to persuade Bill Clinton to take a more active role in Kosovo in 1999, and UK forces assisted in the international coalition which attacked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. The UK was one of the allies of the United States that actually participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.The decision to engage in the conflict was met with much public disapproval, and many called Tony Blair's credibility into question when doubts emerged as to whether intelligence concerning Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was at all reliable. This loss of support contributed to the substantial reduction of Labour's majority in the 2005 general election.

Related Topics:
United States - Bill Clinton - Kosovo - 1999 - Taliban - Afghanistan - 2001 - 2003 invasion of Iraq - Weapons of Mass Destruction - 2005 general election

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The name "New Labour" has been widely satirised. Critics associate the new name with an unprecedented use of 'spin doctoring' in the party's relationship with media. The Conservative Party attempted to tarnish the new Labour tag during the 1997 election campaign using the slogan 'New Labour, New Danger'. After Gordon Brown's budgets became more and more Keynesian, Private Eye began to call the party 'New' Labour. Oddly, it continues to do so even in articles relating an example of privatisation or free-market initiatives by Labour (a frequent theme, especially in Doing the Rounds, the medical column, and In the Back, the investigative section), or other right-wing or illiberal policies, in which context the ironic inverted commas would be more appropriate around "Labour" than around "New".

Related Topics:
Spin doctoring - Conservative Party - Gordon Brown - Keynesian - Private Eye

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