An Attractive Alternative: is that too much to ask?

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In the couple of months that have passed since the election, I find myself increasingly despondent with our hopes for the future. It seems I’m not alone in this. I started writing this post over a month ago, but buried it for fear of seemingly like a stereotypical lefty crank. But even the Noble and Learned Baron Mandelson seems to share my despondency, so I felt, perhaps, it was worth commenting further upon the Leadership election presently underway within the party.

We are repeatedly told that the Labour Party has failed to “learn the lessons of the past” – which is true. Unfortunately for us, far too many people who are keen to learn those lessons have been going to the wrong classes altogether.

In the 2015 General Election, Labour suffered a double whammy, losing support on our right – to the Tories and UKIP – and on our left – primarily to the SNP, but also to other parties too. This poses a dilemma to the party. In the past we’ve suffered losses at either end, but never before in recent memory have we suffered both at the same time. How do we address this? The fact that losses to our right occurred primarily in England, and losses to our left occurred primarily in Scotland has led people to the obvious, but incorrect, answer that we need to move to the right in England, and to the left in Scotland – and that only a total separation between Scotland and England enables this.

Chasing voters is the most cynical – and usually lest effective – way of doing politics. “People are voting for X, so if we’re more like X then they’ll vote for us instead.” This is utter nonsense, and Scottish politics illustrates this. In response to a sizeable number of former Labour voters voting for Scottish independence, Jim Murphy sought to woo them back by being more “patriotic”. But if you’re voting for the SNP because you’re an existential nationalist, why on earth would you vote for Labour because they’re a bit nationalistic, but nothing like as much as the SNP? The answer is, of course, that you wouldn’t.

Nonetheless, this is the exact same approach that is advocated by fellow vote-chasing cynical Blairite, Liz Kendall. Kendall’s answer to Labour’s lack of electoral appeal is to, as Yvette Cooper put it, swallow the Tory manifesto. But think about this from the same perspective as above. If you support the Conservative position on most things, why would you vote for a party that’s basically the same, just a bit less so? The answer, again, is that you wouldn’t.

The need for an alternative

Opposition parties are at an incredible disadvantage. Not just in terms of resources (although having the machinery of the civil service to work out your policies for you is an undoubted advantage over reliance upon Short-Money staffers) but because Britain is an inherently conservative country. That is not to say that the majority of Britons are ideologically right-wing, but that we are inherently suspicious of change. That suspicion can be overcome, but the strong presumption in the minds of British electors is that the devil you know is always preferable.

So the first task in winning elections from opposition is persuading voters to defy their conservative tendencies and agree that an alternative to the present government is desirable. Sometimes you can get lucky – as Tony Blair did – and find yourself up against a government of whom the electorate have grown so tired that you barely have to make this argument. David Cameron, too, arguably benefitted from such a sentiment, as did Wilson in 1964 – this alone is not enough to propel you to Number 10. Labour was undoubtedly making this case well in the late 80s, which largely spurred the Conservative Party – and subsequently the electorate – to agree that a change was needed (which, unfortunately for Neil Kinnock, was not him). Similar observations could be made of Tony Blair’s Government in 2005. On both occasions incumbent governments of whom the electorate had grown tired were not challenged by alternatives that the electorate found remotely attractive.

In 2015, contrary to the “Red Ed” dogma that appears to permeate the Blairite right since the election, Labour’s economic message was, in fact, a conservative one. There can be little doubting that we accepted the premise of the Conservatives economic message. Our own economic position was “we’ll be basically like the Tories, but shitter at it”. For this reason, we fundamentally failed the first test for winning elections from opposition – that we need an alternative. If you believe that the Tories’ approach to the economy is the right one, then why on earth would you vote for Tory-lite? Why have the shandy when you can have Special Brew? On this basis, Labour fundamentally failed to persuade the electorate that an alternative to the present government’s approach was either needed nor desirable.

Therefore, once you have achieved the difficult task of persuading the electorate that an alternative to the present government is required, you then have to persuade them that you are an appealing alternative. The prerequisite of this step, is that you actually have to be an alternative.

The need for an appealing alternative

Having made it through stage one – either by accident or by design – it then follows that you have to adequately meet the second test. That is to say, that the electorate, now convinced of the need for an alternative to the present officeholders, have to believe that you are the alternative that they crave. Failing this second test will result in people either plumping for what they know, or those who crave a change looking elsewhere. So it’s not simply enough to be an alternative, you have to be an appealing alternative.

In 2015, Labour suffered the catastrophic double-whammy of failing both tests.

As I detailed above, by the mid-90s Labour did not have to do very much to persuade voters that an alternative was required. However, for all he was painted as a centrist, Tony Blair’s Labour was distinctive to an extent. In the same way that Wilson focused on technology and modernisation, New Labour – at the very least – embodied an energetic renewal of Britain’s stuffy politics. It wasn’t radical, though it was distinctive; and, crucially, New Labour smacked of managerial competence and personal appeal – which by this stage was the exact antithesis of John Major’s government.

It is not necessary to stray particularly far onto your opponents’ political turf in order to win office. For all his critics on his own side might have decried him for being the ‘Heir to Blair’, there has never been much doubt that David Cameron is planted firmly on the political right. Certainly, Margaret Thatcher never felt it necessary to embrace any part of the Labour platform in order to win office, and comfortably retain it.

I do not advocate being a particularly radical alternative, but an alternative that is appealing. Our platform in 2015 was anything but appealing. Our offering to the public was composed of a handful of minor platitudes to the left and right. The gist of the 2015 manifesto was:

  • “Banning zero-hours contracts” – except that hardly anyone is actually on a zero-hours contract and a lot of the people who are, it turns out, actually quite like them;
  • “Ending the bedroom tax” – a noble pursuit, except, again, it’s something that hardly anyone has actually been affected by;
  • “Cutting tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000? – we’re going to cripple students with *slightly* less debt;
  • “NHS” – Britain’s answer to motherhood and apple pie.

Where is the appeal to the masses? Where is the distinctive position? It’s certainly a long way from the radical platforms upon which the governments of 1945 and 1979 were elected.

Is all lost for the Kendallites?

Those adherents to the Kendall-cause aren’t entirely without hope. It might well be that – for reasons unrelated to policy – the present conservative government might become so unpopular that the electorate seeks out another conservative government – just one that isn’t run by the Tories. But unless it transpires that David Cameron is a serial killer, or George Osborne utterly corrupt (which, they’re not), or Boris Johnson a serial philander (on which point I offer no comment) then the Liz Kendall approach to leadership – which is, ostensibly, following voters – is doomed to failure.

We cannot win elections by chasing voters and, worse still, following our opponents. It may be an article of faith to the Blairites in England, and the Trots in Scotland, but the mountain cannot come to Mohammed. To win again, we need first to convince electors that an alternative to the approach of this Conservative government is required – something you cannot do by emulation. We then need to persuade voters that we are the alternative that they crave, and we cannot do that with insipid, piecemeal policies aimed at a fraction of a percent of voters at a time.

What we need is an appealing alternative. Is that too much to ask?

The Problem of Perception for Scottish Labour

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The Scottish Labour Party has an image problem. That is not to say that the root of the problem is our image. At this moment in time I cannot begin to count the various problems that the Scottish Labour Party has, but one of them is undoubtedly our image – how we are perceived by the people we want to vote for us.

Perceptions are difficult to manage in politics, because they can often have little grounding in reality. This, you might think, makes it easy to change people’s perceptions, by simply directing their attention towards reality. However, in politics, perceptions are far more difficult to change than reality.

The perception that we are fiscally profligate hurt Labour badly in England. No matter what the two Eds said or did to demonstrate their prudence, their long association with Gordon Brown’s Treasury meant that they were perceived by the electorate as untrustworthy with the public finances.

In Scotland, we are perceived rather differently. Lord Ashcroft held a focus group in Paisley, and he discerned three problems perceived by voters. The first, is that we are conservative – and virtually indistinguishable from the Tories. The second, is that we are a “branch office” of the Labour Party in London. The third, is that we “betrayed” our supporters by joining with the Conservatives to promote a homogenous establishment defence of the Union.

These perceptions are all, in part, rooted in reality. However, changing the reality does not necessarily change the perception. Once a perception has been formed in people’s minds about a party it is extremely difficult to exculpate it. We have witnessed the difficulties the Conservatives have had dispelling the ghost of Thatcherism. Labour may find it difficult to shake the perceptions that have formed in the public’s minds. Those trained in philosophy or jurisprudence will be familiar with the difficulties in proving a negative. In this instance, that we are not what they perceive us to be.

A new approach to communications

We are bad communicators. This is not to criticise the staff who work in communications. The fault is a systematic one.

Fundamentally, communications staff ought not be necessary. Communication is a core-skill of the politician. However, communication must not be one-way. While, of course, it is a tremendous advantage to have the oratorical skills of Michael Foot or a caustic wit like William Hague – but one of the key failings of these great communicators was that they were transmitters, rather than receivers. Over the years I have known many Labour politicians who are brilliantly attuned to the public mood, but they have been sidelined either through our recent electoral misfortunes, or a succession of leaders who have failed to appreciate the value of such a skill.

As a tarnished brand, and an unpopular product, the party should look to business practices for solutions to our present woes. In recent years, the Scottish Labour Party’s approach to political communication has been more akin to 1950s methods of selling products than modern methods of marketing. Prior to the development of more consumer-oriented marketing techniques, the predominant approach to driving profits was selling and promoting goods and services – the “hard sell” –  rather than determining new customer desires. In effect, selling people something they don’t really want to buy. By contrast, consumer-oriented marketing methods feedback from consumers and attempt to create a product that customers actually want to buy.

It was this approach to political marketing that the late Philip, later Lord, Gould brought to the modernisation of the Labour Party in the late 80s and 90s. It is this responsiveness to public mood that has been sorely lacking in the Scottish Labour Party since the inception of devolution.

For too long we have relied upon opinion polling and canvass returns to gauge the public mood. These have consistently let us down in recent years. In 2011 we fought an offensive election – targeting gains like Livingston and Stirling – when, we should have been defending seats like Shettleston and Cunninghame South. Up until a few months ago, Labour’s key-seat list in Scotland comprised of Argyll and Bute; Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale, and Tweeddale; Dundee East; East Dunbartonshire; and Edinburgh West – our average share in those five seats was less than 15%. These seats were targeted because of both local polling and uniform national swings.

We saw in this election the dangers of relying on opinion polling (and those of us who are political punters paid the price!) Outside of an election cycle there is a tendency for voters to simply provide the answer that they always do – which would explain how Labour’s massive opinion poll leads in the run up to the 2011 election translated into a massive defeat. We failed to detect that “our voters” are no longer “our voters” until it was too late to stem the flow away from us.

Labour needs to make better use of focus groups and modern marketing techniques in order to adequately craft our message to suit the public mood. This might sound frightfully Mandelsonian to some, but it does not mean simply telling the people what they want to hear. In many areas of policy, the public mood appears to be far closer to our core values than we are. If Labour values are what the public wants, then it is utterly incredulous that we appear hesitant to embody them.

I do not believe that our product is fundamentally flawed, we just need to stop trying to flog the people’s last year’s model.

A new visual identity

Aschroft’s focus group discerned that the Scottish Labour Party is perceived as being a mere ‘branch office’ of the Labour Party in London. When even our leader shares that view, there’s bound to be a lot of truth in it. Jim Murphy, at least, recognised that that is a perception that needs to change, and made some attempts to dispel it.

Visual identity is hugely important. Tarnished brands frequently seek to change perceptions of themselves by updating their visual identity. McDonald’s responded to the perception of tackiness by ditching red and yellow in favour of earth tones in their restaurants. BP sought to bolster their environmental credentials by updating their logo. David Cameron did nearly the exact same thing when he changed the Conservative Party’s branding in 2006. And Peter Mandelson, too, sought to renew Labour’s brand by ditching the red flag in favour of the rose in the late 80s.

As a tarnished brand, the party’s visual identity needs to be renewed – urgently – to distinguish ourselves from the failings of the past, as well as the UK Labour Party of which we are perceived as being a branch.

This involves more than merely throwing a few saltires around the place. Name, shape, and colour should all be up for debate.

Of particular focus should be the name. It is arguable that the name ‘Scottish Labour’ evinces a sense that we are the Scottish bit of the Labour Party, rather than being the Labour Party of Scotland. The starting point for any rebrand ought to be the question ‘what would we call ourselves if we were starting from scratch?’ The answer, I suspect, would be ‘Labour’.

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