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\n Illustrations by Nate Kitch<\/p>\n
\n Illustrations by Nate Kitch<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a new bit of jargon coming to Westminster. We\u2019ve had soft left, hard left, new right, old right \u2013 now it\u2019s the turn of the \u201cdemocratic left\u201d, a designation that might come to define the group of people who want Andy Burnham to be the next prime minister. No, they haven\u2019t gone away, and they are organising and thinking about who could succeed the Starmer project, as Labour heads into the Scottish, Welsh and local elections on 7 May.<\/p>\n
The term derives from a forthcoming paper titled \u201cWhat is the Soft Left?\u201d from Compass, the progressive pressure group that describes itself as \u201cAndy Burnham curious\u201d. One way to read the paper is as an attempt to fit Burnham\u2019s so-called Manchesterism into the party\u2019s long history, aligning it with the fortunes of the traditional soft left \u2013 a faction that has always felt it represented the heart of the party, even if it could never quite control it.<\/p>\n
The \u201csoft left\u201d label emerged in the early 1980s to describe Labour MPs who were left-wing but opposed Tony Benn\u2019s attempt to challenge Denis Healey for the deputy leadership, which he had done against the express wishes of Michael Foot, the party\u2019s then leader. Since then, however, the soft left\u2019s story has broadly been one of failure, from the doomed Bryan Gould leadership campaign of 1992 through to the summary humiliations of the leading soft-left ministers under this government (Angela Rayner, Louise Haigh, Ed Miliband, Lisa Nandy, Lucy Powell).<\/p>\n
After failure, why not try a rebrand? The \u201cdemocratic left\u201d encompasses those who endorse Burnham\u2019s proposed solution to Britain\u2019s and Labour\u2019s problems: more democracy. More democracy in the electoral system, in the regions, in the workplace and in the Labour Party. Its believers gravitate towards the Mainstream group, which was set up with Burnham\u2019s endorsement and is often described as a campaign vehicle for him. (Which is incorrect because Mainstream\u2019s commitment to democratisation is such that it won\u2019t endorse any Labour leadership or deputy leadership candidates without a members\u2019 ballot.)<\/p>\n
Subscribe to the New Statesman today and save 75% <\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s plan is just as radical, if not more so, than the dreams of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell \u2013 they never contemplated abandoning the first-past-the-post electoral system. But it\u2019s quite a lot to stomach for a chunk of the soft left. Traditionally, this wing of the party has sought to ameliorate conditions for voters within the confines of a political system that has broadly worked for them. These so-called Labourists, who are associated with the big, broad Tribune group, and are wary of plans that look too grand, have not yet boarded the democratic left train. Yet \u2013 to stretch the analogy \u2013 they are reserving their carriages on board. Their support will be required to make Burnham PM.<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s ultras still remain a relatively small group in Labour \u2013 he doesn\u2019t have a particularly large following of loyal MPs. He has been away from Westminster for a long time and those that do remember him recall something quite different from the casually dressed mayor of today.<\/p>\n But something has changed since the Gorton and Denton by-election. There are now dozens of Gorton-esque seats where Labour incumbents can all too vividly imagine themselves being torn apart by left and right alternatives at the next election if things carry on as they are. If Burnham could have saved Labour in Gorton \u2013 as the pre- and post-by-election polls claim \u2013 then maybe he could save them, too.<\/p>\n This is where we might \u2013 with all the obvious caveats \u2013 draw a comparison with Boris Johnson, as Burnham\u2019s enemies at the top of the party did when he last attempted to gain a seat, calling him an egotistical mayor who thinks he can do the top job. The sharper point of comparison might be that Tory backbenchers remained deeply suspicious of the popular Johnson for years before they eventually turned to him in a moment of desperation, when they were polling in fourth place after the disastrous local and European elections of spring 2019.<\/p>\n There are those in Labour pondering whether a post-Starmer leadership would be like that of the Tories in 2019, after years of Theresa May government, or that of late 2022, after weeks of Liz Truss. In one case the party had a terribly unpopular leader but was able to salvage its own reputation when it replaced her. In the other case, the damage was irreparable and may yet prove terminal.<\/p>\n The stalemate remains. While pressure groups like Compass write more academic papers, other Burnham allies are turning their minds to harder-edged political options. Some are now discussing what they call the \u201cnuclear option\u201d: when the next vacancy for a winnable Commons seat arises, Burnham should announce that he is resigning the Greater Manchester mayoralty and then seek selection as a Labour candidate. It would obfuscate the need for another request for a National Executive Committee (NEC) waiver and neutralise what was previously the strongest argument for blocking Burnham: that a Greater Manchester mayoralty by-election could turn out to be politically and financially costly for the Labour Party. In a way, Burnham\u2019s resignation would be a small mercy for the Prime Minister. The spectacle of him rallying the NEC officers into blocking Burnham a second time, perhaps with a slightly reduced margin of support, would be rather miserable.<\/p>\n As they look to post-May Britain, the restyled \u201cdemocratic left\u201d is tired of being soft and determined that the story of failure will end one way or another. <\/p>\n [Further reading: Your Party goes extinct in Scotland<\/a>]<\/p>\n Content from our partners<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net\/2021\/09\/TNS_master_logo.svg\"){kind=logo}
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