Dear Jeremy,
Re: First Among Equals Approach
Amidst this hullaballoo, I would only be stating the obvious when I point-out that the Labour Party voted you into the position that you are in now, because the Party, at large, is convinced that you are the only one that can revive the Labour movement, unite the Party and effectively campaign to realise the values and priorities without which an inclusive society cannot be brought-about in our midst -even if it takes some time.
Since Prime Minister Callaghan left the office, the Labour Party has been slowly but steadily going-down, although leaders like Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock tried their best to delay its eventual transformation into something very different and unacceptable –the rest, of course, is history.
New Labour, as you are aware, was neither ‘new’ nor ‘Labour’. It was the ‘sum total of a bunch of parliamentarians’ who were determined to seize power from the Tories without caring much about the means used to that end –in fact it was, in a way, rebranded Thatcherism.
We all know the level of damage and havoc that fell on our country and the world over by the government embarking on a bombing-spree across the Middle East.
Jeremy, you were the inspiration and force along with the late Tony Benn to project and propagate a new approach -a civilised, ethical and humane alternative to invading sovereign nations in faraway lands. British colonial times when Britain shot its way through ancient civilisations with a view to plunder, subjugate and the unforgettable Suez Canal fiasco should have served as a stark reminder of a by-gone era to avoid the export of coercion under the guise of spreading democracy in other parts of the world.
Even latent democratic instincts would have been awakened if the Government of the time had the presence of mind to observe that the British public did not endorse such bombing ventures, when a crowd of over a million came to demonstrate at Hyde Park in the Summer of 2003 –I had the pleasure to listen to your historic speech in Hyde Park and witnessed the strength of the feeling of the huge turn-out of men, women and children.
Subsequent to the global display of some kind of unexplained “toxicity” on the part of the West on the Middle East, the Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc have been ruined and the area has been inevitably breeding and spreading even more venom to retaliate against the Western perpetrators. In this process, more and more radical and fundamentalist organisations have been taking shape, spreading their wings to suffocate and destroy our citizens and our way of life.
It is in this context that your leadership is not only extremely relevant, but absolutely essential to preserve this world. Grassroots-level Labour Party members are convinced that you are providing an ethical dimension to The Movement and to politics in general. To those individuals who have been brought-up to believe that National Security can only be achieved through investing in nuclear capabilities, you views will obviously come across as a bit too naive and simplistic.
You were elected the Leader of the Labour Party with an overwhelming majority less than a year ago. People at large, up and down the country, including significant proportions of other political persuasions are, by now, subscribing to the view that the path you are showing is the only viable way forward.
Since I came to this country, I have seen many Prime Ministers come and go –Labour as well as Conservative. The last Prime Ministers to have had a touch of normality and humanity were Jim Callaghan and Edward Heath. With the exception of John Major, the rest of them (irrespective of their Party), made divisive and polarising impact on the multicultural Britain ‑Margaret Thatcher with her attack on the weaker sections of the society and Tony Blair with the Middle East.
The UK and its democratic traditions have been irreparably damaged during the Thatcher-Blair periods. We now have a new generation of citizens who have lost faith in politics because their leaders were found lacking in honesty, integrity and faith in true democratic principles. The disillusionment has reached a new depth with the exposure of the corruption scandal where many MPs were found guilty of generating extra income for themselves through illegal means.
In you, the disaffected found an anchor –a sense of security and confidence. You are in fact a torch in the long and dark tunnel of politics created by some of the unprincipled and greedy politicians of our times. You are seen as transparent, unassuming, inclusive and compassionate in your policies, politics and mindset. For that reason alone, you are not accepted by the conventional politicians who look at politics as a career-enhancing pursuit, regardless of what happens to the country and its people.
The EU referendum was a self-inflicted measure on the part of the present Government. The idea of referendum was thrown-up into the air as a bullying and bargaining tool vis-à-vis the rest of the members of the EU to get a better deal for Britain. Eventually, as we all know, it backfired and the Prime Minister fell into the pit of his own making, forgetting the lessons of recent history of British public life, where backstabbing and disloyalty has become common place.
Brexit, in any case, was not Labour’s making. The Prime Minister and his closest colleagues campaigned day and night to keep Britain in the EU. Some of his influential colleagues campaigned to get Britain out of the EU. Under your leadership, Labour has adopted the policy of keeping the membership and getting a fairer structural framework within it for all its members. I listened to the speeches that were made by you in your campaign, appealing to your party members to vote to remain.
Once the result was out, some of the Labour Parliamentarians started blaming you for not being forcible enough in your appeal towards the Labour electorate. The extent to which you managed to run up and down the country with the “remain appeal”, is not something that anyone can vilify you for, let alone find an excuse to get rid of you from your position as Party Leader. We all know that had labour MPs campaigned properly in their respective constituencies; a better outcome would have come about!
To touch on the major accusation levelled against you; namely, that you have not come-up with a post-Brexit plan of action for the country, does not make sense. Brexit, as aforementioned, was not your idea and the Prime Minister who organised the referendum should have had a plan in the eventuality of losing the referendum. He has not so far come-up with anything. The leading Brexiteers like Boris, have not supplied us with any concrete plans, other than wishful aspirations and verbosity. Even if you have plans, it is not to be disclosed –the most appropriate time for this colloquy is when the Government states their plans.
On another matter, namely your leadership skills, it seems that the New Labour definition relates to your ability [or lack of] to engage in spin-doctoring, manipulating media and being economical with truth –this is not the way to go about it. Your strength lies in your honesty, integrity and patriotism. The Labour leadership needs your messianic charisma and zeal for creating a society unfettered from violence, poverty and discrimination.
Those who attack you at this juncture are standing in the way of democracy and common sense; they are bringing-about enduring disgrace to The Mother of Parliaments that is supposed to enhance our democratic instincts rather than undermine it.
Some of your parliamentary colleagues are with the firm belief that only a right-wing Blairite approach will be acceptable to the country at large and that since your approach and outlook is different, you need to be challenged and replaced as the Party Leader. There are of course others as you know, who are deliberately and totally committed to the New Labour approach and they do not see the need to move away from that stand.
Please find a way to excuse as well as ignore both groups and keep your loyalty to the ordinary members and their aspirations. Winning elections under a banner that does not represent true Labour, will not serve anyone either –neither the country nor the Party in the long run.
Your approach to reach out to everyone, especially the elected members of the Labour Party, could be given a further boost if I take the freedom to suggest, by appealing to the Blairites and Brownites to repent and return to the true-fold of Labour movement without, of course, having to face de-selection at the next General Election from their local constituencies. A special welcome to those who resigned would, in my view, not be a bad idea. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in bending backwards to reacommodate them by yourself, taking-on the role of First Among Equals (Primus inter pares) approach.
Dr. Cyriac Maprayil MA, PhD, FRHist.S
Executive Director,
VK Krishna Menon Institute
