Meeting held on Monday 17th May 2021
8 people were present. Two gave apologies for not attending. There was also a Zoom meeting.
Mulling over the recent election results and Labour’s poor performance, one of the group, who described himself as having been a ‘Tribal’ and ‘Old Labour’ member, had changed to become more inclined towards the progressive alliance and possible collaboration between parties against the Tories. In general, there appeared to be less sympathy with the Labour Party and its present leadership. We were critical of the British first-past-the-post system (again!) and contrasted it with the more consensual approach in Germany (whose system of representation was, ironically, formulated by the British after WW2).
We noted instances in local elections where Tories had done badly and Green or Labour had done well. There was some notable success where informal agreement between parties were reached. Some difficulty was expressed, however, with the idea of alliance with Liberals, but we wanted Labour to become more open to the idea of progressive alliance if Tories are to be removed from power.
Collaboration would involve constructively dealing with differences between parties and policies. Perhaps entrenched Old Labour attitudes need to be replaced by more discursive, collaborative developments where opposing views can be constructively grappled with.
We lamented the lack of ‘moral authority’ in the present government, but observed that Labour is not always much better. The way the Labour candidate for Hartlepool was selected was an instance of this, with abject disregard for local concerns. Andy Burnham, who performed well in the mayoral election, was thought by some to be an exception to this. Where he (and others like Green candidates in Bristol, and Preston Labour Council) took time to be active with local people, this activity paid off.
As well as criticism of Starmer for appearing to have no policies except for support of Trident, his approach to the antisemitism disputes was appalling. We noted rumours that he was ‘in the pocket’ of the Jewish Board of Deputies, who do not reflect more progressive Jewish organisations in the country. Discussion of anything to do with Israel is now almost impossible in the Labour Party, just at a time when we should be objecting to Israel’s aggression.
Consideration of results in Scotland led to speculation about Scottish independence. Indeed, the Union of UK was under threat more widely (N. Ireland especially, where President Biden has an interest). Could the break up of UK be the kind of disruption that might lead to more progressive forms of political representation and government? While the present Tory majority is large, its support is not solid and some such disruption could threaten its hold. Another possible source of disruption may be the changes that will be forced upon us by the ending of fossil fuels.
The next meeting of the Face to Face group will be on Monday 21st June.