The Labour party under Keir Starmer is clearly a government in waiting. The Labour leader and his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, were generally considered to be representing the UK last week at the resumed, post-epidemic annual meeting in Davos of the World Economic Forum. Our prime minister, the hapless Rishi Sunak, may be desperate for overseas investors to back Brexit Britain, but did not even bother to beat the drum by going to Davos himself.
Sunak must know that the game is already up. He seeks consensus, but is tortured by the detritus of what has become the Conservative and Brexit party, who are out to get him. Now, in a sane world, there would be a general election this year; the Augean stables would be cleared and this reprehensible, indeed disgusting, government would be thrown out. But unless one of Harold Macmillan’s “events” precipitates an unexpected election, we are fated to wait another year.
Which brings me back to Starmer. He seems to receive a lot of advice urging him to study how Tony Blair won in 1997, but I think he could do a lot worse than look back in admiration to the example of an even more impressive predecessor as Labour leader, namely Harold Wilson.
Wilson was rather good at winning general elections. Indeed, he won four: one in 1964; another in 1966; and two in 1974. Now, to be fair, the 1966 victory and the second victory in 1974 were to consolidate the government’s position because the earlier victories had been too narrow for parliamentary comfort. But they were all victories.
However, Wilson’s great contribution to the history of Labour in opposition was his devastating slogan, employed to great effect in 1964: “Thirteen Wasted Years.” Those Conservatives had been in office for, yes, 13 years. They had defeated the historic postwar Attlee governments in 1951.
Now, “thirteen wasted years” may have been a great slogan – I think the term “soundbite” had yet to be invented – but although they had fought much of the Attlee government’s programme all the way, the Tories accepted the essence of the welfare state they inherited in 1951, even if there were always quibbles between the parties about the extent to which fiscal “headroom” should be devoted to tax cuts or higher public spending.
The difference now is quite startling: Labour may feel the need to go overboard in its devotion to fiscal responsibility, but if Starmer and Reeves are elected, they will inherit an economy, indeed a society, that has been subjected not only to 13 wasted years, but also 13 destructive ones. There is no Tory consensus worth continuing. This is not like the opposition inheriting the welfare state in 1951. This is an economy that needs to be rescued from mindless and needless austerity, and the damaging crassness of Brexit. The evidence is all around us, and pervades most news bulletins.
Recent surveys have established beyond reasonable doubt that the majority of this country – people and businesses – regard Brexit as a disaster. Indeed, there is now a majority of opinion poll respondents in favour of re-entry. Alas, easier said than done. Our European friends would like us back, but they have to be sure that we are serious and that re-entry would be irreversible. Frankly, this is inconceivable under a so-called Conservative government in thrall to Brexiters – notwithstanding the fact that even that champion of Brexit, the Daily Telegraph, carried a comment piece last week headlined “Britain is going to rejoin the EU far sooner than anyone now imagines”.
It was obvious to the Macmillan government of 1957-63 that the British economy needed to join what was then known as the Common Market, but its application was turned down by France’s president, Charles de Gaulle. During the 1966 campaign, Wilson said: “Given a fair wind we will negotiate our way into the Common Market, head held high, not crawl in.” Unfortunately, de Gaulle struck again. However, as Nick Thomas-Symonds records in his new biography of Wilson, the Labour leader, during the 1966 campaign, “contrasted the 13 wasted years from 1951-64 with Labour’s achievements in office so far, including the National Plan, the rise in pensions, and the Rent Act of 1965 that had introduced security of tenure”. Thomas-Symonds also happens to be shadow trade secretary, so must know how important it is for us to re-enter the EU.
Starmer was right to be a remainer and should not be embarrassed. As usual, Labour is worried about what the predominantly Tory media might do to it. But this time the Brexit-supporting press haven’t got a leg to stand on. They are on record as having backed the wrong horse, and Starmer and Reeves should not be afraid to go on the attack.
