Yesterday's Strikes: Disaster for Labour

laresFri 01/07/11 11:42

An interesting blog post by Owen Jones about yesterday's strikes and how both major parties have come out looking badly.

I tend to agree. Miliband couldn't really have acted more poorly and played into the right-wing media's hands.

"Yesterday's strike by teachers and front-line public sector staff was a triumph for the trade union movement. I joined the demonstration through central London, and it was as inspirational as the game-changing initial student protest in November. These were young workers (I would estimate the majority were under 35); and the mood was both cheerful and determined. This strike was no desperate throw of the die. The workers involved know this is just the start, but they think they can win."

"It was a strike that enjoyed broad popular support and sympathy. Before the strike, a YouGov poll for theSun had 40% supporting the action, with 49% against - already suggesting it was all to play for. Another poll for ITV's London Tonight had 53% in support; and a staggering 77% expressed their support in a Channel 4 poll. Despite all the fuss about inconvenienced parents, hundreds of mothers posted their support on Mumsnet - not famed as a bastion of socialism, if we're going to be honest. Given there are no prominent voices in politics or the media making the case for the strike, these are remarkable findings."

"But if it was a disaster for the Tories, it was a catastrophe for the Labour leadership. No-one was expecting Ed Miliband to yell 'Everybody out!' and man a picket line (as much as people like me would want a Labour leader who did exactly that). But he chose to strongly condemn the strikes. Senior Labour figures - such as Tessa Jowell - took to the airwaves and did the Tories' job by attacking striking workers in strong language. It's not just the left of the party who are angry: I have spoken to activists on the right and left who are equally furious.

Instead of shredding the Tories over pensions - and leaving it to Evan Davis to do it instead - the Labour leadership put itself on a collision course with the labour movement. It has pleased no-one and alienated many. Some of Ed Miliband's advisers - as right-wing as they are incompetent - will believe that squeals of anger from activists will help win over public support. 'You can't call him Red Ed now, eh!' they will say.

But they are stupid, stupid people if they think that. The right-wing media will never drop their hostility towards Ed Miliband: they will simply believe that attacking strikes is a crude attempt at positioning, and they will be right. The Blairite ultras don't want Ed Miliband, and that won't change. And now Ed Miliband has alienated the mainstream of the Labour Party. He lacks any meaningful support base. The anger and frustration many activists feel towards him will not go away for a long time to come. As LabourList's Mark Ferguson put it: "By attempting clumsy triangulation, but without conviction, Miliband has kept no-one happy.""

http://1sq.me/kbXukl