This article first appeared in the CLPD’s Campaign Bulletin 40th Anniversary issue which was published last week, and can be downloaded here. The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s fortieth anniversary is indeed cause for celebration. Our campaign has registered a number of important successes in its existence. Yet surely its importance really lies in its [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Party democracy’
Community campaigning, DM-style (aka not even knowing how your members vote)
May 10th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.In Mark Ferguson’s excellent expose of “community campaigning” in South Shields under David Miliband’s watch, he reveals that the voter contact rate (the percentage of people in the constituency for whom the party has a record of voting preference) in the constituency was as low as 0.2%. Based on the electorate in the by-election, that [...]
Progress: the fixers attack the “fixing”
Apr 22nd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Once again the Blairites are attacking Ed Miliband and Labour’s new direction. No sooner had David Miliband announced his departure from British politics than Blair, Mandelson, Milburn and other assorted “grandees“ started to attack his brother, without regard to the impending local elections. Cowardly right-wing shadow cabinet members are briefing anonymously against him on a daily basis too. [...]
Ed has one chance left to breathe life into the party’s policy process
Apr 4th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.What makes a good policy process? A process that produces good policies, of course. Policies that are radical, innovative, resonate with our target voters and are up to dealing with the problems Labour will inherit. And Ed Miliband promised, through Refounding Labour, to give it to us – “to draw on the whole of our [...]
CLPD celebrates its 40th AGM
Feb 27th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) held its Annual General Meeting, its fortieth, last Saturday at Conway Hall in central London. Coming up to 40 – it was actually founded later in the year – it may now be the oldest pressure group operating within the Labour Party (though there are some older affiliated [...]
London Labour: in need of some refounding
Feb 20th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.In a packed hall a mile from London’s Olympic park, the London Labour Party’s biennial conference was in bullish mood this last weekend. In spite of the loss of last year’s mayoral election, delegates and platform alike sounded confident that London Labour is in good shape electorally, as well as determined and radical in its [...]
Why you should attend CLPD’s AGM
Feb 9th, 2013 by Newsdesk.The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) will hold its Annual General Meeting at 11.30am (till approx 4.30pm with break for lunch) on Saturday 23 February at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, in Central London. Non-members are welcome to attend the meeting as participating observers. This will be CLPD’s 40th AGM, and will be opened by [...]
The cost of Young Labour democracy: £30 per person per night
Jan 31st, 2013 by Caroline Hill.Every year the monster of getting as many members as possible to a conference rears its ugly and expensive head. Hundreds of 14 to 26 year-old members will be heading to Leicester in March for Labour’s Youth Conference, but it’s not really a question of “is there any room at the inn?” Instead, “There’s very [...]
Labour candidate selection: UPDATE
Jan 24th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Yesterday we reported on changes to Labour’s parliamentary candidate selection procedures. We did so on having spoken to members of the executive about the meeting and the content of the papers they had received. Unfortunately, we got it wrong in some respects — and fortunately the changes turn out to be better than we’d understood [...]
Labour executive tinkers with candidate selection but radical surgery needed
Jan 23rd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.(With Postscript on by-elections and late selections and please also see this update) Selecting a parliamentary candidate in a winnable seat is perhaps the greatest influence a party member has on the political process. And it might happen only once in 20 or 30 years. You would think Labour’s national executive would give it serious [...]
