Tagged with Compass

Ed Miliband: against factionalism… except for certain factions?

Ed Miliband is against factionalism. Succeeding Blair and Brown, he has to be. As has been pointed out, the “paradox of post-factionalism” is that everyone counts heads to make sure he is. And to be fair, he’s even opened the door to some of those whom the Blairites judged unpersons — though he hasn’t shown himself too open to thoughtcrime as yet, at least not beyond those issues he raised in the leadership campaign. And it’s because of his anti-factionalism that the centre-Left is holding back from forming what could be seen as a mirror-image of Progress, even though a prime motivation for wanting to do so is to bolster the Leader’s position in a Shadow Cabinet and PLP that backed his brother. So why on earth, you may ask, has Ed agreed to be the keynote speaker at the Progress annual conference and to writing the foreword to their forthcoming Purple Book (which even some on the Right have criticised)? Continue reading →

Could Labour have won in 2010?

In the final days of last year’s general election campaign, Gordon Brown visited Skelmersdale, to a raw emotional reception. This was an election where Labour was too slow to realise that working class memories of what a Tory government is like were strong. Polly Toynbee, to her credit, did pick up that it was different from politics as usual, and she commented that the film from the Telegraph failed to fully capture the genuine warmth for Gordon Brown: Continue reading →

Party loyalists resign from Compass

Following the recent decision by Compass to admit members of other political parties, the organisation has been hit today by a number of resignations. Nine leading members of Compass Youth including the chair, Cat Smith, and Ben Folley, a member of the national management committee, have resigned. They argue that the new rules “diminish the role that Compass is able to play in shaping Labour’s future, estranging itself from many Labour supporters.” Continue reading →

Compass have left a vacuum on Labour’s centre-left

Mark Ferguson on Labour List very pertinently asks whether Compass have turned their back on Labour. On an admittedly low 13% turn out, the Compass membership has voted more than 2:1 to open their membership out to members of other political parties. Their specific orientation is towards the Liberal Democrats, as their statement on the result of last year’s general election made quite clear: Continue reading →

Is Compass about to implode?

The future of Compass, Labour’s highest profile pressure group for many years, is in the balance. Things haven’t worked out quite like its leading lights expected. The leadership, for instance. Neal Lawson, Compass Chair, wanted Jon Cruddas to do the job. Jon Cruddas didn’t feel up to it and, though he’d been telling everyone who cared to listen for months, the message didn’t get through to Neal. Jon and Gavin Hayes, Compass General Secretary, then backed David Miliband. Neal never said. Eventually, too late to have any effect, Compass voted overwhelmingly to back Ed Miliband. Continue reading →