The idea that all Britain’s Labour party needs to do to win is offer true socialism has been tested to destruction. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s disastrous leadership, armed with his “radical and transformative” manifesto, the party sank to its lowest seat total since 1935. Already locked out of its traditional heartlands in Scotland, Labour’s “red wall” of seats from north Wales across northern England crumbled.
This was one of the most notable defeats in postwar British politics. The swing against the Labour party was huge. It lost votes in every part of the country, on the right to the Brexit and Conservative parties, in the centre to the Liberal Democrats and on the left to the Greens. As a parliamentary force it is hugely diminished; it may now be out of power for 15 years before it enters government again. The author of this defeat, above all, is Mr Corbyn.
His leadership, and the hard left cult who surround him, have alienated potential supporters across the board. Traditional Labour voters were turned off by his leadership style and personal failings. His support for unsavoury authoritarian regimes and his grossly inadequate response to anti-Semitism in Labour’s ranks added to the sense that he was unfit to be prime minister.
The party’s stance on Brexit irritated voters fed up of the parliamentary deadlock. Mr Corbyn’s personal equivocation, refusing to say whether he would back Leave or Remain in a second referendum, further damaged his credibility. Many saw respecting the referendum result as a fundamental principle of democracy that went beyond their views on public services. Turnout fell especially in seats Labour was defending that voted Leave, but support for Mr Corbyn’s incarnation of the party shrank everywhere.
A manifesto of handouts and nationalisations was rejected by much of the British electorate. The public were fed up of austerity, but incredulous about a programme which promised everything from free broadband to a four-day week. Any successor will have to think more clearly about the limits of state intervention.
Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell should step aside from the process of finding a new leader. Removing the party from the grip of the far-left is essential. A Corbyn acolyte as successor would only condemn the party to a longer period of opposition. Momentum, the leftwing party-within-a-party, will need to hear some hard truths and be prepared to work with moderates rather than continue with fruitless sectarian attacks.
Structural change in Labour’s coalition may have been inevitable: leftwing parties in western Europe emerged from the industrial revolution and the union movement. That era is now over. The Social Democratic party in Germany is struggling while France’s Socialist party is a shadow of its former self. The Labour party may have had to focus on frustrated urban service workers if it wanted to survive. The party’s vote share of 32 per cent was higher than under Ed Miliband in 2015. Without the support of its working class base, however, it was much less efficient at winning seats.
It may become easier for Labour once Britain has left the EU and if mooted controls on immigration help to detoxify the issue for its traditional supporters. Yet winning a majority five years after such a defeat looks like a stretch. To have a chance, Labour must refashion itself as a modern, credible social democratic party with broad appeal to the electorate.
Now is the time for serious reflection about how it can play a meaningful role in 21st century Britain — and avoid a slow descent into oblivion.
