The Big City

When I was a child my parents were very keen Labour Party activists so they used to have meetings and social events at our house. As I got older I started to think that the people who came to these meetings were a funny bunch. Some of them were working class shop-steward types, with a mix of reactionary and socialist views that I found hard to reconcile. Some of them were what I considered normal, teachers and solicitors and so on, and a few were, I think, lonely, odd types who were glad of the social contact. I didn’t really like the meetings because the shop-stewards were a bit scary and over-familiar, inclined to hugging in a house where there wasn’t much physical expression, and the odd types sometimes smelled a bit funny. As I got older I started to interpret the conservative views of the older members as racist and sexist and I got the impression that they regarded my punk clothes and dyed hair as weird or, much worse, amusing.

I am still a member of the Labour Party and a few weeks ago my MP, Keith Hill, invited me to a reception for the local party at Westminster at which Gordon Brown was going to be the guest of honour. I was excited about meeting the Chancellor and I have never been to a reception at Westminster before so I said yes to the invitation and received a nice letter back with details about where it was and a warning that because so many people had said “yes” I couldn’t bring anyone with me. So on Monday I walked to Westminster after work, marvelled at what a fortress the Houses of Parliament have become, had my bag scanned by an airport-style x-ray machine and was shown into the room when the reception was to take place.

It was almost exactly like being back at my parents’ house all those years ago. The people were better dressed, this is London after all not Surrey, and there were more of them but the feeling in the room was just the same. I sat and chatted with a couple of activists, one former Fleet Street shop-steward and a posh-sounding woman who told me she was a great letter-writer, and they had the same extraordinary mix of views that I remember from the old days - nationalise the water companies, go for nuclear power, clamp down on traffic wardens, get out of Iraq. They were very loyal to Tony and Gordon, they thought all the problems the government had were a result of the machinations of the media (I didn’t tell them where I worked) but the only politicians they talked about with any passion were Tony Benn and his son Hilary.

Gordon Brown’s speech had more, and better, jokes than I expected but they were either on the theme of him not being good at maths, chuckle chuckle, or rather brainy anecdotes about people whose names I couldn’t remember afterwards. He seemed to be a very honest and sincere politician. However, he didn’t electrify the room and the gathered members just clapped and cheered politely when he’d finished. To be fair I don’t know what exactly I expected and it was just a reception, but even so it felt a bit uninspiring.

I expect the party will accept him as leader out of a sense of fair play once Tony Blair stands down and if they do I am afraid that the Tories will probably win the next election. Gordon Brown is not charismatic enough to remodel the Labour party to the extent that the people want. I am not very happy with some of the authoritarian policies of this government but I have no doubt that the Tories will be much worse, so come on guys, let’s start the campaign for Hilary Benn as the next Labour Prime Minister, we really have nothing to lose.