Labour isn’t electing the next PM — it’s electing the next Neil Kinnock

Recently, much of the discussion in the Labour leadership contest has focused on the need to abandon factionalism — the current front-runner, Keir Starmer, is the latest to make that point. But despite the warm words from all the candidates, it is not certain whether this is possible or desirable, and, if it is, who will make it happen.

There is a sense from many Labour members and supporters that they are not electing the next Prime Minister, but someone to reprise the role of Neil Kinnock. The next Labour leader won’t necessarily be the one to get the party over the line and into Number 10, but the person who will do the hard work of making the party functional again. The next election will not be “one more heave” — the party isn’t in a shape to do that at present. Unfortunately, for members and MPs alike, at almost every level Labour isn’t working.

This is largely down to that very factionalism Starmer and others have referred to, which is being played out at senior levels and over the heads of the hardworking staff. People were chosen for vital, leading roles, not for their competence or for their loyalty to the party, but for their unwavering devotion to just one aspect of that Party: its current leadership. Others were forced out of jobs they had done for many years because of a perceived lack of that devotion.

The Party lost a lot of institutional memory and talent. And while some shake-up was necessary after the staleness of the late New Labour years and the failings of the Miliband era, losing this much at once and replacing it not with talent, but with a praetorian guard was a disservice to everyone who wanted or needed to see a Labour victory.

So, yes, there are very strong arguments to abandon the worst aspects of factionalism that have corroded the culture in the party, from branch meetings to party conference. But how we talk about that is important.

For example, for some, even mentioning Neil Kinnock will raise questions about so-called purges. Kinnock had to do something that the next leader will find a lot harder. He found a highly symbolic, public and straightforward way to signal that Labour was modernising, but not by just attacking and ultimately proscribing Militant. He did so on the platform of his own conference with the gobbiest members of Militant in attendance (until they walked out). He made it a TV moment that has lived on for decades.

The problem comes because  when people hear the words “abolish factionalism” they hear very different things and this will depend, ironically, on their factional stance.

Momentum may have some people at the top who flirted with Militant back in the day. It may have some people who opposed their expulsion. But Momentum is no more a party within a party than Progress or Labour First. They’re an organised faction, largely made up of young members inspired by left-wing politics. Where they have been part of bad behaviour — particularly in some Constituency Labour Parties for example — they should face the same discipline as anyone else. But where they haven’t behaved in this manner, they deserve to be worked with, not proscribed.

The new leader will have a disciplinary backlog to clear. There will be important cases on anti-Semitism and sexual harassment, some of which go back years. That has to change and the factional issues that have led to both delays and obfuscation have to go. When the Equalities and Human Rights Commission reports on its investigation into anti-Semitism within the party, there will need to be a full acceptance of all its recommendations and heads will have to roll.

Corbyn’s recent attempt (it is not yet known if it will be successful) to ennoble his former Chief of Staff, Karie Murphy, against whom it is understood there are complaints as part of that process, feels like a last final roll of the dice of the Corbynites. It’s one final chance to put an ally into power before the wheel of power turns.

Abolishing factionalism means changing the culture of the Labour Party to ensure a spirit of pluralism and to ensure that everyone is listened to and can work together to create a meaningful, viable platform of ideas, no matter where they originate. To ensure that no one feels bullied by other members. To ensure that talent rises and is never kept down because that person’s face doesn’t fit. To ensure that mediocrities do not rise to power, simply because of who they know.

It will be when we see talented people working together across Labour that we will know that Labour is serious about returning to power. Until then, it is just navel-gazing.