Labour party rebranding

There is an interesting piece in the Guardian about Labours attempts at re-inventing itself as a party to focus on "flag and patriotism" to win back voters. I think at Labours behest an agency has looked at the party's standing with voters.  

It says the voters are confused about what or who the party stands for.

It quotes an ex-Labour voter from Grimsby saying they (the Labour party) are the voice of students. They have left the real people, taxpayers, behind.

Focus groups from Watford to Grimsby and nationwide polling, are being briefed to some Labour politicians and staffers, and the results already appear to be shaping Labours communication and policymaking. Earlier this week Keir Starmer presented a party political broadcast  beside a Union flag promising to rebuild "our country."

The presentation of the results of the focus groups and polling suggest that displays of patriotism, and communicating respect for the UK are needed. Apparently, Facebook ads have been commissioned urging the government to get tougher on border control.

The strategy accepts that Labour has excluded and ignored its once core voters, which the presentation appears to blame Corbyn for, under whose leadership the party became a protest party expressing unpatriotic sentiments with "arrogance and idealism."

Senior figures in the party said the presentation was a reality check of how the voting public think about Labour.

A Labour party spokesman said this was a presentation and its results by a third party rather than Labour officials, from September last year which deals with the pre-existing perceptions of the Labour party but although the leadership feels they have a mountain to climb, they are on the right track.


The above is a summary as I don't know how to share the article or the Guardians follow up piece about the best way forward for the Labour party, but I found it interesting that Labour finds itself at a crossroads.

The leadership seems to have come to the conclusion that the best way to claw some lost voters back, is to accept those voters are, in the main, patriotic, very proud of the UK and it's standing in the world; also, as Keir Starmer says Brexit is done, there is no going back over old ground.

Some in the party are afraid though that they then might lose the votes of the young and/or votes of ethnic minorities.

It is a bit of a dilemma for the Labour party for sure; should they splinter and allow a pure socialist party to be led by a Jeremy Corbyn type figure on one side, or should they continue their rebranding as a patriotic British party with the concerns and interests of the majority of hard-working, taxpaying public at the forefront of their thinking and stay together as one party?

Most Labour supporters I have encountered on social media certainly prefer the Jeremy Corbyn version; they are the ones who are most vocal in their opposition to anything a more middle of the road Grimsby voter would prefer, but it seems they are not winning over anybody to their cause meaning they will be out of power indefinitely unless they can compromise.

The Guardian's accompanying analysis does finish with the paragraph - "This raises one question for all progressives in the UK - if the main party of the left seeks to walk like the right and talk like the right, then what precisely is the point of the main party of the left?"

If you are a Labour supporter, what would you do?

Edit. If anyone can share the full article it would be good for posters to see it in full.

Labour were the party of the workers and Tories were the party of the bosses. All we have now is a middle ground of politics. I am not blaming Lew for his post as he did his best to summarise but not another rebranding of a rebranding of a rebrand.

In modern times Labour at it's best was probably John Smiths labour. Blair outstayed his welcome just like Maggie did for the Tories. Over the last decade all they have had is change, followed by change followed by err more changes.

This paragraph totally sums up the labour party:-

"This raises one question for all progressives in the UK - if the main party of the left seeks to walk like the right and talk like the right, then what precisely is the point of the main party of the left?"

It’s fundamentally what happened to the tories after Maggie outstayed her welcome and Blair got himself in to power.

Time will whether it’ll be successful; society has had the option of a Labour Party that has sat itself to the left and they rejected it. That’s not necessarily the fault of the party or it’s leader, more the shift in what society believes it wants.

We’ve all stood next to folk who vote without knowing much or wanting to find out much about the people they vote for. That’s their right and choice but it seems an odd attitude to have. Although great for those in power.

Social media will forever play a part in elections now and that can and probably is the biggest tool for forcing views without folk really knowing. If Brenda from Slough shares a lost dog post from Auckland she hasn’t read the actual post or Dave from Bognor Regis shares a Veterans support line but doesn’t read the article and realise it’s an American phone number, how easy is it to persuade them to vote this way or that way.

I’m not sure a rebrand can help or stop that. Politics has and is changing, some may argue for the worse.

Like I say, time will tell...

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Edit. If anyone can share the full article it would be good for posters to see it in full.

Where it asks you to "Register for free and continue reading" just scroll down and click on "I'll do it later" to read the full article.

https://www.theguardian.com/po.....s-trust-leak-reveals

This might’ve been a worthwhile debate had people shown some willingness to actually consider the substantive issues, but it’s clear that a significant proportion of the population can’t look at the situation objectively and prefer to wallow in their own misguided preconceptions. This includes Sir Keith, who has seemingly dismissed the Labour Together Report, having already ignored 2019’s Northern Discomfort report (which warned against Keith’s 2nd referendum), and just paid a load of suits to tell them what they want to hear.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Where it asks you to "Register for free and continue reading" just scroll down and click on "I'll do it later" to read the full article.

https://www.theguardian.com/po.....s-trust-leak-reveals

Sorry, I meant how to get the full article onto this board, but you have done that now so thanks.

Quoted from DB

Labour were the party of the workers and Tories were the party of the bosses. All we have now is a middle ground of politics. I am not blaming Lew for his post as he did his best to summarise but not another rebranding of a rebranding of a rebrand.

In modern times Labour at it's best was probably John Smiths labour. Blair outstayed his welcome just like Maggie did for the Tories. Over the last decade all they have had is change, followed by change followed by err more changes.

This paragraph totally sums up the labour party:-

"This raises one question for all progressives in the UK - if the main party of the left seeks to walk like the right and talk like the right, then what precisely is the point of the main party of the left?"

A good summing up, The death of John Smith was a body blow for Labour, but momentum was key and Blair rode in on his coattails. We will never know how the country would have looked under Smith, maybe we wouldn’t of got involved in the Iraq war who knows? But I do think he maybe wouldn’t of lost the working class in the way it started under Blair, before
haemorrhaging under Brown and Corbyrn.

Political commentators and advisors pay far too much attention and kudos to the shrill on social media and not enough to the silent majority,  hence their pre election/referendum predictions in recent years - both here and further afield - being so woefully wide of the mark.

Quoted from Withnail

Political commentators and advisors pay far too much attention and kudos to the shrill on social media and not enough to the silent majority,  hence their pre election/referendum predictions in recent years - both here and further afield - being so woefully wide of the mark.

This is very much the case. I can never understand with the millions of pounds that are poured into electoral strategy they invariably are wide of the mark.

Politicians should give the public what the public want. For years the Labour party, in particular, has tried to sell the public something they have no intention of buying.

They are daft enough to think Twitter is real life, and the most vocal is a representation of the country, even though every election tells them otherwise. They boast more members of their party than any other in Europe, yet the general public, the voters, are not remotely bothered as they are selling them something they don't want.

I think with Labour strategists the penny has finally dropped. The bulk of the public is disinterested in a party which seems to spend so much of its time on fringe issues, does not seem to like the UK very much and seems to prefer to find ways of criticising the country whatever it tries to do.

The Labour party has a big decision. Does it, at last, remember and respect the views of the general public, the voters, or does it pander to its membership who are completely out of touch with mainstream thinking?  

Politicians should not give the public 'what they want' because the British public are pretty much wrong about everything:

https://theconversation.com/british-people-are-wrong-about-everything-heres-why-16018

It's the job of politicians to put out a convincing platform of policy measures and then to persuade people to vote for them by explaining how those policies will tangibly benefit their lives. Unfortunately this is quite difficult as as soon as you start doing that the disinformation campaigns by vested interests start kicking off, 'the public' succumbs to them and ends up 'demanding' policies that will actually be detrimental to their lives and economic well being. You only have to read the posts by boring old i'm alright jack illegitimates on here to realise how effective all that propaganda is.