This may come as a surprise to many but politicians can and do
say interesting and important things. For those involved in
communications, especially lobbying, really understanding what they
are saying can make or break a campaign.
I was very pleased this week to announce the launch of my latest
book, the Dictionary of Labour Quotations. A book of
quotations may not, on the face of it, seem like a very exciting
proposition. Going from quote to quote could be dry and
uninteresting but the Dictionary of Labour Quotations is very far
from that. There are also companion books of Conservative
quotes by Iain Dale and Liberal quotes by Duncan Brack (all published by Biteback Publishing).
Only by reading what has been said and written can we hope to
understand politics. The context of words is often critical
but also too often history is forgotten. How is it that we
have even got to this position in the first place?
Political debate never ends and there remain fundamental
differences in principle between the political parties. It
may suit some to pretend that politicians are all the same but as
my book shows, that is not the case.
The big ideological battles may be behind us but we still need to
know and understand what they were if we are to campaign
effectively. This is also important in the generation of new
ideas. Reading the quotes of Marx and Engels reminds the left
of its past and shared history but also why it has spread in
different directions.
Researching the quotes in the book I was reminded that some of the
themes, if not the solutions or rhetoric, continue to
resonate. Looking at the speeches of Ed Miliband but tracing
back the comments of others, you can see that the Labour Party
remains focused on fairness, ensuring that a narrow majority or
elite do not dominate or exploit. There are, of course, a
whole different set of arguments about whether the reality meets
the rhetoric.
The importance of history to political parties should be
clear. The Labour Party's debate over Clause IV of its
constitution, which committed it to public ownership, came to
symbolise that. Tony Blair's proposed change of wording
was hugely important, both to the party and the country.
Blair wanted to show that Labour was not stuck in the past. For
Blair, placing Labour's principles in a modern context meant
that people could have faith in it and, it could be argued, this
helped lay the foundations for their election wins. Indeed,
there are some valuable lessons for Ed Miliband in his current
dealings with the trade unions.
Importantly, the book also reminds us about the personality and
personalities of the left. Politics feels more constrained in the
modern era and certainly the media has played a role in that. That
wasn't always the case in the past. Some of the insults hurled
around in public are enough to make your hair curl and a fair few
are included here. The caricature of the left as bureaucratic and
humourless is, I hope, dispelled.
Reading the quotes brings the past to life. It can remind you of
the political debates, the political positioning, the decisions to
be made, the challenges and sometimes even where things went
wrong.
This is critical for politicians themselves but also those
involved in political and policy debates.
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