We have two challenges to face up to over the coming months. We need to renew our party and reconnect with the country. In the past, these goals were mutually exclusive. Renewal meant looking inwards; more time for internal meetings and less time for conversations on the door-step. This corroded the culture of our party.  Discipline was preferred to dialogue [...]

http://www.progressonline.org.uk/articles/article.asp?a=5989 by Karin Christiansen and Sarah Mulley As Labour begins to assess how it reorganises, this new site offers a challenge to the leadership – and to party activists to get involved The Labour party is full of incredible people, as well as few of us who genuinely enjoy debating the various pros and cons standing order models in chapter [...]

Leadership candidates call for party reform in this week’s Tribune magazine

Contrary to most media predictions, Labour’s Andy Slaughter secured a 3,500 majority to defeat Shaun Bailey in Hammersmith in the general election. Bailey, a Tory A-lister and darling of the media, had at least £500,000 financial support from a series of wealthy backers but failed to win the hearts and minds of Hammersmith voters. So why and how did Andy Slaughter defy the national swing to the Conservatives? I would highlight [...]

Labour people have lots of good ideas for how to make their communities better – that’s why they are passionate about politics.  Often, Labour supporters are already involved in a range of community organisations that share Labour’s values.  It’s already been suggested here that the party should involve these community organisations in policy making, but the reverse is also true.  [...]

While a 1.1% swing to Labour and an increase in the majority from 8,009 to 9,856 might not rank as the most dramatic success in the recent General Election, it’s a good result and illustrates that we must be doing something right in Blackburn. Three activities explain the success.

In the wake of a historic election defeat, it would be tempting for the Labour Party to seek out “quick fixes” – campaigning strategies that could deliver election victories in three and a half short weeks. The lesson from Copeland is that elections aren’t won in a short campaign: they are the product of doing politics properly over the long [...]

We all know the best way to communicate is face to face. Candidates who seen in the local community do best in the long term. Leaflets are a poor substitute for two-way communication. When they’re pushed through the door furtively, they get chucked in the bin with a pizza leaflet. But in most campaigns, it is important to put something [...]

The Labour party is not the only organisation that shares Labour’s values. Across the country, there are countless community organisations that put Labour principles into practice everyday, whether helping the neediest in society or campaigning for things like better local public services, a greener environment, or the living wage. Most community activists are labour voters, however disconnected many might feel [...]

The party needs to make the most of peoples’ skills for effective community activism and election campaigning, but must also offer people a way of influencing policy making on the basis of their work, skills and volunteering networks. Unless they have already enjoyed productive contact, local parties cannot hope to know anything about the lives, professions and skills of their [...]