The Politics of Respect: A British Political TL

[Politibrit]

Prologue

The media room was filling up nicely. Normally press conferences were attended by only the regional press, but today, things were different. Every national outlet seemed to be represented. A few had even brought television cameras. All of them were here for one man. And he was running late.

The mood among them was one of anticipation, but also of curiosity. They had been promised a ‘major political announcement’ from the Mayor’s office yesterday, but there was no consensus in the room as to what the story was going to be. Many had their own ideas, some backed up by a source, others just personal theories. Still, they knew enough to know that it would be worth hearing. As anyone vaguely familiar with British politics would know, Ken Livingstone was no stranger to drama or controversy.

Most thought that there would be some announcement regarding the mayoral election, which was now only fourth months away. Given the recent breakdown of talks with his old party, most thought that Livingstone would be announcing a second independent run. A few believed an impasse had been crossed, and he would announce that he would indeed be running on a Labour ticket. Fewer suggested he could throw the towel in, and say he wasn’t going to stand at all, blowing the race right open. Of course, it was possible that this had little to do with parties, and that he was announcing some new scheme to annoy the government. It wouldn’t be the first time ‘Red Ken’ had created mischief for a Prime Minister, and what with Iraq, and the rise in tuition fees that had been approved across the river just the other day, he had plenty of material to work with.

The speculation was cut short as the man himself entered the room, a full ten minutes late, and with a cheery smile on his face as he strode toward the podium that was positioned at the centre of the room, just in front of the floor to ceiling windows, which offered an iconic view of the Thames and its north bank. Journalists sat up in their seat, notepad and tape recorders at the ready. Ken Livingstone faced the room to speak.

“Good morning everybody, thank you for coming” he began, as the murmurs around the room gradually hushed.

“Over the past four years, I have had the pleasure to govern the greatest city in the world. In my first term as Mayor, I believe I am justified in saying that London has become a fairer, greener, and more tolerant city than any other in Britain. I look forward to the opportunity to build on these achievements by seeking a second term this June.”

“I had hoped that I would do so as the candidate for Labour, the party that I have proudly devoted so many years of my life too. However, recent events have made it clear to me that my hopes for this city cannot be delivered by standing for party that has ceased to be a vehicle for challenging the vested interests of the few for the good of the many. Instead, it lacks the courage to challenge a status quo that offers no answers to the people of this country and to the world.

“I am deeply sad to say these words, but Labour cannot be saved. It is clear to me that the people of London and throughout Britain need an alternative vehicle for change. One that offers a society based around the values of fairness, peace, and solidarity. That is why, today, I am officially announcing that I will seek the Mayoralty of London on a Respect Party ticket.”

 

[Politibrit]

This is my first TL, so feedback is welcome. It's an idea that I've been working on for some time now, though I thought it would be best if I waited till everything was more or less complete before launching it. If all goes to plan I should be able to do new posts at least once every couple of days.

 

[Politibrit]

BBC News, Monday 2nd February 2004, 14:05 GMT
Livingstone joins Respect Party

British Politics was thrown into shock this morning as Ken Livingstone announced his intention to seek re-election as a candidate for the newly founded Respect Party.

The surprise move comes after talks to readmit the London Mayor to Labour collapsed last month, having been kicked out for standing as an independent, after failing to be selected as the party’s official candidate in 2000.

Speaking at a press conference at City Hall, Mr Livingstone attacked his old party for its willingness to “put fighting illegal wars ahead of the needs of ordinary people”, and expressed hope that Respect could become “a strong voice for radical change in our country.”

A new political force

Respect is a newcomer to British politics, having only been officially launched last week. It has emerged out of the anti-war movement, that has coalesced around the Stop the War Coalition, which has attracted the support of several left-wing Labour MPs. The main instigators of the parties creation are The Guardian journalist George Monbiot, and Stop the War activist Salma Yaqoob. The party has also attracted the support of Glasgow Kelvin MP George Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party last year over his comments inciting British troops to defy orders in their invasion of Iraq.

Hopes will run high in Respect that Livingstone’s support will provide a boost to their support in country and in parliament as well, with several hard-left Labour MPs said to be considering following him and Galloway into the new party. Respect figures have expressed hope of securing an important breakthrough in June, when elections to the European Parliament and the London Assembly, will be taking place alongside the contest for the London Mayoralty.

A blow to the government

The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who had previously opposed Livingstone’s readmission to Labour, was in a bullish mood when interviewed earlier today. Mr Prescott said “It’s a case of good riddance as far as we’re concerned. Ken showed us that party loyalty meant nothing to him four years ago. Now he is going off to a party which is frankly irrelevant, and whose members have pretty some extreme views from what I’ve heard, and I think his actions prove why we were right not to let him back into our party.”

However, Livingstone’s move is likely to be a blow to Tony Blair, who is already facing heavy criticism from within his own party over the invasion of Iraq. The prime minister will now be wary of any future defections from Labour MPs, aware that division within party ranks and a strong Respect challenge could pose a significant challenge to the party at the next general election.

In the more immediate future, Labour will be hoping to limit their losses in this year’s elections, especially in London, where there are concerns that the party’s mayoral candidate, Nicky Gavron, could face a humiliating fourth placed finish, which some fear will have a knock-on effect that will hurt the party’s fortunes in other elections taking place in the capital.

Already, opposition figures are lining up to criticise the government’s perceived vulnerability. Conservative Deputy Leader Michael Ancram told the BBC that “Today’s events confirm that we are facing a government that would rather squabble over the failings and deceptions that they themselves created than offering sensible, grown up leadership to the people of this country. The Conservatives are now the only party capable of providing that.”

However, Mr Ancram also targeted the London Mayor, adding that “Mr Livingstone’s alliance with far-left extremism is reprehensible but not surprising. Throughout his career, he has courted those whose views pose a threat to this country. The voters of London should remember that the only way credible way to prevent Respect from gaining the keys to City Hall is to vote for the Conservative candidate for Mayor, Steven Norris.​

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“Ken Livingstone announced that he was joining Respect today. It has had a tremendous impact on everybody. I must say, I am caught in two minds about the whole thing. On one hand, it’s gratifying to see Blair face some kind of backlash for this scandalous war and all the other dreadful things he has done. On the other, I don’t think they shall get anywhere. The best they may hope for is winning a few dozen seats, whilst the Tories come through the middle to take power, though I suspect that will not mean any significant change these days. Perhaps that would lead to a real revival of the left, though I fear there will not be enough of us remaining in the party by the time it comes to that. I do not think I shall join this new party. I am Labour, out of habit more than anything else.”

-Tony Benn 'The Benn Diaries' Monday 2nd February 2004

“The next few days were chaos. Livingstone had done well to keep the whole thing under wraps, and the party was caught completely off-guard. Our divisions over the war came up again in public, it looked like we might be out of power next time round. Tony became obsessed with stopping any more MPs leaving. The Whips office must have rung round every MP in the Socialist Campaign Group twice trying to make sure they weren’t thinking of going anywhere. I seemed to be spending half my time meeting with left wing members, trying to keep them on side. Many from that wing hadn’t spoken to the leadership for years, now they were the centre of everybody’s attention. It’s fair to say that Ken became public enemy number one for a lot of people in the party. But I couldn’t help but think that he was having fun, watching us try to deal with the mess he had created for us.”

-John Prescott, 'Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches'

“It has been suggested that expelling Ken Livingstone and subsequently failing to bring him back into the Labour fold was one of my greatest mistakes. This is an understandable criticism. Certainly, in 2004, I felt that the party would benefit from having him back on board. I felt that his first term as Mayor, contrary to my initial expectations, had been a fairly successful one, but I was also wary that a failure to do so would result in us falling behind further in the elections in London that year if he ran as an independent once more. Few of us seriously expected him to go over to Respect the way he did. Maybe we should have. Perhaps if we had been able to reach a deal to bring him back, Respect would never have become the force it did, and we would have been more successful in the years that followed. Nevertheless, in the light of some of Mr Livingstone’s more recent public statements, not to mention my fundamental disagreement with many of the principles of the party that he has helped to create, it is difficult for me to feel any regret about how events unfolded.”

-Tony Blair, 'My Journey'

 

[Julius Vogel]

Should make the Assembly elections interesting

 

[clem attlee]

Interesting premise. Good luck with this.

 

[Politibrit]

Chapter 1

Respect was born in 2004, but it’s roots can be traced back at least three decades. As the post war consensus collapsed, the traditional left began to fragment, caught between moderate social democrats on one hand and a new brand of radical left-wing activism, dominated by a diverse array of social movements that had emerged to challenge the traditional structures, that had revolved around the dual axis of parliament and organised labour. At the dawn of the 1980s, the latter grouping, led by the charismatic figure of Tony Benn-looked poised to become a hegemonic force in the Labour Party. However, following the landslide defeat of 1983, this prospect receded, and Bennites found themselves in a party that was embarking on a process of ‘modernisation’, making concessions to the new Thatcherite order in hopes of winning back power. This was a process that alienated the ever-dwindling left wing. The return to power under Tony Blair’s centrist ‘New Labour’ project only exacerbated this, as the Labour government closely associated itself with the free market, the European Union, and the transatlantic alliance, all of which were anathema to the small number of marginalised MPs now seated firmly on the backbenches.

Tony Benn, de facto leader of the Labour left, at a rally in 1981. Benn retired as an MP in 2001, further reducing the number of Labour MPs from the hard left

Though various attempts were made at building a new party to espouse the values that Labour had abandoned, none made an impression on the electorate. Instead, it was left to the Green Party, and occasionally to the previously centrist Liberal Democrats to provide a more radical voice of opposition to the government. Most of the key figures on the left, Benn foremost among them, remained within the tent, out of a mixture of hope that the party could yet be redeemed, and of tribal loyalty. Even when Ken Livingstone was expelled in 2000, it was because he had committed to run for the London Mayoralty against the Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, as an Independent, rather than as part of any new political grouping. Though this situation was a precarious one for the left, it might well have proven to be one that endured. However, the Iraq war intervened.

As Tony Blair appeared ready to join with President Bush in committing troops to the Persian gulf to remove Saddam Hussein, it was those on the opposite wing of his own party that provided the most resolute opposition. The anti-war movement seemed to give a new lease of life to the old left. It’s key figures-such as Benn, Jeremy Corbyn, George Galloway, and Tam Dalyell, would come to play prominent roles within the Stop the War Coalition. On the 15th of February 2003, over a million people came out onto the streets of London to participate in a global day of demonstration against the invasion of Iraq. The march culminated in Hyde Park, where a rally was held that included stalwarts of the Labour left, such as Tony Benn, George Galloway, Ken Livingstone, as well as Caroline Lucas, Principal Speaker of the Green Party, and Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats. The event constituted the largest protest in British History. The groups that organised it; Stop the War, the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) , and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) would come to lead the anti-war cause, and provide the nucleus for Respect’s support.

The protests against the Iraq War in February 2003 were described as the biggest protest event in human history, with the largest demonstration taking place in London, where over a million marched against the war

The subsequent invasion of Iraq in 2003 produced a new wave of alienation at the actions committed by the Labour government. Party membership began a steep decline. Increasingly, talk began to shift away from saving Labour and toward challenging it, through the formation of a new party that would harness the energy of the anti-war movement. In 2003, Glasgow MP George Galloway began to broach the subject with several left-wing outside of parliament, such as Stop the War Chair Andrew Murray and columnist, Seamus Milne. However, the formation of what came to be called Respect would be led by forces outside of parliament. In November 2003, George Monbiot, and leading Stop the War activist, Salma Yaqoob, organised a series of public meetings under the heading of ‘British Politics at the Crossroads’. It was here that the need for a new party was first agreed. The agreed title was ‘Respect-the Unity Coalition’, Respect being a contrived acronym standing for respect, equality, socialism, peace, environmentalism, community, and trade unionism. It was indeed a very broad coalition, bringing together a large range of left wing groups opposed to the war and the Labour government, from Bennites, to Trotskyists, to faith groups, particularly within the Muslim community. The new party launched on 24th January 2004. Galloway was an early recruit, having been expelled from Labour the previous year for comments he had made urging British troops to disobey orders rather than participate in the war. However, few took much notice of Respect to begin with. It began to be written off as another single issue or splinter faction from a Labour left that was in the process of a slow, quiet death. This changed decisively with the addition of Ken Livingstone.

As Mayor of London, Livingstone was perhaps the only figure from the Labour left with truly national profile. Not since the ‘Gang of Four’ founded the SDP in 1981 had such a high-ranking politician switched their party loyalties. What was more, Livingstone’s natural charisma, his independence, his clear ideological convictions, and even his willingness to court controversy made him stand out from the crowd in a politics that was increasingly driven by spin. He was an ideal populist. Overnight, Respect were transformed from ‘also rans’ into a force to be reckoned with in national politics. Respect was the first relatively major party to emerge in over twenty years, and so naturally the attention that it attracted was immense. The papers were awash with reports and opinions, consisting largely of negative coverage of the past associations of many of Respect’s members with extremists, from Islamists to Communists to the IRA. The effect of this was to turn many voters off, but also to enable the new party to pitch itself as a genuine alternative to certain audiences. If Tony Blair or the Daily Mail were so afraid of them, the thinking went, they must be worth listening too.

As soon as Livingstone’s recruitment became public, Respect began to climb in the polls, standing at 11% in an ICM poll which was the first to be commissioned after his press conference. This average would not drop below double digits until October. Party membership swelled, with thirty thousand new recruits signing up in February alone. By the end of the year, party membership stood at just under sixty thousand people. Amongst these were well known left wing figures such as Ken Loach, Peter Tatchell, and Mark Serwotka, as well as a large number who would go onto become prominent party figures in the years that followed. The new recruits embraced a broad cross section of the left. Some were attracted by the party’s claim to be the political wing of the anti-war cause, whilst others saw it as an opportunity to unite a broader range of social movements in the goal of building a leftist alternative to Labour, something which had never truly existed in Britain before. It was a fragile coalition, but one large enough to form a formidable threat to the existing parties. Within a month of its foundation, Respect was already being called Britain’s fourth party. But it still had further to rise.

-Excerpt from ‘Division of Labour: The British Left in the 21st Century’ by Simon Hannah

 

[Southern pride]

Interesting will respect be able to get British troops outside the Middle East and what is there stance on the monarchy

 

[Politibrit]

Interesting will respect be able to get British troops outside the Middle East and what is there stance on the monarchy

There will be repercussions relating to Iraq and the Middle East further down the line, but it might not all be in the direction that you might expect.

As for the monarchy, Respects position is basically the same as most leftists in the UK, nominally pro--republic but not supportive of any steps to create one because they would rather focus on other issues.

 

[thatsbunkers]

Have any other MPs defected?

 

[Politibrit]

Have any other MPs defected?

None went at the same time as Livingstone, but as Respect rise in the polls, some will be tempted. That is going to be one of the main topics of the next post.

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

I can't help but feel a lurch to dystopia with Respect getting any popularity and the rather ominous tone that many of the updates have seemed to suggest. Their coalition of hardcore socialists and Islamists along with fellow travelers of both OTL doesn't exactly give me high hopes for this alternate Britain.

 

[IntellectuallyHonestRhino]

I can't help but feel a lurch to dystopia with Respect getting any popularity and the rather ominous tone that many of the updates have seemed to suggest. Their coalition of hardcore socialists and Islamists along with fellow travelers of both OTL doesn't exactly give me high hopes for this alternate Britain.

Yeah and the Labour MP who replaced George Galloway in Bradford West is not great either to say the least (Naz Shah). Seeing the rise of left-wing anti-Semitic and Muslim fundamentalist apologetic politics rising in Britain ITTL will be scary, but count me interested @Politibrit!

What is Peter Hitchens doing ITTL? And Denis Healy? (Denis Healy to the rescue!)

 

[Politibrit]

Chapter 2

On Friday, the 20th February, reporters congregated on the green of parliament. They had been called there to hear an announcement from the soon to be former Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, Lynne Jones. As a longtime member of the Socialist Campaign Group and a staunch critic of New Labour, there was little surprise when she announced she was joining Respect. Nevertheless, it was judged to be a significant moment for the new party, and one that marked the first step in its bid to become a force in parliament as well as in the country. Over the next month, Jones’ defection was followed by that Brian Sedgemore, of Hackney South and Shoreditch, and Alice Mahon from Halifax. Respect now had four MPs in the Commons, an unprecedented total for a party of the radical left in the post war era.

It was a strange turn of events for a Prime Minister who had seemed invincible only a few years previously. Tony Blair appeared powerless to stop the desertion from the Labour ranks. The party’s polling position had taken a severe hit, as it lost support both to Respect, but to the Conservatives as well, who had established a clear polling lead. At the beginning of the parliament, Labour had benefited from an opposition had looked hopelessly divided. Now, the shoe was on the other foot.

Lynne Jones explains her defection on the BBC's Politics Show

John Prescott, who had rapidly become Labour’s lead spokesman in dealing with the new party, called on the defectors to “put their money where their mouth is” and resign their seats so that their constituents could deliver a verdict on their change of loyalties in a by-election. Both parties were fully aware that, in such an event, it would fall to Labour to decide the timing of each by election, which would allow the government sap Respect’s momentum by scheduling their least winnable by elections first. In such circumstances, few were surprised when the defectors showed few signs of accepting Labour’s challenge. Instead, the nascent party machine was focused on maximising its success in the upcoming local and European elections, keenly aware that its performance would play a large role on deciding on whether Respect could establish itself as a regular fixture in the British party politics. The recruitment of Livingstone had given it a better start than anyone had anticipated and had dramatically expanded the list of target seats which the party had in its sights.

But the Respect leadership (which, for now, remained on a collective basis, governed by the party’s national council) was still eager to ensure every step was taken to maximise electoral success. This meant building Respect into a true ‘unity coalition’ that brought together every left-wing critic of Labour together in one broad church. This was a policy for which it would come in for considerable criticism, as the party embraced Trotskyists, Communists and Islamists to sit alongside those who had come over from the Labour left. Although the ‘democratic socialist’ wing accounted for many of the party’s most well-known members, the far-left factions, possessed a small, highly committed body of activists. This was what had allowed organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) to play a key role in the anti-war movement, and now, they would play to these same strengths when attempting to maximise their influence within Respect, successfully taking over a number of the local branch parties as they were set up, mainly in towns and rural areas, where membership was generally smaller than in the larger cities.

John Rees, a leading figure in the Socialist Workers Party, would become prominent on Respect’s left wing

But of all the groups with whom Respect sought to ally itself, perhaps none was more influential than the Green Party of England and Wales, the largest of the three sister parties that made up the federalised structure of the Green movement in the UK. From an early stage, Respect’s founders set their sights on establishing an electoral pact with this party. However, the attempts to bring this about proved to be one of the most difficult and divisive episodes of the earliest phase of Respect’s existence.

 

[Politibrit]

Chapter 3

When Respect emerged, the new party and the Greens initially eyed each other with a degree of suspicion. They were unquestionably fishing in the same pool for votes. Not only this, but many old school socialists within Respect were sceptical of the common ground that could be found between themselves and a party that championed ideas like de-growth economics. Likewise, some Greens believed the new party to be too influenced by a nostalgia for the statist socialism of the pre-Thatcher era.

Despite these mutual suspicions, however, both sides recognised the theoretical benefits of working together. The Greens were faced with the possibility of losing much of their representation if an arrangement could not be found. For Respect, Green support offered the possibility of a boost that could make the difference between winning and losing a seat, particularly in the first past the post elections to Westminster, which they would ultimately be defined by their performance in. In February 2004, with Respect’s support reaching double digits in the polls, the Greens agreed to discuss the possibility of an electoral pact.

Green Party co-leaders Keith Taylor (left) Caroline Lucas (middle) and MEP Jean Lambert (right). Lucas and Lambert made history in 1999 when they became the first Green MEPs in 1999

Despite the clear advantages of a deal between the two parties, agreement was by no means certain. On top of some of the more ideological misgivings the two sides had toward each other, the talks were plagued by the more technical questions regarding what precise form an electoral alliance would take. The Greens were wary of a top down model, where the two-party leaderships met and divided up constituencies where their candidate would be allowed a free run, with little input from the grassroots. Further difficulties arose over the possibility of joint candidacies in elections to the European Parliament and London Assembly, for which the Greens had already selected candidates, and demanded that their incumbent MEPs and Assembly members be placed first on any electoral lists. However, the largest stumbling block was Respect’s associations with the hard-left elements such as the SWP, which the Greens viewed as a distinctly illiberal grouping.

However, as Respect progressed from a relatively minor party to a national political force in the space of just a few days, many of its leaders had begun to question whether the informal alliance with the SWP (which had been established at the party’s founding in January 2004) was now holding it back. Within the party's National Council, this opinion was primarily represented by those who had been brought into the party by Livingstone and the wave of popular support he had generated. As Respect’s most prominent representative, the London Mayor had quickly come to be a highly influential figure in the new party. Though many ‘Livingstonites’ did hold a certain sympathy with Trotskyists and Communists in principle, often as a by-product of their experiences fighting against the expulsion of Militant (sometimes as members) from Labour in the 1980s, they also possessed a degree of hard headed pragmatism that had been a hallmark of Livingstone’s approach to the Mayoralty, and recognised that allowing these groups too much influence could do significant damage to Respect’s attempts to claim a significant chunk of left wing support in the wider country, particularly if it impeded a deal with the Greens, which offered more clearly defined electoral advantages.

On several occasions, it looked like the prospect of any kind of pact had disappeared altogether. The intervention of one of Respect’s founders, George Monbiot, who declared he would rather walk out on the party rather than put up candidates against Green incumbents, played a key role in saving the talks, as Respect representatives appreciated the damage his loss would do to the party’s early momentum, and pulled back from the brink of shutting talks down. Ultimately, the more pragmatic voices won out, and a deal was struck.

The terms of the pact were difficult for some to swallow. There were to be joint ‘Respect-Green’ lists for the upcoming proportional elections. The Greens gave up number one place on the London lists for both the Assembly and the European Parliament, although they retained their prime position in the South East of England, the region for which Caroline Lucas, one of their Principal Speakers, served as MEP. In return, they received equal representation on each regional list, with candidates alternating between Green and Respect. Which party took first place was to be decided on a regional basis, with Green candidates heading the lists in their areas of traditional strength, such as the South West and East of England, with Respect taking more urban, traditionally Labour supporting areas that they hoped to do well in.

The arrangement for the London Mayoral race was relatively straightforward. The Green candidate, Darren Johnson, agreed to stand down for Livingstone, provided that he stood on a joint ticket with Jenny Jones, the Green Assembly Member, who would be placed first in the London wide list, and take on the role of Deputy Mayor (which she had already taken on in the last year of Livingstone’s first term) in the event of victory.

The arrangement for constituencies were more difficult. Though it was agreed that the two parties would form a joint commission on which constituencies each side would present a candidate, it only had the power to recommend, and in practice, much rested-on relations between local parties. Those these were often cordial, and agreement on joint candidates was reached with little difficulty, there were a significant minority of cases in which the two sides clashed, and ended up fielding candidates against one another, sometimes in winnable constituencies. This was a model that was implemented both in elections for Local Councils, the devolved Assemblies, and for Westminster, and the spoiler effect that it produced, not to mention the confusion among the electorate, often prevented the new alliance from optimising its support levels. Nevertheless, this system proved itself to be just about sustainable in most places. This was in no small part thanks to the fact that most party activists were basically in favour of the pact, with only a minority on either side seriously opposing the arrangement. In March, this deal was ratified by the Green Party membership in an internal referendum, by 62% to 38%. The Respect-Green Alliance was born.

Ken Livingstone and Jenny Jones at a press conference announcing the Respect-Green joint Mayoral Ticket

In return for one alliance, however, Respect found itself having to give up another. As part of the terms of the deal, the party announced that it was ending the informal pact it had previously had with the SWP and other such far-left parties. In place of this arrangement, members of these factions would still be allowed to participate in the party as regular members, provided that the SWP and other groups continued not to run candidates against Respect. This arrangement was the result of a painstaking compromise between the party's fast-emerging left and right factions.

The latter’s intention to curb the influence of the hard left was clear. Though this arrangement proved enough for the Greens to enter into the alliance, the move against the far-left was to prove a source of extreme controversy within Respect. Many saw echoes of Kinnock’s move against Militant in 1985. Having barely got off the ground, the party was denounced as ‘undemocratic’ and ‘stalinist’, both by members of SWP and other far left groups, and a large portion of Respect’s existing membership. Though some would resign their membership over this move, a large body stayed, and over the years, the SWP would continue to attract a small but committed following that would exert significant influence at a grassroots level, even electing a small number of officials on a Respect ticket, mainly at a local level.

Though this infighting was played out across the pages of the national press, it did not have the negative effect on Respect that many of it's critics had been hoping for. If anything, the effect of public disassociation from the revolutionary left was to reassure many potential voters who, whilst sympathetic to socialist values, were wary of some of the more hardline factions within the unity coalition.

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“Respect’s about-turn on its relations with those who are devoted to good, socialist principles such as the Socialist Workers Party has revealed the base opportunism of Ken Livingstone and his accomplices. They claim to offer a left-wing opposition to the basic dishonesty and intolerance of the Blair project. It is now clear that they intend to offer more of the same. These moves must be resisted if Respect is to remain the radical force it was intended to be at its birth.”

Statement from the SWP on 26th February 2004

“At the time, I firmly believed that, out of all the left-wing factions, the support of the Greens was the most valuable for us. As time has passed, I have only felt more vindicated by this view. The pact between our two parties has allowed both sides to prosper when their split of the left-wing vote might have resulted in mutually assured destruction. Countless elected representatives owe their positions to our alliance. But perhaps more important has been the way in which our relationship has enriched our parties in other ways. The Greens have absorbed some of the relentless radical energy that has come to characterise Respect. And in turn, our party has been reminded of some important lessons, not least the perils of seeking endless, state led growth. The contribution to our movement from the likes of Caroline Lucas and Keith Taylor has been immeasurably greater than that of the SWP.”

George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian in 2013

“I won’t pretend things have always been easy, particularly in the early years. There have often been elements within Respect that we felt…uncomfortable associating with. But it was always our view that this was a minority that did not represent the views of their leadership or the vast majority of Respect members, who are decent people that share our vision for society. And I think that is what has kept our partnership going, through thick and thin. We have had disagreements, but as long as those remain within the confines of civilised debate, then that is a sign of a healthy and vibrant internal democracy, which I’d count as a strength. I’ve never felt that imposing everything on activists from the top down is the right way to lead a party.”

Caroline Lucas, speaking to the BBC's Panorama programme in 2018

 

[Julius Vogel]

Shades of NZ's Alliance

 

[Politibrit]

Chapter 4

Respect supporters mass in Trafalgar Square for an rally in support of the party in March 2004

In the first two months of its existence, Respect appeared to be unstoppable. The pact with the Greens, coupled with the addition of tens of thousands of new members and the defection of several Labour MPs built up an unmistakable sense of momentum which saw the newly created ‘Respect-Green Alliance’ registering support as high as 16% in a late March ICM poll. At first, many had considered Respect to be Blair’s very own Referendum Party- a single issue group whose star do little more than act as a spoiler against the government, before fading away quickly. However, it was now clear the situation was far more serious. As the Tories built a solid lead of 3-5 points in most polls, the prospect of an early election in 2005 seemed to be fading away. Some within the Parliamentary Labour Party, particularly of Brownite persuasion, whispered that the Prime Minister may have to consider his position if this situation persisted.

Those on the party’s left flank were less subtle. Over two dozen MPs, mostly from the Socialist Campaign Group, signed a letter calling on Blair to step down immediately over the invasion of Iraq. The man it was addressed to could at least take some comfort from the fact that the vast majority of his left-wing detractors within parliament remained within his own party. Even after the 2004 elections, the clear majority from this faction would remain within the Labour Party. This phenomenon has puzzled many who have studied the birth of Respect. As with the SDP two decades previously, there were numerous factors at play.

The most often attributed explanation has been that of political expediency. Many MPs who might have joined Respect, so the argument goes, were put off by the knowledge that they represented constituencies that were unlikely to ratify their decision by returning them at the next election. Whilst it is true that the defectors were disproportionately from seats that the new party would have targeted anyway, and those that weren’t, such as Alice Mahon, did not intend to stand at the next general election in any case, it is overly simplistic to attribute this as the sole reason for the absence of a more decisive rupture, as their remained a number of hard left MPs, such as Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, who continued sitting for Labour, despite representing constituencies that were genuinely winnable for Respect.

Part of what dissuaded these figures was the received wisdom that new parties were enterprises that were destined to fail. This was a view that had been confirmed by the failure of any party of the radical left to make any kind of breakthrough into parliament since the Communist Party lost its parliamentary representation in 1950, and at the opposite end of the Labour’s ideological spectrum, the experience of the Gang of Four in the 1980s. Even though it had been transformed beyond recognition under Blair, many still believed that Labour remained the only vehicle for a leftist government in the UK. Those who subscribed to this view, therefore had a conflicted view of Respect, seeing it as a vehicle that could lead Labour to rediscover its radical roots, but one that also had the potential to rob it of the means to instigate this change by depriving it of many of its left-wing activists. Adherents to this view included the Labour MP John McDonnell, as well as Tony Benn, who still carried a great deal of influence on the socialist left, and remained notably absent from the defectors. Private Eye derided Respect as “Bennites, but not Benn” echoing his son Hilary’s by election slogan five years previously.

Sentimental attachment also played a part. For many MPs, the Labour Party that had been a part of their lives from a very early age, with a history of involvement that stretched back generations. For these people, particularly those of a working-class or trade unionist background, the prospect of departure also meant estrangement from their community, family and friends, and so they remained loyal, even if they did not believe their party could be redeemed. Another factor that has gone largely unremarked upon is the antipathy to Respect and its members that existed within Labour. Some cited its association with socially conservative elements of the Muslim community, whilst others had a personal dislike of some of the new party’s major figure, notably Ken Livingstone, who strained relationships with the likes of Dennis Skinner went back many years.

There was no single reason for the absence of the en masse defection that many in the media had speculated about in the early months of 2004. For most hard-left Labour MPs, it was a combination of these reasons that led them to stay put in a party where they would come to be marginalised even further in the years ahead.

By April, it seemed as if Labour had been able to stem the flow of its MPs that were leaving for the new party. This, coupled with negative press coverage of the party, which had been bolstered by the divisions that were playing out on a grassroots level over candidate selection and local arrangements with the Greens, had the effect of reining in the progress that the Respect-Green alliance had been making in the polls. Nevertheless, as the campaigns for the 2004 elections got under way, hopes were high within the party of securing a breakthrough, as it was still projected to gain around 12% of the vote. Lynne Jones, the party’s temporary leader in the House of Commons, declared at the launch of the campaign that the party could win as many as ten MEPs. In spite of the fact that none of the institutions up for election exerted direct control over the UK’s Foreign Policy, as the situation in Iraq continued to deteriorate, the Respect-Green alliance planned to put opposition to the war at the heart of their campaign, with George Galloway talking of turning the ballots into a ‘referendum on Tony Blair’. The main exception to this plan was in London, where the strong track record of Ken Livingstone in municipal government played a key part in the alliance message.

Ken Livingstone with MP and candidate for the European Parliament George Galloway at a Respect rally in the run up to the 2004 Elections

However, Livingstone’s had a role to play which went beyond the capital. Whilst the question of selecting of a full-time leader had been put aside having been parked till after June, the London Mayor as by far the party’s most prominent member, emerged as its de facto chief spokesperson. With the retention of the London Mayoralty seen as central to the party’s long-term ambitions, much of his campaign activity was limited to within the confines of the city he governed, particularly in the latter stages of the campaign. However, through his frequent appearances in the national media, Livingstone was still able to carry his party’s message to the masses around the country. Although attempts were made to build up the profile of other leading figures within the party, Livingstone remained the Respect’s public face. This led to accusations, even from within the party itself, that it had become a one-man band, devoted to Livingstone’s personal vanity. This criticism missed the point. Over his many years in the public spotlight, Livingstone had established himself in the public consciousness as a plain-speaking politician that stood out from the pack, particularly in the spin driven politics of the early 2000s. There were simply no other figures within the party with the charisma or the profile that would have been able to do this. In Respect’s infancy, he was by far its strongest asset, and one it made full use of. This was a strategy that was vindicated by the alliance’s early electoral performance.

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“I’ve been Labour for seventy years, and in all that time, not once did the thought of leaving Labour ever cross my head. When it comes downs to it, (Respect is) just a minor party, they ain’t going to get anywhere near government, which means they ain’t going to found the NHS, or give back power to the unions, or nothing like that. Only the Labour Party has ever been able to do that. Respect is just a distraction. They ain’t socialists, their a way for (Ken) Livingstone to soothe his ego. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, personality cults don’t work down a coal mine and they don’t work in left wing politics.”

-Dennis Skinner, speaking to Channel 4 in 2004

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[GiantMonkeyMan]

It's entirely possible that the more left wing trade unions (RMT, CWU, FBU) could support Respect candidates, as the RMT did Tommy Sheridan, leading to conflict with Labour and Respect gaining major trade union backing. The RMT ended up supporting TUSC, after all, but Bob Crow had some weird ideas like supporting reopening of coal mines and a left wing rejection of the EU and such.

My prediction of how this timeline will go is that Respect gets popular enough prior to the next general election to split New Labour's vote leading to a minority Tory government who do their usual fetishising of the deficit and cut a load of public services. Or Labour has to go into coalition with the LibDems or something. It's an interesting timeline, looking forward to more.

 

[diestormlie]

It's entirely possible that the more left wing trade unions (RMT, CWU, FBU) could support Respect candidates, as the RMT did Tommy Sheridan, leading to conflict with Labour and Respect gaining major trade union backing. The RMT ended up supporting TUSC, after all, but Bob Crow had some weird ideas like supporting reopening of coal mines and a left wing rejection of the EU and such.

My prediction of how this timeline will go is that Respect gets popular enough prior to the next general election to split New Labour's vote leading to a minority Tory government who do their usual fetishising of the deficit and cut a load of public services. Or Labour has to go into coalition with the LibDems or something. It's an interesting timeline, looking forward to more.

Or even a Labour-Respect-and-Therefore-Green-and-maybe-the-SNP? Coalition.

Coalition of Chaos before it was Cool!

 

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Or even a Labour-Respect-and-Therefore-Green-and-maybe-the-SNP? Coalition.

Coalition of Chaos before it was Cool!

Problem with that is Respect has been a party specifically formed in opposition to the Iraq war and Labour's position within it so a coalition would be difficult to say the least. I imagine in this scenario Respect is realistically looking for 3rd party status.

 

[Politibrit]

It's entirely possible that the more left wing trade unions (RMT, CWU, FBU) could support Respect candidates, as the RMT did Tommy Sheridan, leading to conflict with Labour and Respect gaining major trade union backing. The RMT ended up supporting TUSC, after all, but Bob Crow had some weird ideas like supporting reopening of coal mines and a left wing rejection of the EU and such.

Respect was the party of George Galloway, and in this TL, their parliamentary party is pretty much entirely composed of former Bennites who were active in politics during the 1970s and 1980s. So Crow's views are really not out of line with those held by certain factions within Respect. The relationship between them and the unions will definitely be covered later on in this TL.