Having elected Ed Miliband as leader less than two months ago, now may seem an odd time for Labour to re-open the debate over its arcane voting system. But that’s what the increasingly outspoken Alan Johnson has done. He tells the Times (£): “I would like to see a full one-member one-vote system for leadership contests. At the moment it can be one-member four votes and that’s wrong.”
Had Johnson’s man won (he was a key supporter of David Miliband), one suspects that he may not be so preoccupied with the rule book. But, regardless of his political motives, he makes a convincing argument. As I’ve pointed out before, the party’s tripartite electoral college (divided between MPs/MEPs, party members, and affiliated trade unions and socialist societies) means that some votes are worth significantly more than others. The vote of one MP is worth the votes of 608 party members and 12,915 affiliated members. The vote of one party member is worth the votes of 21 affiliated members. The electoral college system puts Labour out of step with the Tories and the Lib Dems, both of whom elect leaders using a one-member-one-vote system. It would be a mistake for Labour to adopt this system in its purest form; it is both just and necessary for affiliated trade unions, as the founders of the party, to have a say over the leadership. But the extraordinary power held by the PLP can no longer be justified.
There’s also no reason to think that Miliband wouldn’t be sympathetic to reform. Liam Byrne, who is overseeing Labour’s policy review, says that he now expects the party’s leadership rules to be “on the table” in discussions. But what’s troubling for Labour’s leader is that some of those calling for the system to be reformed are, in effect, declaring his election illegitimate. Simmering resentment at the fact that Miliband wasn’t the choice of party members and MPs has burst into the open. Alan Milburn and Margaret Hodge both call for the party to deprieve the unions of a say in the leadership election, without whom, of course, Miliband would not have won. Meanwhile, David Blunkett and Charles Clarke issue some of the strongest criticisms we’ve heard of the Labour leader.
“The problem for Ed is that he got dipped in the Gordon paint pot,” says Blunkett. Clarke comments: “Ed Miliband is back to the comfort zone. I don’t think he’s ‘Red Ed’ particularly but he hasn’t so far shown that he’s into challenge.” Of the above, Clarke and Milburn are, of course, no longer MPs. But the fear for Team Miliband is that they speak for a significant Blairite constituency in the party. As Dan Hodges reports in this week’s magazine (out today), sections of the party remain in a state of unease and unrest following Miliband’s repudiation of New Labour.
One shouldn’t exaggerate the dissent we’re beginning to hear. After all, by historical standards, the Labour Party remains remarkably united. But it looks like Miliband will have some firefighting to do when he returns to Westminster.
Content from our partners
Related
