A new narrative has emerged on the right of the Labour Party, designed to justify a socially conservative agenda. It’s expressed in the recent Fabian pamphlet Hearts and Minds: Winning the Working Class Vote; in The Dignity of Labour, a new book by the Dagenham and Rainham MP Jon Cruddas; and in an entire issue of Political Quarterly, co-edited by Cruddas and devoted to attacking the notion of “postcapitalism”.
The crude version of the argument says that small-town, ex-industrial voters have abandoned Labour because, in a desire to represent younger, salaried, networked and multi-ethnic communities, the party no longer expresses the values of the “traditional working class”. In particular, Labour has replaced the concept of fairness – you get out what you put in – with liberal concepts of rights and equality.
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