The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished

HenryG Sat May 19, 2007 at 06:11:56 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

In week's Tribune there was a small article which I thought was significant in light of discussions about the party's structures. I thought it worth copying out in full. What do people think - is this a welcome move ending an anti-democratic position reliant on patronage? It certainly has implications for the deputy leadership contest if the reports are true. Only Jon Cruddas and Hazel Blears come close to being able to fulfill an active campaigning role as Deputy Leader.



Tribune 18th May: 'LABOUR CHAIR TO BE SCRAPPED'.  The post of appointed Labour Party chair is set to be abolished under a Gordon Brown leadership. The role is likely to be incorporated into the responsibilities of the new deputy leader who will act as a bridge between Government and the party.  An indication that the new leadership plans to remove the controversially unelected post was given to last Sunday's special meeting of the party's national executive committee by outgoing deputy leader John Prescott.  He held back from moving a motion at the meeting to allow further discussons and an announcement to be made by Mr Brown.



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The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished | 23 comments (23 topical)

Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#1)

by swatantra on Sat May 19, 2007 at 09:42:44 PM GMT

Hurray. Not before time.


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#2)

by otware on Sat May 19, 2007 at 10:44:31 PM GMT

Well this is certainly good news :)


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#3)

by David Boothroyd on Sat May 19, 2007 at 11:30:25 PM GMT

I hope this means the post now occupied by Hazel Blears, not the post of Chair of the Labour Party held by Mike Griffiths this year.


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#4)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 09:22:59 AM GMT

Yes that's the case. The Chair of the NEC will continue to rotate.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#5)

by Curlew on Sun May 20, 2007 at 09:49:48 AM GMT

So this means the the post of Deputy will NOT include any other ministerial job as some of the candidates hoped for?


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#6)

by grimupnorth on Sun May 20, 2007 at 10:19:21 AM GMT

You bet. Brown is laughing his socks off......


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#7)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 10:47:52 AM GMT

I bet some candidates will be sick as dogs to find out that they'll be expected to do some work. Sounds like they won't be able to (in the words of Austin Mitchell) just 'ponce around as Deputy Prime Minister'.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#8)

by otware on Sun May 20, 2007 at 10:50:50 AM GMT

This may be a good thing...If Johnson, Blears or Harman win the deputy leadership then it would be a good excuse to kick them out of the government. I'd rather the deputy leader had some sort of grassroots internal party role rather than just be the Deputy PM or something.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#9)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 10:59:59 AM GMT

What is does mean though is that some candidate's capacity to spend time on party matters will be inevitably hampered by their ministerial portfolio. If you are Foreign Secretary, which is going to fill your last available diary slot of the week - a meeting with ambassadors from Middle East nations, or or getting on the train to meet activists from Halifax to look at the best ways of beating the BNP. I don't think there needs to be that choice - they're both important. So we need a full-time deputy who sits in Cabinet but doesn't have a ministerial portfolio.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#10)

by grimupnorth on Sun May 20, 2007 at 11:11:22 AM GMT

Activists in Halifax don't need lectures from the Party about beating the BNP .They are doing it all on their own.....thank God.Will Gordon abolish Dorneywood also?????


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#11)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 11:16:27 AM GMT

No! You jumped to wrong conclusion - I meant meet those anti-BNP campaigners who can share their lessons to others up and down the country. You're hard work these days Grim.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#17)

by grimupnorth on Sun May 20, 2007 at 04:34:49 PM GMT

Sorry, Henry.Still bit downbeat.Did not actually mean that as criticism.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#12)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 12:02:46 PM GMT

The Sunday Times (in its interview of Harman) also says this today: 'It now seems highly unlikely that the winning candidate will follow in John Prescott's footsteps and become deputy prime minister. They will certainly not be running a Whitehall department.' Interesting stuff. I wonder if there's any chance of withdrawals?!!


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#18)

by grimupnorth on Sun May 20, 2007 at 04:35:17 PM GMT

LoL


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#13)

by doctordunc on Sun May 20, 2007 at 12:25:57 PM GMT

I don't actually think it's a good idea. If we're going to have a directly elected Party Chair then say so, abolish the position of Deputy Leader of the Party if you want, and make it clear what role you're seeking to fill at the time nominations are still open. It's actually pretty ridiculous. I support returning to having a directly-elected Chair (who must not be in the Cabinet, because they must be free from collective cabinet responsibility, though I think it would be good if they could attend/address Cabinet on behalf of the party). But getting rid of this daft made-up Chair job that Hazel Blears is doing by merging it with the Deputy Leader role is problematic for a variety of reasons. That isn't what all the Deputy Leader candidates have been standing for, and we'd have a very different sort of campaign and a very different sort of discussion about a Party Chair role. Anyone for re-opening nominations ;o)


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#14)

by otware on Sun May 20, 2007 at 12:37:54 PM GMT

Ahh I see your point now. Yeh, I guess some of them have put their names forward for a different job than it now seems to be. Although what's the difference really between calling it Party Chair or Deputy Leader?


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#15)

by doctordunc on Sun May 20, 2007 at 01:15:02 PM GMT

There's no reason why Brown can't change the make-up of his Cabinet. I thought he'd get rid of Deputy Prime Minister. I reckon he may create some new combined role and give it to whoever wins the deputy position. But it doesn't resolve the main problem with the current Chair role, which is that it's a prime ministerial appointment bound by collective responsibility. It would be a good thing to make it directly elected, but this doesn't really do that because nobody knew that was what they running for (still don't if they haven't read Tribune or Labourhome!)


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#19)

by grimupnorth on Sun May 20, 2007 at 04:38:55 PM GMT

Deputy Leader - status, poncing around, PMQs Party Chair - glorified apparatchik PM - Dear Leader Party members - MUGs who pay £30-odd quid for privilege of, er,nothing......


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#16)

by JR on Sun May 20, 2007 at 04:22:37 PM GMT

I absolutely agree with this - party chair was a completely pointless role and there's no reason why this cannot be incorporated into the deputy leader position.


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#20)

by HenryG on Sun May 20, 2007 at 09:24:31 PM GMT

I don't normally read the Mail on Sunday (!) but there is an article on the Deputy Leadership which confirms other reports that Brown will ask the victor to concentrate on party issues: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=456375&in_page_id =1770 'Labour sources say Mr Brown is considering giving the DPM role to Jack Straw as a reward for running his leadership campaign - with the new deputy Labour leader relegated to Party issues.' If you read the article it seems pretty clear that this is going down pretty badly with Alan Johnson. What a mess!


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#21)

by Peter Kenyon on Mon May 21, 2007 at 05:40:48 PM GMT

If correct, this report will be welcome news to the 15-person LabOUR Commission, who 10-point plan for Labour renewal (published as the polls closed at 2200hrs Thursday 3 May 2007) includes abolition of the appointed chair post. For those looking for a chair elected by the whole membership, it might be worthwhile recalling there is currently NO such provision in the Party's constitution. The elected-NEC chair post would remain. Time would be needed to debate necessary Rule changes if such a post were needed. Whereas, abolition of the appointed chair post would signal the end of the 'command party' established by Gordon Brown's predecessor. But to make sense it would need to be part of a package, as set out at http://www.labourcommission.org.uk


Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#22)

by rwendland on Tue May 22, 2007 at 09:32:14 PM GMT

"Chair of the NEC" is a Blairist renaming, the post is "chair of the party" in the Labour Party constitution (Clause VII.1B), and before 2001 was usually given as "Chair of the Labour Party". Roy Hattersley wrote about this in the Guardian at the time Blair first called Charles Clarke "Labour Chair" without an election or NEC approval:

'"Not deceit," I was told. "Just a cockup. [Blair] called the job chairman because that is what the Conservatives do".'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4228365,00.html

Hmmm. Hattersley was on the money there.


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Re: The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished (#23)

by doctordunc on Wed May 23, 2007 at 10:06:27 AM GMT

Sums up the situation very well there, does Roy. And the new plan doesn't really improve the situation enough. Yes, the new 'chair' (or Deputy Leader) will have been elected (so, on that basis will have rather more party legitimacy than his/her boss!) but will still be in the Cabinet and will still see this job primarily as communicating the government's position to the party rather than vice versa.


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The Post of Labour Party Chair to be Abolished | 23 comments (23 topical)