Well here we are in October, and once again I'm behind in my blogging. However, my excuse this time is that I have struggled to decide what to blog about, but I have now decided upon a topic: The Labour Party. I could have easily talked about UKIP and their recent by-election victory in Clacton. However, I felt that the BBC and other political commentators deal with that, and they in spades (as usual).
My choice of talking about the Labour Party is that they are the dominant party in my home town in Chesterfield. As previously mentioned, in the 2010 elections they retook the constituency from the Lib Dems.
Election 2010- Chesterfield
Since, then Labour have also managed to wrestle control of the Borough Council away from the Lib Dems.
Election 2011- Chesterfield
The other reason, why I want to talk about the Labour Party is that I have decided to put myself forward to be the Green Party's candidate for the Chesterfield constituency. Now I still have to go through the formal nomination process, but do watch this space! So I want to understand the Labour Party and why they are so dominant in my hometown.
Tony Benn
Tony Benn is perhaps the best known Labour politician to have represented Chesterfield. A stalwart of the left, who never compromised his principles and as such became a well known figure across the British political spectrum. For those who want to know more about his life and his politics, do follow the video link below.
Tony Benn- Labour's Lost Leader
The documentary provides a really good insight into his life and the force he became on the left of British politics. However, I will let the documentary do the talking and not me. As I don't want to rehash his story in my blogging. Plus I don't want to focus this week's blog on him too much. Although it has to be said he is one of my many political inspirations.
Tony Benn at a Stop the War rally in Bristol.
Me, Myself and the Labour Party
The thing that I really wanted to talk about was me and my own complex and changing views of the Labour Party over the years to the present day. Like many like me who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, the dominant Labour figure was Tony Blair. He was for a long time the only Prime Minister that I consciously remember whilst growing up in suburban Chesterfield. For those readers who have been political active for decades, this is perhaps a poor image of the Labour Party. As it excludes the long history of trade unions and socialist ideals that use to constitute Labour.
Tony Blair- the most dominant Labour politician in my childhood.
I remember growing up thinking that Tony Blair and the New Labour governments of 1997-2010 were OK and I broadly agreed with their aims. Probably because I didn't know any better and was very political unaware of British party politics in general. However, I can also remember the slight discomfort of the Iraq War in 2003, and remember watching the US bombing of Baghdad on the news. Awestruck by the images I was seeing, I asked myself this question:"Why?..."
The bombing of Baghdad in March 2003- My first proper political memory.
As Baghdad was in some faraway country and I had the terribly important business of wanting to do well at school, I kind of forgot the bombings and moved on. Of course it was still on the news, but it was over there and I was safe in my little world of school and Wednesday night hockey practice.
My next political memories come from 2005. The first one involved letter writing, a great British pastime, and the second was 7/7.
The letter writing concerned the then recent Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean. An event that was brought close to home by the fact that my great uncle was in Phuket when it struck, and we got a panicked phone call at 7 am on Boxing Day from him. He was asking my grandparents, who I was visiting for Christmas, to call all his friends relatives to say that they were all alive.
Anyway getting back to the point, a few months later my English teacher got me and my whole form to write letters to Tony Blair and ask what the government was doing to help the affected communities. Now being 13 and naïve, I expected my letter to have been read personally by Tony Blair and that I would get a personal reply from him. In the end, only my English teacher got a reply which said thanks for the letters etc. My lesson from that experience was that Tony Blair being Prime Minister didn't have the time or probably even the inclination to care what a 13 year old had written.
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami- a very personal and political
A few months after that was the 7/7 bombings. I remember that London had just been awarded the 2012 Olympics and thinking that I really wanted to go and see them (in the end I did see a bit of them!). On the day itself, I was an end of year trip to the Doncaster Dome and so was blissfully unaware of the events happening in London. In the following days, people at school were saying:
"It was because we had just got the Olympics and so it was the perfect time for terrorists to strike..."
For me personally, after seeing over 2 years of grizzly photos from the war in Iraq and the various bombings around the world. I also felt that it was a matter of time before something happened. Although I didn't know what or when. Whether or not the Olympics being called shortly beforehand, is left to be desired.
The iconic image of the 7/7 bombings.
Afterwards, though I was starting to become pretty aphetic towards the Labour government and politics in general. Until...
The True Blue
Until that is I saw David Cameron, sledging with huskies in the Arctic (see picture below). This really appealed to me as I was gradually becoming more interested in environmental issues. Back then I hadn't really heard of the Green Party and thought anyone who talks about the environment and wanting to tackle climate change. If I had been old enough to vote or there had been an election then, I would have voted Conservative. Purely on the basis of a PR stunt starring David Cameron and some huskies!
David Cameron and his husky pals.
But the serious point that I want to make here is that even at age 14/15 and with little knowledge of politics, I had switched off from the Labour party. This might also reflect the fact that Chesterfield in the Noughties was represented by Lib Dem, Paul Holmes. Anyway getting back to the argument that in a traditionally safe Labour seat like Chesterfield, the Labour Party was failing to engage young people.
Next Time...
So having rambled on a bit, I will draw my musings to a close. However I do want to continue this theme of the Labour Party and my complicated relationship. So watch this space!
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