On Leaving New Lanark

There are a few places I go to on a sort of political pilgrimage when I need to get my head straight about what work I need to do and to reconnect with heroes and role models from the past. The statue of John Cartwright in Bloomsbury, the New Rooms in Bristol, an old mill in Stroud and New Lanark. New Lanark is the one that is in my mind this weekend.

I don't see great advantage in the Labour Party trying to tack a little bit to the left of the Tories whilst led by someone in a slightly nicer suit that David Cameron in order to snaffle a few marginal suburban seats. I doubt it will work and even if it did what, fundamentally, would be the point?

New Lanark reminds me that in the beginning the Labour Movement was an attempt to bring together hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who wanted to work in co-operation and solidarity with each other, with their communities, to build better lives and better politics.

Somewhere in the future i hope there is a Labour Party that will once again be able to connect  millions of people and help them tell the truth about their lives and  create a better future together.