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One Voice from the Labour Left: After Defeat — What Now?
“I never lose. I either win or I learn.” Nelson Mandela
The loss on Thursday 12th December was total. And it was heartbreaking. Not just for us as political partisans, but for what will happen to millions of people over the next five years — no matter who they voted for.
But Labour and the Left must learn from this defeat.
There is nothing good about defeat. But there’s a responsibility to understand the reasons for a defeat and the greater the defeat and the greater the cause, the greater is that responsibility.
Both now and later there will be a temptation for soft words to ease any pain and calm worried egos but if we truly believe in this cause, we need to be brutally honest — any temporary pain is secondary to that. We must learn the lessons that need to be learnt.
Our opponents will say publicly whatever allows them to define the last election in order to help them win the next one. We will need to find the truth as best we can.
Traditionally, I share a prediction with a friend the night before an election, but this time round, I couldn’t give anything approaching an objective assessment. I was just too close to this one. We were all too close to this one.
