Mehdi Hasan

Mehdi Hasan’s polemical take on politics, economics and foreign affairs

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"New generation"? Miliband really meant it

Umunna and Reeves are among the "newbies" joining Labour's new shadow cabinet.

By Mehdi Hasan Published 07 October 2011 17:15

At the start of his first conference speech as Labour leader, in September 2010, Ed Miliband proclaimed:

Conference, I stand here today ready to lead: a new generation now leading Labour.

He used the phrase 14 times in that single speech.

A year later, in the form of his first shadow cabinet reshuffle, Miliband has shown us how actions speak louder than words. The Labour leader appointed six new MPs to his shadow cabinet today: Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves, Michael Dugher, Stephen Twigg, Margaret Curren and Liz Kendall.

It is a bold (unprecedented?) move -- but one that I believe will pay dividends. Here's what I wrote in my NS column 12 months ago:

Where are the newbies? If Labour wants to construct an appealing shadow cabinet, rather than a cabinet of shadows, the party has to be bold and unorthodox; it has to promote new blood.

Members of the 2010 intake, such as Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves and Lisa Nandy -- all young, dynamic, articulate and intelligent -- have kept their heads down. A senior Labour MP says: "Stop mentioning Chuka's name . . . You're going to make him unpopular in the eyes of his peers and wreck his career."

Why? Because "experience", it seems, matters. Candidates are keen to stress their experience, ministerial or otherwise, in the various missives clogging up inboxes across the PLP. But experience is overrated. As Tony Blair proudly says at the outset of his memoir, A Journey, he arrived at No 10 on 1 May 1997 with no ministerial experience. The same is true of David Cameron -- elected to the Commons as an opposition MP in 2001 but Prime Minister by 2010. Barack Obama, meanwhile, spent just 26 months in the Senate before running for the most important job in world politics.

Nor does a lengthy CV automatically translate into good political judgement. As Ed Balls has argued, the "fortysomethings" in the cabinet who were attracted by the prospect of an "early" general election in the autumn of 2007, including himself, Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander, were proved right in the end, compared to the "greybeards", such as Jack Straw and Geoff Hoon, who wrongly urged caution.

This isn't about ageism (Curren, after all, is 52), or turning a blind eye to the value of experience. It is about the political advantage to Miliband of having a fresh crop of Labour frontbenchers who are untainted by the Blair-Brown wars, don't have to blindly defend the last Labour government, are loyal, energised and enthusiastic, and, crucially, symbolise "change", "newness" and a break with the past. Opposition, remember, is a team activity; it isn't a solo sport.

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Tags: Shadow Cabinet Ed Miliband Labour

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24 comments

Wed, 2011-10-26 11:51 — The Law (not verified)

What a surprise, Hasan quoting himself again (his quote of himself comprising 57% of the 'article').

Fri, 2011-10-07 20:21 — David Lindsay

I am now older than at least two members of the Shadow Cabinet, including the one about whom everyone is talking. Ho, hum.

The appointment of Stephen Twigg proves two things. First, that Twigg no longer has a Blairite bone in his body, or else Miliband would never have countenanced him. And secondly, that the "free" schools are now a non-issue. The only specific policy on which the Conservative Party contested the last Election, but how many of them are after all? And how many of those were private schools facing bankruptcy but nevertheless still possessing an eye for the main chance?

The existing ones will be left alone under Labour, but that in itself demonstrates that they are not worth bothering about. The Honourable Toby "I wasn't posh enough at Oxford" Young needs to get over himself. And this whole debate needs to get over him, too.

But Andy Burnham is a loss, even if he will be good at Health (where the lead in the Lords seems to have passed from Shirley Williams to a close Miliband ally, David Owen), and even if I do need to start admitting that Health is now at least as important to my own life as Education is.

Within and around the very academic Labour Government of the day, there was great concern that the events of 1968 would lead to a loss of State funding for universities, and thus to a loss of academic freedom. C B Cox and A E Dyson were Labour supporters when they initiated the Black Papers, and Cox was vilified by the Thatcher Government and its apologists when he resisted its, their and her Gradgrindian philistinism. As much as possible of the anything but Gradgrindian, anything but philistine grammar school tradition was maintained at classroom level by individual, often very left-wing teachers until they themselves retired.

To say the least, they would have had no objection to the inclusion of Latin in the English Baccalaureate, any more than Andy Burnham, with his English degree from Cambridge, can really share the view of those who object to that inclusion.

Tue, 2011-10-11 23:00 — Colm (not verified)

1) It's Curran, not Curren.

2) Calling Stephen Twigg (Member for Enfield Southgate 1997-2005) a 'newbie' is missing the mark somewhat.

Fri, 2011-10-07 21:05 — Mark (not verified)

Great yeah, at a time of economic crisis we have people almost fresh out of Uni in Shadow "Cabinet!!" positions.

Oh nevermind there's more women, ethnics etc. It's all good........

Fri, 2011-10-07 23:19 — Freeman2

... and they stand for, what?

Wed, 2011-10-19 14:13 — Gracie

Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones
07 October 2011 at 16:58

Stop talking Tory drivel. These people just promoted into the shadow cabinet were new MPs in 2010. get over yourself.

Wed, 2011-10-19 14:17 — Gracie

Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones

You really do need to go take a long lie down in a darkened room and stop allowing yourself to be hypnotised with Tory rhetoric. Your comments on Ed' pretending to be "posh" are quite frankly absurd and totally bizarre.

Thu, 2012-02-16 17:48 — Federico

What Labour needs is a genuine commitment to the genuine wealth creators. There's no more living on the ever ever.. or carrying political baggage we can ill-afford. We need to discourage idleness and reward hard work, punish criminality, whether that's the thug on the street or the suit in the city, defend the defenseless and let's also end foreign wars, and arrest a few bankers. http://www.besthomeimprovementideas.org/

Sat, 2011-10-08 09:42 — Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones (not verified)

Ed Miliband , Like Blair, Brown and Thatcher is a fake,someone trying to move away from their working class roots and pretend they are something they are not, Cameron will help this country because he is 'posh' not despite of it,he can see the unfairness in society, as genuine wish to change it, which is why the Right in his own party hates him,the thinks they are far too spoilt. It was/ is the 4 people who did/ will, betray the ordinary working person of this country, it is called running away from your past.

Thu, 2011-10-13 17:02 — Dolores Haze (not verified)

Mehdi, your closeness to Ed Miliband will be an albatross around his neck, and the neck of the Labour Party. Your hateful speech against non Muslims who you describe as 'kaffars' and being like animals and cattle, is vile bigotry and hatefulness. Why should non Muslims who you demonise and use hate speech about, ever trust a party or a leader that trusts you?

Sat, 2011-10-08 10:34 — Luddite (not verified)

The last thing Labour needs is more student politics. What Labour needs is a genuine commitment to the genuine wealth creators. There's no more living on the ever ever.. or carrying political baggage we can ill-afford. We need to discourage idleness and reward hard work, punish criminality, whether that's the thug on the street or the suit in the city, defend the defenseless and let's also end foreign wars, and arrest a few bankers.

Tue, 2011-10-18 19:13 — Whig (not verified)

Mehdi - what utter tosh!
The lack of experience of Blair, Cameron and Obama is probably a big part of why we're in such a mess.

Obama inherited intractable problems and has done nothing at all to make any progress in three years on any front.

Has Milliband ever had a job outside of politics ? Would you seriously say that he's a better candidate for PM than Alan Johnson ? Really?

Thu, 2011-10-13 22:14 — FA

"It is about the political advantage to Miliband of having a fresh crop of Labour frontbenchers who are untainted by the Blair-Brown wars, don't have to blindly defend the last Labour government"

This is all true but Ed Miliband and Ed Balls don't fit within this category. Is one of these newbies perhaps the next Labour PM? The Tories certainly had to wait for Cameron - who hadn't even been an MP in 1997 - until they could get back in. If it is a newbie who becomes the next Labour leader it'll be Rachel Reeves. Chukka Ummunna is a bit of a lightweight on the economy and bizarrely this is where he is focused. Reeves however is very very smart.

Tue, 2011-10-18 20:13 — Fred West (not verified)

I agree with the writer of this piece that the majority of the Labour Party are kaffars no better than animals and cattle. What the world needs now is JIHAD!

Wed, 2011-10-12 20:38 — thinkov

fuck off luddite

Fri, 2011-10-07 17:29 — Arturo Bandini (not verified)

Did I miss something, or has Stella Creasy been inexplicably overlooked?

Mr Umunna may be exceptionally telegenic but comes across as rather mannered and stumbles over his own thoughts a little too often for my liking.

Stella is the star (see what I did there?)

Fri, 2011-10-07 18:13 — Spud Middleton (not verified)

"The best chance Labour has of electoral victory in 2015 is to distance itself as far as possible from the Blair/Brown years."

Yeah...good point. Labour needs to distance itself from its recent past...and its present, and...if Ed and this bunch of lightweight careerist fuckups perform as I expect...its future as well. So basically, Labour just has to distance itself from itself.

Then again, maybe a rebrand is in order. What about "New Labour"? That would seem the obvious choice for this new generation. Oh no...we've had that one.

Maybe "Old Labour" would be more appropriate? Only thing wrong with that one is that it would attract comparisons with the 'bad old days' when the party had a vague but identifiable socialist heritage...and we wouldn't want that now would we?

So it looks like they're gonna have to choose a name which actually reflects their current position in terms that people can understand and get to grips with. Given their agenda right now, I think the best way to sum up Labour's values and ethos would be 'The Conservative Party'. You can't fit a fuckin fag paper between them.

Only difference I can detect is that they're led by a myopic little nerd rather than an arrogant rich bastard.

"Vote for the kid who's lunch money you used to nick before you chucked his briefcase into the urinal." That'll get out the vote.

Fri, 2011-10-07 17:41 — David (not verified)

Couldn't agree more.

The best chance Labour has of electoral victory in 2015 is to distance itself as far as possible from the Blair/Brown years.

Fresh faces and fresh ideas are the best way to win back those lost votes. This is a good start.

Fri, 2011-10-07 17:46 — Smiler (not verified)

Sounds like you are buying into the propaganda.

Sat, 2011-10-08 20:26 — Hal Berstram (not verified)

Good post Mehdi, but Stephen Twigg isn't really a "new MP" - he's a member of the 1997 intake who lost his seat in 2005 and then won in a different seat in 2010.

Fri, 2011-10-07 17:58 — Mrs,M L Bonwick-Jones (not verified)

Mr Hasan this is not the New Generation,
but the Rise of the Brown Boys and you know it.
We have Michael Dugher adviser to Gordon Brown, now to ed Miliband!
Tom Watson, The other well known fact about him is the fact that he brought Tony Blair Down!
The other well known group consisting of the following:-
Whelan, Draper,McBride,Balls,Dugher and Watson otherwise known as the famous 6,For bulling and Smears, And how many of those do we still have in the Shadow cabernet, and lurking in the shadows! Ed Miliband is living very dangerously

Fri, 2011-10-07 18:06 — J Hill (not verified)

This is all a waste of time. The country is scared, does not want "kids" and this is no way a government in waiting. It all feels a a bit student union to be honest.