Originally published @ 6:24 am, Thu 19th Aug 2010
"Roy Hattersley. Now why do I know that name?" said the bus driver taking me out to Kimberley for a meeting at their Miners' Welfare.
The journey took 30 minutes abd that time we'd had a cracking conversation about buses, transport policy, inconsiderate car drivers, customer care natioonality and the last general Election.
Customer care - talk about it. She was known by everyone on the bus. One young women had even run to the bus stop when she'd seen here, not to catch the bus but to tell the driver that she was expecting in April.
A bit unfair to cite that she'd forgotten who Roy Hattersley was, but she was perhaps a reminder as to why things like choice can't be written off as something that only the right can care about. In all that we do, we have to know that unless people delivering services know that people as customers can choose not to use your service,
And that perhaps was my main quibble with Roy on an evening that was as Roy himeself put it very enjoyable.
Roy also used that line that he'd stayed where he was in his politcal life and the Labir party had moved from left to right around him.
It's a great line, but to me underlines why such a one-dimansional analysis of politics is so limiting.
Notes of the meting follow.
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There’s been far more meetings than we are used to in August.
The leadership contest means I’ve heard Ed Miliband twice, David Miliband, Ed Balls (twice) Diane Abbott and tonight Andy Burnham.
But the extra has been Roy Hattersley, addressing Broxtowe Labour Party at Kimberley Miners’ Welfare Club.
Local Councillor Richard Robinson, in introducing Roy, contrived to feign ignorance of Roy’s football loyalties, to attempt to present him with a Leeds United mug. Roy’s first words were he’d never been so insulted in all his life. All sweetly done and set the meeting off in good humour.
Roy’s messages were clear (though my notes aren’t, so in essence, Roy said–
- Cameron’s Conservatives are the same old Conservatives;
- the Liberal Democrats were providing cover for the Conservatives;
- Labour is plainly the only progressive party
- People who voted Lib Dem have been betrayed.
- A lot of what Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did was good;
- Labour lost because it was not clear about the values that it stood for;
- We should not retreat into a “comfort ghetto” ; upsetting no-one is not the way you win elections;
- Labour’s values are freedom and equality; equality being the best way of increasing freedom for all; power and wealth should be more equally distributed;
- Labour was afraid of putting up taxes when we shouldn’t have been;
- He’s angry that some of the old thinking is still around, such as Lord Myner’s assertion in the Guardian only on Monday that we should accept the market economy as the best way of improving efficiency, when markets and banking had only recently got us into a big mess;
- Chicago school of economists envisage markets as the way forward cos they help those who already have the money;
- Individualism will not solve our problems; working together will.
- The key criteria for our next leader is, someone who is utterly confident in our values; he is supporting Ed Miliband;
- The NHS should remain as a public institution.
- The choice agenda implies some things (e.g. hospitals, schools) must be worse than and what we want is for all to be good;
- He had no doubts of Gordon Brown’s character and convictions; he wanted Gordon Brown to be himself.
- He predicts the coalition will collapse within 2 to 3 years;
In response to my question, he said he thought MPs had improved much since 12964, but regretted the growth of purely professional politicians, who thought too much like civil servants.
He was scathing of questions phrased in terms of congratulating the minister or prime minister.
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