Picking Up the Labor Party's Pieces
GELB, NORMAN
KINNOCK'S CHALLENGE Picking Up the Labor Party's PlgCCS BY NORMAN GELB London They say that if you stand on a street comer anywhere in Wales and for no particular reason shout, "Yes!" at least...
...This, he hopes, will convince the public that Labor can point the way to a renascent, proud, exciting Britain...
...Foot, named three years ago as a "caretaker," not only failed to take care...
...And a hiatus in the infighting should free him to pursue his more ambitious objectives...
...But one should not forget that Harold Wilson posited similar goals and captured the popular imagination in much the same way when he look over the Labor leadership in the 1960s...
...Indeed, he amply displayed his skills at the recent party conference where he was overwhelmingly chosen to succeed Michael Foot as leader...
...After a first term extraordinarily free of major mishaps, ministers are becoming accident-prone in word and deed...
...Thatcher is a skilled, ruthless parliamentary manipulator, and several Labor back-benchers worry that she will soon make mincemeat of their young chief...
...These are Thatcher's steak and potatoes, as she has frequently demonstrated to devastating effect in parliamentary debates...
...The radicals' backroom maneuvering and overt threats(" You walk your shoes straight-or else," one prominent militant told Kinnock) have so far availed them little...
...dence that Labor has been saved from degenerating into a marginal political movement, let alone feel that the electorate believes it has the makings of the next government...
...As for Neil Kinnock, the new Welsh head of the British Labor Party, if he does not have much of a singing voice, he does shine brightly in both preaching and debate...
...In the light of the landslide victory registered by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in last June's national balloting, and the continuing bitter confrontation between Labor's extreme Left wing and everybody else in the party, it is remarkable how cheery and confident many Laborites seem...
...Thus he prefers to focus the party's criticism on the scheduled deployment of American cruise missiles here in December, and to leave the larger question on a low flame for the time being...
...The Social Democratic Party (SDP), in alliance with the Liberals, continues to seriously challenge Labor's status as the major Opposition party in Parliament and the country...
...The Iron Lady may find as well that not all Conservatives will back her to the hilt as she continues the push to systematically dismantle the welfare state...
...For now, the Welshman has more to fear from the Social Democrats and Liberals attacking on his flank...
...This desire is reinforced by the knowledge that several of Labor's most experienced parliamentarians, whom Kinnock badly needs at his side, have clearly signaled their unwillingness to serve in a shadow cabinet that promulgates unilateralism as the party's governing defense doctrine...
...at least lOtotal strangers will yell back, "No...
...Another unresolved question is whether Kinnock, when tested in the House of Commons, can overcome his complete lack of ministerial experience...
...Even Tony Benn, who despite his ouster from Parliament in June remains the extremists' titular head, was prevented from recapturing a strong power base in the party executive...
...It has also become evident that while Kinnock is strong on principle and passion, he is often weak with figures and specific details...
...This has reduced the influence of the far, or "outside" Left, which demands positions the vote-winning moderates cannot abide...
...So far it looks like Kinnock will at least temporarily smooth over the conflict, along with other less emotional disputes that undermined Labor during the campaign...
...As a first step toward enforcing unity in the ranks, Kinnock has taken firm control of the Labor apparatus...
...Kinnock's advisers recognize his shortcoming, and since his election have even sought to keep his encounters with experienced television inquisitors to a minimum...
...But Kinnock understands that before he can seriously tangle with either of Labor's rivals, he has to put his own house in order...
...There is much more to Kinnock, however, than talk...
...Others askwhen Britain's long-promised economic revival will materialize...
...Yet unlike the majority of those who share this stance, he realizes that it was a major liability for Labor in the last election, and that by the next time Britons go to the polls the international situation might be thoroughly transformed, rendering the current controversy irrelevant...
...Peppering his speeches with references to John F. Kennedy and Churchill, Kinnock wants to fashion a new image for his party...
...Without suggesting that Labor stray from its traditional principles, he stresses that these will remain no more than noble sentiment unless the party forms the next government, and therefore compromises have to be struck among the various factions on policy issues...
...There must be no activity in the Labor Party superior" to the drive to unseat the Tories, he has insisted...
...An example is the adultery scandal that forced Trade and Industry Minister Cecil Parkinson to quit his post at the mid-October'Conservative conference...
...The new man's approach is perhaps most apparent in his handling of the explosive issue of Labor's attitude toward nuclear weapons...
...And by nicknaming himself " the Welsh windbag," he has removed a good deal of the sting from the mockery his verbal talent is almost certain to draw in the press...
...As Jimmy Carter among others found, though, good beginnings in politics do not always spell triumphant endings...
...Credit for this must go to Kinnock, who at age 41 brings youth, wit, conviction, and of course rhetoric to his new job...
...Kinnock himself strongly supports unilateral disarmament...
...Thatcher's majority is so substantial that, certainly for a time, Kinnock can afford to be bested by her in legislative duels without Labor suffering much greater damage than the Tories already have the power to inflict...
...To be sure, Thatcher and her loyal band of Tory brothers can be expected to show increasing signs of fatigue...
...Kinnock's failure to know and benefit from the rules could ultimately make Labor an impotent laughing stock, missing chances to force debates on key issues or to delay controversial government measures...
...On the other hand, the new Labor leader has four years to find his feet as he faces the Prime Minister across the chamber of the Commons...
...he managed to lead "the party of the people" to the brink of oblivion...
...Internal struggles have been the biggest factor in his party's loss of political credibility, and heisdeterminedtoputa stop to them...
...One senses a profound feeling of relief, accompanied by strong intimations of rejuvenation...
...Labor now has a man at the helm who could conceivably bring it out of the wilderness after its worst electoral showing since 1918...
...It's not that the Welsh are naturally argumentative, despite what many Englishmen might tell you to the contrary...
...They simply love the beauty of words, and believe that song, sermonizing or disputation are required to do them justice...
...The SDP's new leader, former Labor foreign secretary David Owen, is attractive, dynamic and articulate enough to match Kinnock in the personality stakes...
...Today, in his old age, most La-borites grimace at the mention of Wilson's name...
...As anyone who has toyed with parliamentary procedure can test i fy, there are tricks to the game that have nothing whatever to do with the substance of any argument or position...
...The positive reaction to Kinnock within and without the party augurs well for him...
...Nonetheless, Kinnock has a long way to go before he can say with confiNorman Gelb is The New Leader's regular correspondent in Great Britain...
...The latest cuts in the already underfunded and understaffed National Health Service have evoked howls of anguish from some members of the Prime Minister's party...
...He aims to erase the voters' conception of it as a cranky organization that always accentuates the negative and concentrates on what must be destroyed, rather than what needs to be created...
Vol. 66 • October 1983 • No. 20
