‘Wilful Blindness’: Effects and Perceptions of New Labour’s Party Management

Abstract

This article shows how Lewis Minkin’s specific approach meticulously unpicks the mechanisms of party management to reveal the vulnerabilities of New Labour’s managerial culture and behaviour. Minkin breaks new ground in our understanding of organisational change and offers a better grasp of the dialectic between organisational culture and party reputation. The first section of the article presents the main counterproductive effects of the New Labour managers’ ‘rolling coup’ on the project it was supposed to sustain, with detrimental effects on intra-party democracy and organisational vitality. The second section highlights some of the main external misconceptions about the party and about the impact of the reforms by analysing the effect of party management on perceptions of New Labour and of Tony Blair, both in the United Kingdom and abroad (in France in particular), exploring the paradox of Blair’s standing abroad as a model to emulate, despite being described at home as ‘the most reviled former prime minister since 1945’. The conclusion draws out lessons from Blair’s management style – and eventual downfall – for star-struck foreign politicians and commentators.

The (Unintended) Consequences of New Labour: Party Leadership vs Party Management in the British Labour Party

“…In fact, the Blair/Brown duopoly was a constitutive part of the project and one of its main weaknesses. The new emphasis on consensus-building, on bringing party and government closer together, instead turned a pluralistic party into a highly factionalized one (Avril, 2016). In their unshakable belief that any public display of disagreement would be electorally damaging, the New Labour managers engaged in party management that was so heavy-handed that it eventually led to systemic failure.…”

“…As a string of events exposed the party leadership's willingness to bend the rules (starting with the Ecclestone scandal, then with the attempts to stop Ken Livingstone, and culminating with the controversial handling of the Commons over the Iraq war), New Labour soon found itself mired in a narrative of manipulation and deceit. As a result, from early on, public perceptions of New Labour were that it had a toxic influence on British political life (Avril, 2016). Other arguments to support the view that the modernisers' achievements fell short of their objectives include the fact that many of the changes associated with New Labour (such as the renegotiation of the relationship with the trade unions, or the more voteroriented approach to policy-making) were initiated under Neil Kinnock and John Smith, well before Blair took over the party in 1994.…”