The Purple book – Labour’s next manifesto?

Labour’s leaders believe that the party’s current obsession with colour to differentiate schools of thought is a distraction from its purpose. But at its conference in Liverpool there is no doubt that between Blue, Red and Purple Labour there is a kalaidescope of new thinking emerging. Labour maybe struggling to get its message across to the public but seems to be in a thoughtful, creative place at present.

Question is, is the leadership colour blind?

Maurice Glasman is being rehabilitated. The architect of Blue Labour is looking happier these days, after his ‘EDL moment’ earlier this year. A lot of Labour members here in Liverpool appear to be relishing the Blue Labour debate – it’s stretching intellectual muscles and allowing the party to talk politics rather than policy. That’s a strong theme here – that, at the grassroots, Labour needs to be less worried about debating politics.

David Miliband said so yesterday at his Movement for Change event and many agree. Purple is all the rage here this week, with the publication of the Purple Book by the Progress thinktank (Progress is a Labour think tank set up by Derek Draper back in the day). And it’s an intellectual feast.

Now I know that most right thinking people would rather chew their own arm off than read a set of political essays these days, but for those interested in scrying runes about Labour’s future this book will be invaluable. Just as the Lib Dem equivalent Orange Book was a slow-burn statement of intent, so the Purple Book gives an indication of Labour’s next phase.

There are a couple of real stand out chapters, most noteably from new MPs Tristram Hunt and John Woodcock. Hunt’s deftly written essay on a new political economy points out that the public has bought the Conservative analysis of the debt crisis and that Labour has to accept that rather uncomfortable fact and move beyond it fast. Woodcock’s piece, while without Hunt’s academic panache, makes a big, ambitious and radical pitch for new community ownership models for banks and other bodies.
The book gives tantalising glimpses and glances at what might be to come from the new intake. It does what many people have been calling for from the leadership this week – simply sets out what key party thinkers actually believe. They have not waited for the policy reviews writing, instead, from the heart with passion. It’s not a manifesto today, it won’t win votes right now, but the Purple Book plants 20 purple seeds which given time will shape Labour policy.