The Labour Party

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History of Labour

The Labour Party was founded in 1900, and aimed to bring working class people into parliament.

Founding of Labour

The Labour Party was established at the start of the twentieth century by the Trade Union Congress, the Independent Labour Party, the Fabians and the Social Democratic Federation.
The Labour Party was founded with the aim of representing the working class and bringing them into parliament.

Old Labour ideas

Old Labour is a term used to describe the labour party when its political ideology was based on socialism and when the party had strong links with trade unions, socialist societies and the working class.
- Old Labour ideas included a belief in nationalisation, opposition to capitalism, a belief in equality and redistributing wealth to the poor from the wealthy, continually investing in welfare services and greater state control over the economy.

Clause IV

Some of Old Labour's ideas were outlined in the Labour Party’s 1918 constitution
Clause IV outlined the party’s belief in the need for wealth to be redistributed and in state ownership of main national industries.

1983 manifesto

Michael Foot, the Labour leader in the 1983 general election, proposed a manifesto which clearly demonstrated ideas of ‘Old Labour’ including policies for greater state control of industries, more workers rights and nuclear disarmament.
- The manifesto was described by Labour MP Gerald Kaufman as ‘the longest suicide note in history’ after Labour lost the election.
Some believe that the 1983 loss was because of the the party’s left-wing ideas.
After 1983 the Labour party tried to reform.

New Labour

New Labour is what the rebranded and reformed Labour Party was known as from 1994 onwards. Tony Blair had a big influence on the policies and image of New Labour.

Rebranding the Labour Party

After a number of general election defeats between 1979 and 1992 the Labour party began a process of reforming to widen its appeal among the electorate.
New Labour was the label for the Labour party under Tony Blair used by Blair at a Labour Party conference in 1994.

New Labour ideas

New Labour advocated a number of key ideas including:
- Reduced trade union power in the party and decreasing the reliance on them for funding.
- Increasing the party leader's power over areas such as candidate selection, making policy and party structure.
- Moving away from traditional Labour policies on tax and spending.
- Acceptance of Conservative privatisation programmes.
- Acceptance of devolution and of membership of the EU and NATO.
- Support for private schools and healthcare.

Clause Four

Under the leadership of Tony Blair, Clause IV of the party constitution which outlined key socialist ideas was reworded.

Recent Labour Leaders

Since Tony Blair, there have been four Labour leaders. Each leader has brought about new ideas and policies that have changed the direction of the party.

Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as leader of Labour and PM in June 2007.
Under Gordon Brown, the main ideology was to increase the state’s role in both the economic market and society.
- Some high street banks were nationalised.
- Brown put in place an economic policy focused on managing the deficit without introducing cuts to public services.
Brown’s economic policy was similar to the ‘tax and spend’ policies of Old Labour.

2010 general election

The 2010 manifesto outlined a focus on job creating and increasing the minimum wage.
- The 2010 manifesto also outlined Labour’s support for the NHS and education.
- There was a focus on the need for constitutional reform in the 2010 manifesto under Brown.

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband became Labour party leader in 2010, after Labour lost the election.
Miliband was labelled ‘Red Ed’ after his party leadership election victory, which was a result of the support he received from the trade unions.
Ed Miliband suffered a significant electoral defeat in the 2015 election.
- This led to those on the left of the party calling for it to return to its socialist roots and those of the right stating the need to return to the principles of New Labour.

Jeremy Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn was elected party leader in 2015 with 59.5% of first vote preferences.
Corbyn’s election was seen as a surprise by many because he was seen to be a committed socialist and regular rebel within the party.
Corbyn regularly opposed the party elite, particularly under Tony Blair’s leadership.

Corbyn's policies

The policies Corbyn advocated for included:
- Reducing wealth inequality and promoting a more equal society.
- Placing peace as the core objective of foreign policy.
- National education for all.
- Achieving full employment and increasing job security for workers.
Under Corbyn, Labour was greatly divided between its left and right.
- There are factions such as ‘Progress’, who believe in New Labour values, and Momentum who are the campaign group in support of Jeremy Corbyn.