The radical rebranding of Labour on which you report (Leak reveals Labour plan to focus on flag and patriotism to win back voters, 2 February) smacks of the worst kind of “followship” in seeking to uncritically adopt opinions expressed in focus groups as policy. Instead, the party’s leadership should be asking how its existing core values can be made relevant to people expressing those views, as well as to its present activists and supporters.
The patriotism that it seeks to display is actually manifest in the collective actions and spirit of public service that have come to the fore during the pandemic through volunteering and fundraising. These are in stark contrast to the rampant individualism that has been at the heart of Conservative policies for the past 40 years and that has resulted in the unacceptable levels of deprivation and inequality exposed by the virus.
Ian Bretman
London
• I love my country and all its wealth of history and diversity, culture and beauty, but I hate the inequality, the greed, the worship of money. I am very worried about the way the government are nibbling away chunks of our democracy. I am concerned about the erosion of regulation and standards in industries, food imports, workers’ rights, health and safety. The state of our public services is appalling as funds continue to be chipped away. But what appals me most is the dishonesty of this government, which treats people, with the exception of their rich friends with at best indifference, and at worst, contempt.
Your article on Labour’s strategy left me feeling utterly depressed and bemused with the talk of a patriotic display. Patriotism is best demonstrated by a government that works to give everyone the wherewithal to live a decent life. What’s wrong with just telling people how Labour are going to deal with the ills that are making this country sick? Please let’s just tell it how it is with honesty and conviction, not window dressing.
Jane Darling
Hythe, Kent
• “This party is a moral crusade or it is nothing,” Harold Wilson told the Labour conference in 1962, by which he did not mean waving the union jack, but more equality, better, universal public services, a better education for all (Open University) and a better planned economy for the benefit of all – not just a few. And Wilson won four elections, more than any other leader.
Instead of chasing a small number of “red wall” voters who have switched to Conservatism, should Labour not listen to the 16 million who did not vote at all in 2019 and need engaging?
Christine Edzard
London
• The glimpses you reveal of Labour’s new strategy carry a distinct whiff of the BBC satire W1A (“no part of the brand is insulated” and “belonging needs to be reinforced through all messengers”). Labour is not a brand, any more than Black Lives Matter is a brand. They are movements for social and economic betterment whose message must always be framed in concrete proposals for future action, not in adopting symbols and attitudes that comfort their critics. Beveridge was a social economist, not a marketing manager.
John Hambley
Snape, Suffolk
• Ironic that the Labour party is being urged to adopt a nonsensical Queen-and-country rebranding by an agency called Republic.
Anthony Ferner
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
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