There has not been a more significant Labour party conference in a generation than the one that begins in Brighton this weekend. It is important partly because Labour conferences for the last 20 years have been tightly controlled and increasingly lifeless, top-down rallies; thankfully, this one will not be like that. But its importance lies mainly in the volatile political chemistry between two big democratic facts which Labour must begin to try to reconcile this week if it is to challenge as a potential party of government in 2020.
The first of these was Labour’s defeat in the 2015 general election, in which the party polled only 30% of those who voted and a mere 20% of the electorate, suffering particularly badly in Scotland, and finishing well adrift of the Conservatives. The second was the overwhelming victory of Jeremy Corbyn in this summer’s leadership election, in which he won almost 60% of the votes. The big question facing Labour, and Britain, is whether Mr Corbyn can translate the energy of his campaign and the scale of his mandate into a general-election winning offer to a nation grown sceptical of Labour.
The two events pull in very different directions. Although Labour slightly increased its vote in May, its lack of credibility on economic policy produced one of the four worst defeats in its history. As a result, Labour faces an electoral Everest to regain power. But the Corbyn victory was centred on a radically different economic policy that fed a huge increase in party membership; Labour now has more members than the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Nationalists combined. As a result, Labour brings a rare enthusiasm to a post-general election conference that might otherwise be unremittingly grim and sober.
It would be a serious error to pretend that the Labour sword that was broken in May has instantly been made whole again by Mr Corbyn’s victory in September. But the new Labour leader has catalysed a tremendous new movement of support for his outsider stance and style, some of which also speaks to a wider electorate that has had it with established politics and politicians. Yet Mr Corbyn’s Labour is not unique in this. The SNP, Ukip and the Greens, the latter two of which have been pitching hard this week, have struck that nerve too at various times, and even Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats did it within living memory.
The big challenge at Brighton will be whether Mr Corbyn’s movement for change can be harnessed to an effective strategy and programme that can reverse Labour’s decade of decline. That will depend in particular on whether the leader and his supporters can find ways of working inclusively with the parliamentary party and its supporters, who overwhelmingly opposed Mr Corbyn. This is a test for them both. It will require a readiness to compromise and display good faith, and a mutual determination not to push every disagreement to a stand-off. To embark on 1980s-style rule changes, in particular, would be disastrous. John McDonnell’s Guardian interview today seems to grasp this.
If the recent past is any guide, Mr Corbyn and his party will be treated unforgivingly by Britain’s rightwing press this week. Every difference of view, however cautiously expressed, will be depicted as the start of a civil war. Every vote will be billed as a lurch to the left or a leadership humiliation. Every off-guard stumble or silly photo will be a gaffe-prone disaster. Only those who remember the 1980s have any inkling of what is likely to be unleashed.
The Guardian view is that Mr Corbyn must be fairly judged on his actions and words. That will be our approach this week and beyond. The new leader was elected because there is an appetite for new politics, which we share. But the political landscape facing left-leaning parties and movements across Europe offers no easy rewards. Labour’s enemies will give it no quarter, but the party should be under no illusions about the scale of the challenge it faces all the same.
