Labour…the real nasty party!

Famously, at the 2002 Conservative Party Conference, the then Tory Chairman and future Prime Minister Theresa May called her own party ‘the nasty party.’

Or, to be fair, it’s what she said many people called the Tories.

And she was right, we did and we do.

I should point out, this isn’t about individual Conservatives a number of whom I count as friends (indeed, I co-host a podcast with one) but rather about their policies-in government and opposition-over many decades.

Kicking the poor whilst they’re down, being less than friendly (to say the least) in regards to LGBT+ communities, leaving whole communities to rot in the 1980s, running down our NHS, and on and on and on.

Very nasty indeed.

But there’s another party, I suggest, that is very much running them close.
I of course speak of His Majesty’s Government, the Labour Party.

The latest example?

A Labour MP by the name of Torsten Bell decided at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party Wake, er, sorry, Conference, to fat-shame our leader Ed Davey.
He said:

What Britain needs to tackle Farage is a vision. And the vision they need is not a fat bloke in a wet suit which is what the Lib Dem’s have got to offer.

When a clip of this was posted on social media, Bell was rightly roundly condemned.

Our wonderful leader in Liverpool, Councillor Carl Cashman, quote-tweeted the video saying:

No shock here. The Labour Party are the nasty party.
Adding, I’ve never even heard of Torston Bell.

Speaking of my ace friend Carl, who was the breakout star of our own Conference,

I quote-tweeted the Bell video saying, ‘If Torston Bell likes comparing physiques with Lib Dems, maybe he can do so with Carl Cashman and see how well he fares.’

City of York Lib Dem Councillor Darryl Smalley, meanwhile, said:

Labour are the new nasty party. Going after the disabled, the poor and now body shaming for cheap jokes. Let’s make sure they’re not in such a jokey mood after next May…

And our leader in Southwark, Councillor Victor Chamberlain, noted:

How unbecoming and sizeist for a minister to say this crap. This is childish politics. You resort to this level when you can’t debate with substance.

So far, since this row blew up last night, Mr Bell has been absent from social media.

If he has anything about him at all, he’ll apologise for his crass remarks.

But I expect he hopes the row will just fade away.

Well, we’ll see about that.

What hopes of a progressive alliance?

Given the above, the idea of working with Labour (and others) as part of a progressive alliance to ward off the threat of Reform may seem rather unlikely.

But we may have to accept that that is what is needed if the nightmare of Nigel Farage as Prime Minister is not to become a horrifying reality.

At Lib Dem Conference I conducted an exclusive interview with Neal Lawson, director of the Compass think tank after their fantastic fringe meeting.

He told me:

There’s an overwhelming awareness that this is existential; the threat of Reform and Farage is no longer a threat it’s a reality. So, therefore, if we want a future that’s liberal and democratic then a) the party (Lib Dems) has got to up its game in terms of its voice, its cut-through, its argument, and its organisation, but b) that we’re going to have to work out how we work together as progressives because the ‘Unite the Right’ thing is coming down the track. 200 seats where they (Reform and the Conservatives) had of worked together they would have won. It’s not going to be difficult for them to do the exact same deal that Ed Davey and Keir Starmer did at the next election under the radar. So we’ve got a political ideas challenge and we’ve got an organisational challenge as well and hopefully we’ve got three years and we can start putting both of those things in place.

Look out for my full interview with Neal over on my Substack soon.

I’m an author!

I’m delighted to say that I’m among a number of Lib Dems, including my friend and local Councilllor Michael Mullaney, Lord Chris Rennard, and MP-turned-Councillor Stephen Williams, who’ve written for my friend Iain Dale’s brilliant new book ‘British By Elections 1769-2025: The 88 By-Election Campaigns that shaped our politics.’

I happened to write about one which we, rightly, didn’t actually stand in given the circumstances.

That being the Batley and Spen by-election of 2016 which was brought about by the appalling murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox.

Given our increasingly polarised politics it’s worth reminding ourselves of Jo Cox’s now famous words in her excellent maiden speech in the House of Commons.

We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.

The book is a fab read and I suggest is a perfect gift (maybe Christmas present) for the political obsessive in your family. You can buy it here.

Happy reading!

* Mathew Hulbert is a former Councillor, is a regular commentator on TV and Radio, and is Co-Host of the Political Frenemies podcast.