“I will make the central priority of party organisation the creation of
a genuine mass membership party.” Tony Blair’s acceptance speech
on being elected as leader of the Labour Party July 21st 1994
Despite being re-elected with a healthy majority at the recent General Election the Labour Party is finding it increasingly difficult to counter the growth of the British National Party in many of its traditional heartlands. Blair’s party has a declining number of members, the vast majority of whom are uninvolved, lack motivation and are getting older.
AMICUS member Ray Jones has been a Labour man all his life. The one time Senior Shop Steward at Hydro Aluminium Motorcast was made redundant last year. Since then he has found alternative employment in a AMICUS sponsored project which visits schools to talk to pupils about health and safety, this job taking him off the shop floor for the first time in his working life.
Ray Jones' grandfather fought in the Spanish Civil War against Franco in the 1930s and he is determined to play his part in preventing the growth of fascism in Britain.
Living in Morley near Leeds he was relieved on June 16th to see Labour’s Joe Medley limp to victory in the Topcliffe ward by-election with 392 votes, just seventy more than the BNP in second with 332 votes.
Asked to explain why the BNP did so well he said; “it was due to a lack of interest from the local councillors and the sitting MP” combined with the fact that “the Labour Party in Morley has no organisation and don’t seem interested in trying to re-engage with what should be its core voters.”
He was not surprised at
the BNP vote and asked whether they might repeat their success in the future
he replied “yes” as in his opinion the BNP are “far more organised
than the Labour Party, with a lot more commitment to winning” as demonstrated
by the fact that Labour’s campaign consisted of two hours of leafleting
on Sunday June 12th, significantly this activity
took place in areas away from the main base of support for the BNP. Only four
members could be persuaded to shove leaflets through doors, there was no canvassing.
It could be argued that in the circumstances a Labour victory was little short
of remarkable.
Morley is approximately five miles from Leeds; it has a wide range of housing that includes 3 large council estates. In recent years a large number of new private houses have been constructed.
“The three council estates are in a bad state of repair” and “tenants have been let down by Labour in many ways” says Ray Jones.
In recent years a group calling itself Morley Borough Independents has run Morley Town Council. These are according to Ray Jones “failed former Labour and Tory members” whose group now appears to be in decline and they finished a poor third in Topcliffe with 238 votes.
“The BNP campaigned very hard and have contact with local people simply by having a presence in the area” said Ray Jones. This echoes the BNP’s own candidate Chris Beverley who in a web-site article said that as a result of the election campaign they are “now in contact with a bunch of enthusiastic new supporters” who have been added to “my monthly ‘Voice of Freedom paper-round in Morley.” Some of these supporters he claims have been recruited as new members.
Meanwhile a local meeting is to be held shortly says Ray Jones with the intention of bringing together “church leaders, trade unions and community groups” in an attempt “to develop ways to combat the threat from the BNP locally.”