Less than 75 members and only a couple of cabinet ministers attended this weekend’s policy forum. The National Policy Forum was meant to bring senior ministers and party representatives together to discuss policy on a very detailed level. With nearly half of the members and more than three quarters of the Cabinet not turning up, it suggests very strongly that the system is not working.
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4 comments ↓
Cos us ordinary members can never compete with Tony’s Sofa?
I don’t have a clue what NPF does, who my rep is or how it works. And I’m a bit of a hack; so how the ordinary member is meant to relate to it I do not know.
Finally, someone has the balls and awareness to admit this fundamental fact of Labour party existance.
How do you feel that the situation should be remedied, Tom?
Interesting post on Luke’s blog about party activist involvment in policy.
Feels to me we’ve lost our way on how the elected / salaried government interacts with the voluntary section of the party since the days of “Partnership into Power”.
It feels to me that Government should always have more information, and hence theoretically, a better chance of taking the right decision than the volutary party. However, it may not always be possible to share that information (for reasons of confidentiality) with a porous organisation. (Mute point as to which is the more leaky organisation!) However, a substantial element of members, if not all, join becuase they wish to influence the policy debate. An interesting dichotomy.
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