Five things we learned from Labour’s election defeat inquest
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour had ‘toxic culture’ says review of election failures
A review of the Labour’s 2019 general election campaign has found that a “toxic culture” inside the party’s election-fighting machine contributed to its defeat.
Negative perceptions about the leadership, concerns about the party’s incoherent Brexit stance and doubts about the manifesto culminated in Labour’s worst result since 1935.
The 154-page report was produced by a group of MPs, union leaders, officials and activists operating under the name Labour Together.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jeremy Corbyn
The left-wing Labour leader was deeply unpopular, and his support had plummeted between 2017 and 2019. Three months before the election, says the report, 67% of voters disliked Corbyn - most of them strongly - and only 12% liked him.
The authors put Corbyn’s unpopularity down to his handling of complaints about antisemitism in the Labour party, his ambiguous position on Brexit and party disunity under his leadership.
The report says research suggests an “intense” dislike of Corbyn was a key factor among voters who switched from Labour to the Tories, The Guardian reports.
The views of one 52-year-old woman who voted Labour in 2017 are summarised in the report as: “Frightened at the possibility of a Marxist government. Disgusted at Corbyn being a terrorist sympathiser. Most disturbed about plan to nationalise BT as I fear it would allow a Labour government to spy on internet users.”
Brexit
Labour struggled to put forward a coherent Brexit strategy, having attempted to appeal to left-wing Eurosceptics and more “New Labour” remainers.
In a poll of Labour members carried out for the report, 57% said the Brexit policy of promising a second referendum on any Brexit deal as the single most unpopular and challenging idea to sell to voters, citing views such as “dithering”, “dire” and “reflecting division”.
The policy alienated both remain and leave voters. Of those who voted for Corbyn’s Labour in 2017, 1.9m remainers and 1.8m leave voters abandoned the party in 2019.
Many of those who did vote Labour in 2019 did so despite the party’s Brexit stance rather than because of it, with remain voters preferring to stop Brexit entirely and leave voters wanting to “get Brexit done”.
Manifesto
The report found that while many of Labour’s individual policies had support, as a package they seemed unrealistic and voters did not believe they could or should be delivered, reports the Daily Mirror.
While policies like free broadband for all were popular, Labour supporters worried about the financial viability of enacting the policy. “The resistance came mostly as people evaluated the overall package of proposals,” say the report’s authors.
Activists quoted in the report said the seemingly endless manifesto announcements had “an advent calendar feel to it, with each new day opening a door promising more stuff”.
Labour also suffered because of policies that it had backed in some way, but not formally adopted in its manifesto, the report says. Its autumn conference vote to abolish private schools went down badly on the doorstep, even though this was never official policy.
A Datapraxis analysis of YouGov data found that “many came to the conclusion that the manifesto as a whole was unrealistic, risky and unlikely to be delivered. This undermined the positive response to individual policies, making them seem less credible.”
Disunity and disconnect
The party suffered from perceptions of being plagued with disunity and infighting, without clear leadership, says the London Evening Standard.
“It was unclear who was in charge” of the election campaign, the report found, and relationships within the party were soured by years of infighting which had created a “toxic culture” and “significant strategic and operational dysfunction”.
This confusion and lack of coherence was “a central problem afflicting Labour’s ability to develop an election strategy and prepare to implement it” according to the report’s authors. The result was policy delays, including confusion over Brexit, and a disjointed national campaign.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Winning again won’t be easy
However bad the 2019 result was for Labour, things could get worse. “Despite now representing fewer constituencies than at any time since 1935, Labour cannot afford to be complacent about the seats it currently holds,” the report says.
Getting rid of Corbyn may not be enough to change the party’s fortunes for the better, according to the authors, who say it would “be a mistake to believe that a different leader, with Brexit no longer the defining issue, would in itself be sufficient to change Labour's electoral fortunes”.
This assessment is “perhaps the true value of the report for the new leadership”, says the BBC’s political correspondent Iain Watson.
“It serves as both a reality check for activists and an opportunity for the new regime to argue that a break for the past is necessary.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
India elections start amid violence, hate speech accusations
Talking Points Narendra Modi seeks a third term while critics worry about the future of the country's democracy
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Biden is smart to keep the border-security pressure on'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu worries mount as virus found in milk, cows
Speed Read The FDA found traces of the virus in pasteurized grocery store milk
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Barack Obama 'behind Starmer transformation'
Under The Radar The former US president urged Labour leader to 'talk more openly'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's biggest political donors
The Explainer With the 2024 general election set to be the highest-spending contest ever we look at who is giving to which party and why
By The Week UK Published
-
Keir Starmer: The Biography – five things we learned
Why everyone's talking about New book offers glimpses behind the Labour leader's political persona
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
It's the economy, Sunak: has 'Rishession' halted Tory fightback?
Today's Big Question PM's pledge to deliver economic growth is 'in tatters' as stagnation and falling living standards threaten Tory election wipeout
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What will £28bn green investment U-turn cost Labour?
Today's Big Question Dropping flagship pledge 'will confirm workers' scepticism of the endless promises of jam tomorrow', said union leader
By The Week UK Published
-
Why your local council may be going bust
The Explainer Across England, local councils are suffering from grave financial problems
By The Week UK Published
-
Rishi Sunak and the right-wing press: heading for divorce?
Talking Point The Telegraph launches 'assault' on PM just as many Tory MPs are contemplating losing their seats
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet, The Week UK Published