A manifesto to turn the heads of old Labourites
A pro-Brexit party that is economically left-leaning and culturally traditional has emerged. Might it become a serious player?
Even those of us who are active in politics tend not to get terribly excited about election manifesto launches. They are invariably tepid, staged affairs - especially so in an age when radicalism and fresh thinking – particularly of the economic sort – are in such short supply, and the main parties agree on so much.
Yet one manifesto launch earlier this week did turn my head. It was that organised by the Social Democratic party (SDP). Yes, that SDP. ‘But didn’t they die off in the 1980s?’ I hear you ask. Well, sort of. Formed in a blaze of glory as a breakaway from Labour in 1981, with heavyweights such as David Owen, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Wiliams – the ‘Gang of Four’ – at the helm, the party formally merged with the old Liberal party in 1988 to become the Liberal Democrats. A small band of Owenites rejected the merger, however, and clung to the SDP name, continuing as a separate organisation until their star fizzled out a few years later. The party then operated as something of a rump for the next couple of decades before, around five or six years ago, it began to flower again, largely as a result of having employed a strategy of building from the grassroots rather than employing a top-down approach.
The revived party has been represented in the European parliament, won a smattering of seats on local councils, and secured respectable votes in a couple of big mayoral elections. High-profile supporters include the former editor of Radio 4’s Today programme Rod Liddle. It’s podcast – ‘SDP Talk’ – has featured interviews with several leading political activists and intellectuals, and it is standing candidates in 122 seats in the forthcoming general election. The party is pro-Brexit and describes itself as ‘patriotic, economically left-leaning and culturally traditional’.
Now, I tend not to take much interest in minor parties. Too many of them are populated in heavy numbers by cranks and obsessives. I don’t sense that with the SDP, however. There are a number of serious people involved with it, and its leader, William Clouston – I declare an interest: I’ve met him – cuts an impressive figure.
Anyway, about that manifesto. Its title ‘Homecoming’, an epigraph from the great Christian socialist RH Tawney, and a foreword that includes the line ‘Britain is our home - not a shop or a charity. A civilised people feel the need to belong somewhere,’ all give a clue as to its content. There is a tremendous amount within the document that will resonate with old Labour types – people (such as I) who have looked on in despair as their party abandoned its traditional working-class roots to become a vehicle for the interests of the professional and managerial classes.
The manifesto’s main themes are family, industry, community and nation, and it strongly promotes the idea of the active state. Pledges include the nationalisation of the railways, water industry, gas transportation and electricity distribution; the development of new nuclear power facilities; an end to mass immigration and a rejection of the ‘open borders’ philosophy; increasing manufacturing as a proportion of GDP; a reduction in the UK’s trade deficit; new industrial development in the regions; an increase in the national living wage; minimum rates of taxation on large global enterprises; the abolition of ‘non-dom’ status; the construction of 100,000 social homes per year; a series of proposals aimed at protecting and enhancing family life; the banning of smartphones in schools; the defence of women’s sex-based rights and single-sex spaces; the abolition of all specialist ‘equity, diversity and inclusion’ roles in the public sector; the jailing for a minimum of 10 years of anyone over the age of 18 who is convicted of three serious offences; and the vigorous protection of freedom of speech other than where it incites lawbreaking.
Such a programme would undoubtedly appeal to that large chunk of the electorate who tack Left on ecomomics and Right on culture – what has been described as the ‘sweet spot’ of British politics – but under the present first-past-the-post system it is doubtful that that appeal would translate into significant numbers of votes. And some on the Left who may otherwise be sympathetic to the SDP’s programme might baulk at the understanding it has reached with Reform UK not to stand against each other in certain key seats.
But who knows? With a manifesto rooted in the concepts of work and belonging, and with its rejection of untrammelled markets and radical progressivism, the SDP might just be on to something. And I suspect that British politics will hear a lot more about the party in the coming months and years.
A reminder that you can follow me on X/Twitter: @PaulEmbery
I hope one day you’ll stand for them, Paul. Star power matters. You’ve got it.
I couldn’t agree more with you, William Clouston is superb.
The SDP have a candidate in my constituency, and I will be voting for them. Until a few years ago I did not know that the SDP existed, until I learned that Ben Cobley had joined them. (He is the author of 'The Tribe - The Liberal-Left and the System of Diversity', if you have not come across him, or his book which is well worth a read.)