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A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Narratives of Organisational Reform in the British Labour Party, 1979-2014 Jake Watts Submitted for the examination of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics University of Sussex November 2017 3 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX JAKE WATTS DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY NARRATIVES OF ORGANISATIONAL REFORM IN THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY, 1979-2014 ABSTRACT Party organisation is about more than structure and power: it is an important means through which political elites define a party and its political identity. This thesis examines narratives of organisational reform in the British Labour Party between 1979 and 2014, at times of significant debate about methods of leadership election, party governance, processes of policy-making and the union link. When arguing for particular kinds of organisational reform, elites within the Party have constructed different stories in order to contest proposals and present their visions for structural change. In doing so, they have tied together interpretations of Labour’s past, present and future with particular notions of what makes for ‘democratic’ and ‘legitimate’ politics. This temporal and cultural politics lies at the heart of the transformation the Party underwent in this period and underpins the challenges posed to its identity in recent years. In the course of this thesis, three related arguments are made. First, it is argued that the organisational debates that took place between 1979 and 2014 offer a unique perspective on the complicated and fractious identity politics of the Party as being historically rooted in collectivism or individualism, movement politics or parliamentarism. Second, it is argued that Labour’s elites have increasingly sought to individualise party structures since the decline of the left in the ‘80s. In contrast to other accounts of Labour’s organisation that focus on its structures, this thesis argues that this individualisation was as much about party identity as it was process. Third, this thesis argues that the prolonged debates about Labour’s organisational identity demonstrate how unsettled and divided the Party has been throughout its recent history. The lack of a common sense understanding of the Party's organisational character can help to explain its fractured internal dynamics since its loss in the General Election of 2015. 4 Acknowledgements This project would not have happened had it not been for the stimulating and inspiring faculty of the Politics Department at the University of Sussex. I want to thank Aleks Szczerbiak, who first made me take seriously the idea of doing a PhD. I am also incredibly grateful to my supervisors Emily Robinson and Paul Webb, who have been a constant source of support and encouragement. Special thanks also go to Paul Taggart, who was willing to step in whilst Emily took maternity leave and has given me a great deal of help and advice. Without these people, this work would not be what it is. The research presented here was made possible by countless others who have worked to preserve, archive and make available the material upon which I have drawn. Thanks go to staff at all of the libraries and archives I have used. Darren Treadwell at the People’s History Museum in Manchester was especially helpful in suggesting material and avenues for research. The collections of the British Library at St Pancras and here at the University of Sussex Library also proved to be invaluable. Thanks also to those who were willing to be interviewed as a part of this study: Richard Angell, Ann Black, Charles Clarke, Murray Elder, Maggie Jones, Neil Kinnock, Len McCluskey, Tom Sawyer and Larry Whitty. The contributions of all of these individuals has been instrumental. In the course of my time at Sussex, I have been exceptionally lucky to have been surrounded by such brilliant, giving and warm people. I would particularly like to thank Jessica Garland, Rebecca Partos, Sam Power, Serena Verdenicci and Kiron Ward, each of whom have listened to ideas and made this process so rewarding and enjoyable. My family have been there for me every step of the way. My parents have supported me in everything I have done over the years. They have always been there to listen and to help in any way that they could. Without them, I would not be who or where I am today. Finally, I wish to thank Ryan. His love and incredible spirit has pushed me forwards and kept me going. In him I know that I have my biggest champion. Funding This research was supported by the University of Sussex and funded by the ESRC (Grant No. ES/J500173/1). 5 Contents List of Abbreviations......................................................................................................... 6 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 7 2. Narratives and the Cultural Politics of Organisational Change .................................. 21 3. Labour’s Cultural and Organisational Politics ............................................................ 40 4. A Crisis of Identity: The Battle for the Labour Party Machine 1979-81 .................... 59 5. Making Labour ‘Modern’: Organisational Reform and the Rise of Individualisation 1987-92 ........................................................................................................................... 87 6. Reimagining the Union Link: Party Reform 1992-3................................................. 117 7. Labour’s Cultural Turn: Partnership in Power 1994-97 ........................................... 142 8. Remaking a Movement: ‘One Nation’ Politics and Party Reform 2010-15 ............. 173 9. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 202 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 213 6 List of Abbreviations AEEU Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union CLP Constituency Labour Party CLPD Campaign for Labour Party Democracy CWU Communication Workers Union EEPTU Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union EPLP European Parliamentary Labour Party GMB General, Municipal and Boilermakers Union GMC General Management Committee of the CLP (also known as GCs) JPC Joint Policy Committee LCC Labour Co-ordinating Committee LHASC Labour History Archive and Study Centre MSF Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union NEC National Executive Committee NPF National Policy Forum NUPE National Union of Public Employees OMOV One Member One Vote PLP Parliamentary Labour Party SDP Social Democratic Party TGWU Transport and General Workers Union TULRG Trade Union Link Review Group USDAW Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers 1. Introduction …organisation is at the root of change which a democratic socialist party especially has got to perpetually undertake. Not for chameleon reasons – quite the contrary – but because our duty is, whilst respecting and learning from the past, to address the present and to make a design – a practical design – for the future. In all that, organisation is fundamental.1 — Neil Kinnock, 2015 On the 13th of September 2015, shortly after his improbable victory in his bid to replace Ed Miliband as Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn described how ‘the scale of Saturday’s vote is an unequivocal mandate for change from a democratic upsurge that has already become a social movement.’ In acknowledgement of this upsurge, and in reference to his own interpretation of Labour’s roots, he was clear in his view that ‘we will succeed by making a Labour a movement once more.’2 In evoking this particular conception of the Party’s past, and its value for its present politics, Corbyn was engaging in the cultural and temporal politics that underpin Labour’s organisational identity. He was constructing a story about where Labour had once been, what it had lost, and what it needed to do to recover its organisational effectiveness for the future. In all of this, narrated connections between events – whether real or imagined – are essential. This thesis is dedicated to the examination of Labour’s organisational past, from which both Corbyn’s own vision of a return to movement politics, and the mechanisms through which he was elected, sprung. Specifically, it sets out to examine how, through narratives, Labour’s elites have built visions of Labour’s organisational identity at key moments of organisational reform between 1979 and 2014. In doing so, it focuses on how the Party’s elites, who are essential to the conduct of organisational reform, tied particular notions of the Party’s history, its present circumstances and possible futures to ideas about what makes the Party ‘democratic’ or legitimate in the way that it is organised. Consequently, 1 Interview with Lord Kinnock, 13th July 2015. 2 Jeremy Corbyn, ‘Britain Can’t Cut Its Way to Prosperity. We Have to Build it’,