There are two competing visions of the Labour Party. I exaggerate. But for the sake of debate, consider: the Manchester Declaration 2011, and two posts in the last 24 hours one from a former general secretary, Peter Watt yesterday, and the other from the secretary of Labour First, Luke Akehurst.
Peter wants us to believe politics is boring and irrelevant. Luke is providing a smokescreen for party staff acting in defiance of and to the detriment of Ed Miliband's leadership. We will see a lot more of this before Conference 2011.
In the meantime, the authors of the Manchester Declaration 2011 are seeking to offer a vision of the future Labour Party focussed around four core themes:
- A Healthy and Dynamic Party
- An Inclusive Party where everyone is welcome, living our values and representative of our communities
- A Campaigning Party rooted in our communities and making a difference
- A Democratic Party with open, informed policy debate — a partnership of equals
If you want to express your preference for this sort of party, please sign up now on the Labour Democratic Network website.