On this morning’s Today programme, the Labour Party member and Liberal Conspiracy Editor, Sunny Hundal, explained why Labour had no recognisable policies by saying that the Labour Party were playing “the long-game”.
He suggested that Labour were stepping through clear, tactical steps and that “of course” they wouldn’t be splashing policies around this far off from an election.
This argument from Sunny has two disastrous conclusions for Labour.
If, as Sunny suggests, Labour are playing the waiting game to woo voters closer to the general election, the obvious question is why are they not concerned about the up-coming European elections, or all the local elections that have come and gone. Should they not be trying to win these elections?
Suggesting that Labour is playing the “long-game” is synonymous with saying, “Labour has a complete disregard for local and European elections….we only care about Westminster”.
If however, Labour is not playing the “long-game” like Sunny suggests, the crux of the Today programme’s questioning remains – is it not problematic that no-one knows what post-New Labour stand for? How do you expect to win an election when no-one knows what your party stands for and think that the leader doesn’t hold sufficient leadership qualities?
Which is it Labour – a disregard for anything outside of Westminster, or a floundering party with no recognisable policies?
Hynd's Blog 
Watching Alastair Campbell lecture on strategy, I have to say that I really don’t think Labour has one right now. Pre-1997 Labour did. That was: modernisation; ‘New Labour, New Britain’. Everything they did up until then – the tactics – were designed towards that aim. Now, this Labour team might have the One Nation mantra, but no-one outside the Westminster bubble knows anything about it. I don’t think the waiting game is working very well. They’re carving out a negative identity – the anti-Tory, anti-cuts (well, sort of…and this is diminishing) – rather than a coherent, proactive one. In other words, they have no strategy. Or if they do, no-one knows it. And, finally, the biggest risk in this is this: what if the Tories succeed, economically (C4 news today shows unemployment falling)? The negative identity will vanish and they will lose.
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