Soft left

The soft left is a faction within the British Labour Party. The soft left began life as one of the more centrist factions in the party in the mid-1980s, but with origins in the historic left of the party.

For the Australian political tendency, see Ferguson Left.

History

The distinction first became evident when left-wingers such as Neil Kinnock abstained from voting for Tony Benn in the election for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 1981. The term came to be used in contrast to hard left, who were more explicitly socialist in rhetoric, remaining associated with Benn.

The parliamentary group which came to be associated with the soft left was the Tribune group. The Tribune group was formed around the newspaper of the same name and had represented the party left as a whole until Benn's allies formed the Socialist Campaign Group. The Labour Co-ordinating Committee grew to become the soft left's main factional organisation in the 1980s, despite having begun its life as a Bennite or "hard left" body.

Figures identified with the soft left in the 1980s included Michael Foot, David Blunkett, Robin Cook, Bryan Gould and Clare Short. The 1980s soft left did begin to diverge over time; for example, some figures (such as Blunkett) became loyalists to Tony Blair by the end of the 1990s. However, activist figures such as the National Executive Committee member Ann Black and a range of MPs have continued to work as part of the 'broad left'.

Contemporary soft left

The term was occasionally used during Labour's period in government from 1997 to 2010 to describe Labour politicians who were positioned to the left of New Labour, but to the right of the Socialist Campaign Group.

In the 2010s, the term soft left has been used to describe politicians such as Ed Miliband or Lisa Nandy, who were seen as ideologically on the left wing of the Labour Party, but perceived to be more willing to make political compromises than their hard left counterparts in Labour. The phrase has been used to describe political figures such as Sadiq Khan.[1]

In 2015, Neal Lawson, the chair of the think tank Compass, identified the organisation as a successor to the soft left. Compass disaffiliated from Labour in 2011 in order to open up their membership to people belonging to other political parties.[2] The activist group Open Labour was launched in 2015 with the aim of developing a new forum for the soft left political tradition within the party, which it hopes to recast as the "Open Left".[3][4] In the 2017 general election, several Open Labour activists were elected to Parliament including Open Labour Treasurer Alex Sobel, Emma Hardy and Rosie Duffield.

Keir Starmer, the current leader of the Labour Party, is described as being on the soft left and Angela Rayner, the current deputy leader, identifies herself as soft left.[5][6]

Labour politicians on the soft left

The following Labour politicians are often considered on the soft left of the party, but may not identify themselves as such:

gollark: I suppose that may be an alternative to using some old Keansian surplus equipment which makes it.
gollark: Oh, is Lemmmy's shop up again?
gollark: I don't actually think concrete is *sold* anywhere now.
gollark: Selling what? Concrete?
gollark: [full stop omitted for legal reasons]

See also

References
  1. Ganesh, Janan (3 August 2015). "The soft left is the real threat to Labour". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  2. Lawson, Neal (24 July 2015). "Without the soft left, Labour is doomed to splinter". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  3. Wintour, Patrick (9 December 2015). "Labour activists launch new group on party's left". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  4. Azim, Jade (9 December 2015). "More than just an interim".
  5. Williams, Zoe (21 January 2020). "Keir Starmer's soft-left approach is the unifying force that Labour needs". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  6. Moss, Stephen (28 July 2017). "Labour's Angela Rayner: 'Ideology never put food on my table'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  7. Ganesh, Janan (3 August 2015). "The soft left is the real threat to Labour". FT.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  8. Rampen, Julia (28 September 2016). "Andy Burnham quits shadow cabinet: "Let's end divisive talk of deselections"". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  9. Fisher, Trevor (15 August 2018). "Blair's legacy is toxic. That's why we need a soft left revival". LabourList. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  10. "Factions of the Labour Party". wacomms. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  11. "New Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds tasked with taking on Rishi Sunak". The Daily Telegraph. 7 April 2020.
  12. Pickard, Jim (11 July 2016). "Angela Eagle carries the hopes of Labour's soft left". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  13. "Keir Starmer keeps his friends close and his enemies closer in astute first reshuffle". New Statesman. 5 April 2020.
  14. Cowley, Philip (2018). The British General Election of 2017. Springer. p. 84.
  15. "Corbyn gives Labour defence brief to anti-Trident MP". Financial Times. 6 October 2016.
  16. url=https://twitter.com/AndyHull79/status/780036181962678273 |website=Twitter |accessdate=14 May 2020}}
  17. Hill, Dave (1 February 2016). "A Sadiq Khan win in London would expose the failings of Jeremy Corbyn". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  18. Stone, Jon (26 September 2016). "Labour leadership contest abuse 'reminded me of far right', MP Lisa Nandy says". The Independent. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  19. "Who is Jess Phillips? Meet the Labour MP who's expected to run for party leader". Evening Standard. 3 January 2020.
  20. Pine, Sarah (13 July 2016). "Owen Smith: Labour's new challenger from the soft left". LabourList. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  21. Lawson, Neal (4 April 2019). "Labour is at war with itself. What's needed? The soft left". LabourList. Retrieved 14 July 2019.

Further reading
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