A day out in Millbank Towers

Rebecca Bowers, a Parliamentary Assistant to a Blairite Labour MP, gives a worker's eye view on efforts to mobilise research staff to help clone the model New Labour MP.

Millbank is still trying to control the legions of new MPs through their Parliamentary and constituency staff. Last month I was invited to a day of lectures and workshops on the "new partnership", "winning again" and of course, "stepping stones to the next general election".

We were told that Labour is now a "modern" and "professional" party with, yes, a Business Plan. "I have no problem with the term", Tom Sawyer assured us. MPs are seen as an important resource in this evolution and who better to make sure that the most is got out of them than their staff. "Don't forget it's your jobs that will be on the line too," Peter Mandelson told us with what might have been a smile.

In February a much bigger event was addressed by Blair, Brown and Mandelson, as well as Tom Sawyer and Margaret McDonagh. The QEII conference hall was packed in the morning with lots of new MPs besides their staff and Party workers. In the afternoon workshops (what else) MPs' staff were invited to detail a typical week of activities for our employers and then plan their days more efficiently on a large timetable so as to make time for telephone voter contact and "membershipping". Did I imagine resentment amongst Party workers at the idea that MPs might count going to receptions or on foreign trips as part of their work?

The latest meeting was for South East region only: "we have scaled down our expectations," said the Head of the Elections Unit. They had forgotten, he admitted, that candidates had become MPs with lots of new duties! There was even talk later of the contracts between MPs and their CLPs (if you want to be a key seat you've got to "blitz", ie. knock on voters' doors, for two hours a day for 46 weekends a year and for two weeks in the recess -- among other things) becoming more "flexible".

This time, an MP's constituency assistant had been invited to speak about what his daily work actually entails. "And you want me to campaign as well?" he asked. I think he spoke for us all. MEPs' staffs were even more disenchanted with the targeting of next year's Euro election as only a stepping stone.

The constituency assistant told the organisers: "Don't underestimate as a campaigning tool the role of a caring helpful constituency office. That is the MP's reputation." Yes, and don't forget that Government policies are more likely to be effective, never mind popular, if MPs work closely with organisations and groups in their constituency -- including of course those in the business sector; help organise and get ministers to address conferences; make speeches themselves and appear at all kinds of events; promote local initiatives by providing them with a Westminster showcase; lobby ministers on behalf of aggrieved interest groups and individuals. These are the kinds of things that staff are paid to help their employers do -- by the public purse and not by the Labour Party besides, sometimes, trying to change the law.

Hearts and minds first, voting intentions second. Less of your bullet points and frantic running around and more of those social events and political discussions that Millbank's own surveys reveal is what new members want. A bit less easy to control, of course. But I for one won't want my job if by the next election I am ashamed of what the Labour Party has become.

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