One moment, Labour’s in full stride, running Europe’s largest council and preaching renewal and reform.
The next, its councillors are walking out, its members are furious and its leadership looks utterly lost.
Four resignations made the headlines. But that’s just the surface. Beneath it lies a much deeper fracture, a rebellion against the bureaucratic culture that’s come to dominate Birmingham Labour.
Behind it all sits Sam Donoghue, the Labour Party’s Regional Director for the West Midlands. His selection process, rubber-stamped by the NEC, has alienated huge parts of the local party.
This isn’t the first time either. Four years ago, a similar heavy-handed approach by a previous regional director sowed the seeds of the current crisis.
Candidates chosen by spreadsheet
Few, if any, local shortlists. Hardly any hustings. No real ward-level votes. Candidates chosen by spreadsheet instead of by the people who knock on doors and deliver the leaflets.
When I was first elected back in 1991, members decided who represented them. They owned the process, and because of that, they owned the campaign. Today, that connection has been severed.
To make matters worse, Birmingham now runs on “all-up” elections, the entire council elected on one day every four years. There’s no buffer. Get it wrong, and the damage is instant and total.
It’s not just a few egos bruised by selection scraps. A third of Birmingham Labour’s political base has either resigned, been deselected, or is preparing to stand as independents. A rival movement of ex-Labour activists and councillors is already taking shape.
And can you blame them? When politics is reduced to management, belief dies.
Today’s Labour resembles a consultancy firm
Say what you like about the Corbyn years, but at least they inspired participation. Today, Labour resembles a consultancy firm pretending to be a political movement.
The rot isn’t ideological. It’s bureaucratic. Administrators have replaced campaigners. Control has replaced connection.
If Labour doesn’t fix this culture, and fast, Birmingham could become its national warning sign. Because when the bureaucrats take over, belief is always the first casualty.
