Democracy and Power in ‘New’ Labour

Abstract

The previous chapter discussed the process of reform, and what patterns can be seen when we consider the breadth of Labour’s organisational changes together. It was suggested that reform has been less centrally controlled than is commonly assumed: that changes were debated over a long period, drew much from the proposals of activist groups and generally involved compromise and negotiation. It was also suggested that the appearance of change was sometimes even more important to ‘modernisers’ than change itself, since a key motivation was to create a new image for the party that would be more electorally popular. This led them to exaggerate certain aspects of the reform process, which in turn helped to colour the way in which it has been understood.