Summary
Labour's traditional working class supporters are abandoning the party in their droves. But can Labour win them back without alienating the middle-class voters it needs to win the next election? David Goodhart explores the tensions between two traditions in the Labour movement - a liberal wing focussed on equality and diversity and a conservative strand that is more concerned with issues of solidarity and community. And he examines the new Blue Labour school of thought, which believes that the best way to unite the two traditions is to rethink the Big State approach that became a defining element of the post-war Labour Party's identity.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
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| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC. |
| 0:40.0 | For our terms and conditions of use, please go to BBC.co. UK slash podcasts. In this |
| 0:46.9 | week's analysis David Goodhart examines a radical plan to win back |
| 0:50.6 | labor's working class supporters in Blue Labor. |
| 0:55.0 | There's a new force in the Labour Party. You probably haven't heard of them yet, |
| 0:59.0 | but they are intellectual insurgents, trampling over party shibileths and ideological dividing lines. |
| 1:05.3 | They like blue-collar Britain. |
| 1:07.2 | They dislike most varieties of liberalism, and their ideas are attracting interest, plus |
| 1:12.4 | a few gasps of horror in the London political |
| 1:14.8 | class. They are called Blue Labor. |
| 1:18.4 | Blue Labor puts working class concerns and experience at the centre, has an affection and an understanding of the concerns |
| 1:25.6 | of working class people. |
| 1:27.2 | I don't think that New Labour really liked working class people. |
| 1:31.1 | The Labour Party was taken over by an increasingly detached liberal elite and the party |
| 1:36.7 | needs to re-establish its connections with people across the country. |
| 1:41.4 | Those are two of Blue Labor's leading thinkers. What they propose is an odd the And though they want more social protection for poorer citizens, they are skeptical about the top-down welfare state created in 1945. |
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