Chair, conference, fellow social democrats…
Good to be here. The way ahead – that’s the title. And we picked it because on a long march it’s a good idea at some stage to put your bags down, take a rest, look back over the ground you’ve covered and look ahead towards your destination.
Let’s start at the start – not 1981 but seven years ago. Put up you hand if you attended the 2017 conference in Birmingham. That’s three of us then… There were fifteen people there. The party was on life support. It had 60 members, virtually no money, no votes, no regional organisation. It lacked a governing Rule Book and had barely any election capability. It had a long history and a registration with the Electoral Commission but no clear political philosophy. Be under no illusion – the task of reviving this party was huge.
So we started to build some foundations. The first was a structure. The SDP is a democratic party with an elected leader and a member-controlled National Committee and Regional Parties. You can’t pretend to be a democratic party. The SDP Constitution and Rule Book is a contract with members. Candidates and policies are approved by democratically – never imposed from the top.
The second foundation – equally important – was our political philosophy. The space we occupy in the political landscape. This is The New Declaration. In a world where most political parties are really quite unprincipled – with little idea as to their values – our little grey book has served us well. It has given the SDP something very precious – clarity, intellectual bearings and coherence.
Michael Oakeshott said that politics was the art of persuasion. True. The New Declaration was certainly persuasive. Of the many endorsements this one is my favourite: “I couldn’t have dreamt of doing such a good job myself and didn’t want to change a single comma. I thought it was such a true transformation.” David Owen. That means a lot.
So we went on putting in more foundations. The End of Indifference is, I think, a brilliant work of political economy, a sharp critique of the debt-based model which has beggared the country. Our film – 10 Truths About The Migrant Crisis – properly diagnoses the causes of the chaos and points to solutions. Our agriculture green paper Farms, Fields & Food is a timely call for ecological sense, healthy produce and national resilience in food supply. On many of these issues the SDP is ahead – way ahead – of the ruling parties. That work culminated in our election manifesto – Homecoming – which was by a country mile – the best manifesto on offer.
Our philosophy is important, but the SDP is not a think tank. It’s a political party and the currency of political parties is votes. And on that, great progress has been made. The record is as follows. In the 7 years prior to 2018 we secured a total of 594 votes in all elections. In the 7 years since we’ve secured 196,428. A little different. We’ve contested 8 parliamentary by-elections – on 4 occasions getting better results than some in the 1980s. But sometimes even taking a tank to a by-election doesn’t get you the votes you want.
We’ve contested 3 major metropolitan mayoral elections increasing our vote every time. In London Amy Gallagher built on Steve Kelleher’s efforts in the London Mayoral by quadrupling the SDP vote to over 34,000. Dave Bettney doubled our vote in the South Yorkshire to over 20,000. He retained our deposit, beating the Lib Dems and Greens in Doncaster, and coming within 800 odd votes of beating the Tories – the governing party remember – in Barnsley.
In general elections we’ve shown exponential growth. After barely registering in the 2015 and 2017 we fielded 20 candidates in 2019 securing 3,295 votes. This year we pushed up to 122 candidates and over 33,000 votes – with 6 SDP candidates getting over 1,000 votes and 2 saving their deposit. More broadly, among full-spectrum national parties – only the 5 major parties now lie ahead of us. Astonishing progress.
But leading a party that hadn’t taken a seat since the 80s, my first priority was simply to win an election. But where? The answer came in the form of a young man called Wayne Dixon and a place called Middleton Park. You all know the story… We took the seat from Labour and have taken two more since.
A few years ago, people might have said… well, we don’t take the SDP very seriously. I can promise you – the Labour politicians losing their seats to us in Leeds don’t share this view.
There have been so many highlights on this journey. I’d like to mention a few… Patrick O’Flynn joining us – as Member of the European Parliament. Receiving an e-mail from Robert in early 2019 saying “Rod Liddle has joined” – breakthrough moment.
Dave Bettney meeting a Liberal Democrat who wasn’t a vegan. Actually we need that verified. Perhaps the BBC could help? Updating the party’s logo in 2022. Being the only party that consistently opposed pandemic lockdowns and the only party honest enough to criticise BLM’s rather flaky political philosophy. The electoral pact with Reform UK was also an achievement – although it was a bit like the supermarket trolley with the wobbly wheel…
The brilliant work over the years on the party’s Twitter and YouTube channels – engagement growing month by month, year by year. Getting all our candidates nominated and over the line in the general election and putting out two party election broadcasts. Phenomenal. Rod referring to the other parties’ candidates as morons on the Telegraph podcast. It could have been worse… he could have called them idiots or imbeciles…
Wayne explaining to a member of the public the central problem with Labour’s governance in Middleton Park – “They don’t do owt”. Mrs Dixon’s fantastic reaction to Wayne’s election win. The call for Andrew to Fetch The Dogs…
I have some personal highlights. Being a regular guest on Mike Graham’s show on TalkTV and building up the SDPtalk interview series. Smoking rollies on House of Lords Terrace with Lord Glasman. Always remember what Maurice said: ‘The essence of politics is to retrieve the sense of home from the de-humanising forces of the market and the state.’ Correct.
Managing to persuade John Cleese over tea and cake to speak at our conference – after drinking five pints and smashing a packet of camel with my favourite UnHerd writer. And reflecting after that meeting the surreal experience of spending an hour and a half with Basil Fawlty…
Being part of Rod’s ‘Gang of Four’ pub quiz team at St John’s Chapel in Weardale and seeing his reaction when we eventually lost. Don’t tell him it’s just a quiz. Defending Rod live on LBC after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had intervened about a controversial column he’d written in the Spectator. – It was a joke…
So that’s it – that’s the path we’ve taken. To be part of this journey is to have contributed to a unique period in the SDP’s 44-year history. Why? Because the past seven years is the only period in which the party has actually grown. Interesting fact. And always remember that the SDP’s revival is of us, in us and because of us. We can be very proud – not of what we started or completed but of what we’ve built. And I’d like to thank every single one of you for making it happen – particularly my core team of Valerie, Robert, Ross, Dan, Paula and Paul – but all members, candidates, activists, officials and donors. All of you. Thank you!
Now everything I’ve described is already history. It’s in the past. We can learn from it but this conference is about the future. And we must turn to the future now.
Let’s be clear – our aim is to build the SDP into a national political party – with a national profile, a membership sufficient to challenge every seat, and the resources to do so. This is a huge task – bigger than the one we’ve accomplished. And it will require a step change in the party’s performance.
Success, I think, depends on three things – Our direction, the necessary resources and our values.
First, direction. I think our political bearings are correct. In Britain we are the post-liberal conservative left, the top left quadrant of the political compass. Under my leadership, that’s not going to change. We are uniquely positioned. Most people agree with the SDP on most things. The problem is that too few of them know it.
Which gets us to the second pre-condition of success – the necessary resources. We need the means to tell our story, to mobilise our offer. That means a professional headquarters – Hilary may say a few words about that. It means growth in membership and bigger annual income. It means greater support for the regional parties which are the campaigning heart of the party. It means greater capacity in press and media functions. It means greater capacity in production and distribution of campaign materials. It means a broader political leadership team. Success depends on this.
But it’s not just about direction and resources it’s also about values. There are certain qualities needed to reach our goal. We require loyalty and fidelity to our party. We need comradeship and friendship – to fight and win together. All those messy evenings in Leeds… merriment, broken chairs – thankfully, what happens in Leeds stays in Leeds… We require tenacity – progress arrives in fits and starts and surges, sometimes you’ve just got to hold things together. Some roads ahead will be rutted. We need to show bravery – cowardice is the main failing of our ruling class and the cause of many of our problems.
We need to retain our seriousness. We must stay on the high ground. The test is simple – we should never be in a position where any member of the public – in a pub or cafe – wouldn’t be proud to say they’re a social democrat. That’s it. That’s the test. This matters, I think, because merit comes before progress, effort before achievement and in politics recognition and respect precedes success – something that Ernie Bevin said and understood.
Going forward there is considerable uncertainty. We know Labour will fail but we don’t know how Reform will perform, nor what progress Kemi Badenoch’s Tories will make. But we do know one thing – we must row our own boat and not get distracted in doing so.
To finish. The revival of the Social Democratic Party is an act of defiance to the way our country has been governed. To spit back at the gale – against the rottenness of the ruling parties. But it’s also an act of belief – of faith if you like – that we can do better and we must.
A friend said to me recently – I love the SDP. It’s the soul of the country.
I agree. Thank you.
