What the frock's going on?

As Labour goes into its first Party Conference in power for 15 years the mood should be one of jubilation but some major own-goals will have taken the shine off the celebrations.

And it won't just be the grey weather in Liverpool putting a damper on things. As if the immediate decision to axe ten million pensioners' winter fuel payments (arguably necessary but surely one that could have been deferred a year) hadn't done enough damage, now it's Wardrobegate, Frockgate, Specgate, Footiegate, Apartmentgate, Grace-and-favourgate - even frigging Swiftiegate for all I know. 

On top of all of which tabloid froth comes a slew of more substantive, and potentially much more damaging, allegations of patronage in the form of jobs or access for the boys (and girls) who have been Labour donors and/or advisers. All the things, in fact, for which Labour rightly used to lambast the Tories. Angela Rayner, herself a beneficiary of the loan of a Manhattan holiday apartment from Lord Waheed Alli*, made a characteristically robust defence of it on the Laura Kuenssberg show this morniing but her credibility has been dented.

But, with a ministerial responsibility for housing, she had already come under fire for having bought her council house under Margaret Thatcher's controversial Right to Buy scheme. The apartment loan merely added to the perception of an out-of-touch jet-setting elite with its snout in the trough, only this time from supposedly working-class socialist politicians. Has Partygate had no lasting impact in Whitehall and Westminster? The public may be forgiven for thinking plus ça change...!

The subtext seems to be that while these things are expected of, and to a degree tolerated from, the Tories, Labour should be held (and should certainly hold itself) to a much higher account. What exasperates is that Labour, having spent five gruelling years in Opposition under Sir Keir Starmer, during which it relentlessly criticised the Tories for sleaze, has fallen into the self-same trap. It had plenty of time to work out for itself how this might play out with the electorate, stirred-up by an opportunistic rightwing press and media. It should have reined itself in in preparation for power. 

The fact that it didn't speaks of naivety at best. Rather than adopting a self-denying ordinance it seems to have enthusiastically embraced a self-indulgent one. Did they not consider the optics? No-one said politics is fair but if the electorate clearly demands a display of rigorous, hair-shirt abstinence from its politicians in exchange for tolerating more government-imposed austerity, then that's what they should have been given. 

Quite the reverse. They've been treated (subjected might be a better word) to an unedifying spectacle of excess. Remember the fuss over George Osborne's mendacious "we're all in this together" when patently we weren't? Remember Labour's critique of the Tories: "one rule for them, another rule for the rest of us"? Their hypocrisy now they are in power is all the more breathtaking. 

On a human level, I totally understand the thrill, after years of dreary opposition, of suddenly finding themselves in demand. The trappings of power, the sycophantic attention, the deference, the schmoozing, the courting by the rich and powerful, must be a heady cocktail. The corridors of power, access-all-areas passes to the inner sanctum of Downing Street, chauffeur-driven limousines, security details, international flights, audiences with world leaders, seats at the top table, country residences - who could fail to be flattered and seduced? 

Well, not the Labour cabinet, obviously. The Tories have a lot to answer for in poisoning the well of public trust but, like Caesar's wife, Labour must be seen to be above suspicion. Unfortunately, after all its over-indulgence,, the new government is experiencing a bad hangover, which it should have foreseen and made every effort to avoid. 

Instead, it allowed itself to get carried away, perhaps understandably, by its unexpectedly huge parliamentary majority. But having made the fatal error of believing its own publicity it urgently needs to reset the tone and adopt a more sober one for the next five years. Hopefully Conference will act as the bucket of cold water. Brutally put, the party's over and it's time to administer the Alka-Seltzer.

Labour needs to ensure that the Party survives the partying.

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I should declare that, in a previous life, I had the pleasure of meeting Lord Alli on several occasions in a work capacity, and even had a lift in his chauffeur-driven car. As a peer who has taken the Labour whip in the Lords, and as a prodigious fundraiser for the Party, I can't really see what all the fuss is about on his being granted a Downing Street pass to organise events there. 

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