There was a story this week by Kevin Maguire in the Mirror suggesting that Ed Miliband may try to give his party a new name, such as ‘Progressive Labour’.
It’s a silly story as such an attempt would not get anywhere. Political branding is, like it or not, an important consideration for any political leader nowadays. However, ‘Progressive Labour’, which was apparently suggested by some Labour bigwig, is an especially ridiculous name-change proposal.
Both Tories and Lib Dems love using the term ‘progressive’ to describe themselves as they decimate the public sector. I am happy to surrender ownership of ‘progressive’ to the Government – it’s always seemed a tad vacuous to me anyways.
Labour in opposition should surely be trying to present itself as a viable alternative. When people hear politicians from all three main parties describing themselves as ‘progressive’ they may think ‘Hmm, what is the etymology of progressive, which party can best lay claim to this term?’ or they may take this as confirmation that ‘they’re all the same, the bunch of *#~’!
Though perhaps Red Ed sees inspiration for this name from elsewhere? The Progressive Labor Party of the US believes in fighting directly for communism…
Tags: Labour
February 7, 2011 at 1:01 pm
The idea of changing the name has been around since the late 50s at least (when some wanted Labour to be re named as the ‘Radical Party’, IIRC). Silly then, silly now.
February 17, 2011 at 9:13 pm
So much silliness! And I believe Oswald Mosley, whilst in the party, started describing himself as New Labour – though I should check that for references…