Mike's Minute: Labour don't prep for power

You may remember that Morgan McSweeney was one of Keir Starmer's fall guys in the Mandelson scandal. 

He ran the Labour Party's 2024 campaign that saw Labour land a comparatively small amount of the vote (37%) in exactly the right places to give them a stonking great majority and end 14 years of Tory rule. 

It ended badly for McSweeney. It's ending badly for Starmer, and a bloke who never got elected by Britain is going to run the place in a few weeks, theoretically for the next three years. 

I tell you this because McSweeney has never spoken before, until now. 

What he says is fascinating. He claims the party didn’t prepare properly for power, didn’t think about how the world had changed since they were last in Government, didn't talk about it enough, and didn't plan, and that's why Starmer was such a disaster. 

What makes it fascinating for us is: 

1) It was Starmer and Labour that Chris Hipkins visited in Liverpool at their conference to get tips. 

2) It's Hipkins and Labour, according to former MP and Speaker Trevor Mallard, who ended up at the Featherston book fair telling exactly the same story about his party. 

So do we have a theme, or a trait? Are Labour groupings essentially lazy, or blind, or arrogant? Or a combination of all three? 

Labour NZ 2017 set a record in working groups because they hadn't prepared for Government. They had nine years to do so. Labour in Britain had 14 years. 

Perhaps as interesting is Peter Dunne's latest column in Newsroom where he reports that the recent Labour congress here was well staged but lacked anything new. Subsidies for apprenticeships are worthy, but dull, and reminds voters of the economic mess Labour last got us into. 

Do labour movements lack imagination? 

The two may be coincidental, but they might not be. Is Labour about simply waiting for the other lot to lose? At their heart, are they not actually up for a bit of hard work and prep? 

New Zealand Labour were jettisoned for a calamitous record. British Labour would be on the verge of it if they didn’t have five-year terms. 

McSweeney, Mallard, and Dunne all tell a similar story. 

If you're a potential Labour supporter here, surely that story is worrying, if not frightening. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Morgan McSweeney, you may remember, was one of Keir
Starmer's fall guys and the Mandelson scandally ran the Labour
Party's twenty twenty four campaign that saw Labour land a
comparatively small amount of the boat thirty seven percent in
exactly the right place though, to give them a stonking
great majority there and fourteen years of Tory rule ended
badly for McSweeney. It's ending badly for Starmer, of course,

(00:21):
and a bloke who never got elected by Britain is
going to run the place in a few weeks theoretically
for the next three years. No. I tell you all
this because McSweeney's never spoken before until now, and what
he says is fascinating. He claims the party didn't prepare
properly for power, didn't think about how the world had
changed since they were last in government, didn't talk about
it enough, didn't plan. That's why Starmer was such a disaster.

(00:44):
What makes it fascinating for us is one it was
Starbar and Labour. The Chris Hipkins you might remember, visited
in Liverpool at their conference to get some tips. And
two it is Hipkins and Labor. According to Trevor Mallard,
former MP and speaker, who ended up at the Featherston
book Fair recently telling exactly the same story about his party.
So do we have a theme or a trait? Are
labor groupings essentially lazy or blind or arrogant or a

(01:07):
combination of all three? Labor New Zealand twenty seventeen set
a record and working groups you might remember because they
hadn't prepared for government nine years they had Labour and
Britain had fourteen years. Perhaps as interesting as Peter Dunn's
latest column and Newsroom, where he reports at the recent
Labour Congress was well staged but lacked anything new subsidies
for apprenticeships worthy but dull, he said, reminds voters of

(01:29):
the economic mess labor last got us into. So does
labor movement lack imagination. The two, of course, I guess
may be coincidental, but they might not be. Is labour
about simply waiting for the other lot to lose? At
their heart they're not actually up for a bit of
hard work and prep. New Zealand labor were jettison for
a calamitous record, British labor would be on the verge

(01:52):
of the same thing. If they didn't have five year terms. McSweeney, Mallard,
and Dunn all tell the same story if you're a
potential labor support but here surely that story is worrying,
if not frightening. For more from The Mic Asking Breakfast,
listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.