There is no one type of ‘working person', and it’s an indictment of our politics that such an obvious point has to be made.
There is no one type of ‘working person’, and it’s an indictment of our politics that such an obvious point has to be made
A Labour politician tweets a picture of a house with three England flags and a white van in the driveway. The Labour leader sacks said politician and takes to The Mirror to declare, rather desperately, that Labour is still ‘the party of working people’.
Unfortunately for Miliband, the fact that he thought this was a proportionate and normal reaction to Emily Thornberry’s tweet merely highlights what he wanted to conceal.
It shows his profound disconnection from those who might once have been described as working class (an expression that is now eschewed in favour of ‘working people’, presumably because of its socialist connotations).
Miliband could simply have said that he disagreed with the (inferred) criticism contained in Thornberry’s tweet and that people should be able to fly the English flag with pride and without reproach.
Instead he felt that the tweet was an attack on the values and practices of ‘working people’. All of them.
“The Labour Party was founded as the party of working people,” he wrote. “We are the party of working people. And we will always remain the party of working people. That is why I was furious at the tweet by Emily Thornberry…”
It certainly seems to be more common to see England flags in poorer areas than in more affluent ones. But outside a major international sporting event, observation would suggest that only a small minority of people choose to fly the St George Cross.
It is not only patronising to suggest that all working people have similar values (are all working people the same to you, Ed?!), it betrays the type of sweeping generalisation that can only be made from a position of ignorance.
Dan Ware, the owner of the house in question, is no more typical of ‘working people’ than Emily Thornberry is of millionaire homeowners. There will be many so-called working people who are not nationalistic and who wouldn’t fly an England flag, especially during a by-election where the candidate tipped to win has spoken favourably about repatriation of migrants.
There are millions of people in this category of ‘working people’, people with different jobs, backgrounds and cultures. There is no one type of ‘working person’ or uniform working class culture, and it’s an indictment of our politics that such an obvious point has to be made.
Annie Powell is a contributing editor at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
20 Responses to “What exactly does Ed Miliband think it means to be a ‘working person’?”
David Brede
Otherwise know as hard working people who often are paid poverty wages by their employers and need a state top up – a subsidy to capitalist business.
Tom Sanders
He means he thinks you are like him
hackney man times
A list of policies that the labour should implement
1 change the accounting practice re funds created via Qe
allow the government to invest in income generating investment eg railways roads broadband and the energy sector repaid at the rate of deprecation such money creation need not be added to the national dept its about time the ordinary folks/plebs were to reap the benifit from the money creation process
2 Establish a national mortgage fund bond funded via Qe interest rate set at 1% term time 40 years again no need for such a fund to add to the national dept as each bond will be attached to a real asset with a fixed value throughout the term of its existants bond holders would no longer have to worry about shifts in interest rates and the extended period of repayments would lead to lower mortgage/bonds payments and more disposable income to be spent or saved such a system of home finance would for one provide an assured method of finance de coupled from the madness which is our current
sector open to all backed by all of us and over time will force the banks to seek out nurture and promote investment in the real productive economy
Michelle
I was going to RT this but its so mired in a anti-Miliband cynicism. A white van tends to be used for work and why not stand for one working person along with the all working people (whoever they may be). Besides, this constant discussion about the working people’s identities is great for the country.
Annie
I think you may be guilty of stereotyping ‘the left’ in exactly the way you seek to criticise….