Irish Examiner View: Irish and British Labour parties elect two men with a vital mission
The Irish and British Labour parties elected leaders in recent days. One seems condemned to opposition for the immediate future. The other must consider if his party’s interests and the national good can be aligned in a coalition government.
Keir Starmer, a millionaire solicitor from London, will need all his talents to rejuvenate a party that denied reality before the election and paid a huge price. Like US Democrats he carries the tremendous responsibility to confront dangerous zealots, often dangerously ill-informed zealots.
Alan Kelly was elected the 13th leader of the Irish Labour party and opportunity presents itself immediately. Labour must consider coalition but history warns Labour that a minor role in coalition is not always rewarding. However, things move on. Once, coalition of any kind was almost unimaginable but that is no longer the case. Is it possible that all political parties might accept that if a coalition is to be successful all members of that coalition must be successful?
The biggest challenge Starmer and Kelly face is the very same — growing inequality. Each must try to rebuild a party struggling to keep a foothold in a world that does not always share their values. Ironically, the pandemic underlines the absolute importance of those values and may give impetus to their efforts. At a moment when wealth and opportunity are ever more concentrated it is impossible to overstate how important it is that both men and both parties succeed.
