A few years ago (1998 in fact), Labour were circulating a briefing paper around local campaigners entitled Beating the Liberals: Lessons from Lambeth, focusing, as the name suggests, on how to beat the Liberal Democrats. It was written by a guy called Luke Akehurst and it contains some fairly scurrilous stuff, so seeing as it’s fallen into my hands, and, as far as I can tell, the full document has never got into the public domain, I thought I’d share it.
It includes these words of wisdom:
"Liberal Democrats have no significant natural supporters. They are simply hard working opportunists who succeed best against a moribund opposition. In many cases they win simply because their opposition is weak, disorganised or lazy. But in some Labour heartlands they are on the rampage because they tap in to, and express, the severe dissatisfaction of residents with the local council."
And as if to encourage the few that Labour are a bunch of amoral, power-hungry individuals who will stoop to nothing:
"Use the other opposition groups. They tend to hate the Liberal Democrats as much as you do and with their support you can win in
the council chamber and the press. Frame resolutions with their needs in mind. Do deals with them and build their confidence in working with you ‘off the record’."
My favourite though, has to be their advice on dealing with the press:
"Keep a grip on who talks to the press but make sure the press think
that you are heavily into open government. ‘We wouldn’t dream of
managing the news’. Get a ‘gatekeeper’ who can manage your press
enquiries."
I can hear Sir Humphrey’s soothing, Machiavellian tones now. Their views on political campaigning also leave a lot to be desired:
"Find one flaw and smear them all - after all they put up with it and would do the same to you. Go negative until swamped by complaints. Then do it again."
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Maggie Bob // Mar 3, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I couldn’t even get past the first two lines without rolling my eyes in disbelief!
2 Meral Ece // Mar 3, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Gavin, the link you’ve posted is the spoof Akehurst- (we think!) This is the one posing as the doyenne of Nu Labour:
http://lukeakehurst.blogspot.com/
For the record, he is incredibly disliked by members of his own party - more so than the opposition.
3 Gavin Whenman // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Ah, I see! I prefer my guy
4 Dan // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:54 am
I can say with absolute authority it wasn’t written by Luke Akehurst.
5 Greenfield // Mar 4, 2008 at 9:44 am
‘Unfortuntaley electors are smart enough …….’ - shows how they view the Public!!
6 Luke Akehurst // Mar 4, 2008 at 10:53 am
Correct, it wasn’t written by me. it came from Lambeth not Hackney. I did circulate it and wish I had written it though. I heartily endorse the sections you have quoted. It helped us get rid of Meral’s mates - we now only have 2 Lib Dem councillors left.
7 (Not) Luke Akehurst // Mar 4, 2008 at 11:52 am
Don’t listen to the fraudster - he just makes everything up. It was me wot wrote it. I admit it. I tried to frame Dave Salisbury-Jones, but nobody believed me. I’m so glad you’ve republished the document, because I shredded mine when all the controversy blew up. Now things have quietened down, I can re-publish it on my blog so everyone can read how to beat you yellow peril. Cheers.
8 Meral Ece // Mar 4, 2008 at 5:00 pm
So it was written by someone called ‘Lambeth’
I think we believe the real Luke Akehurst’s version of The Truth, rather than someone who’s NuLabour career in the last 10 years, since being associated with this rag, has rather stalled in that well known council cul-de-sac called deputy chief whip, and ‘never even once being called to speak’ at a NuLabour conference….
9 Luke Akehurst // Mar 7, 2008 at 12:07 am
Meral
the clue is in the title “lessons from Lambeth”. I’ve never lived or worked in Lambeth so wouldn’t have been very qualified to tell people about the lessons from that borough.
PS: I’m Chief Whip not deputy - and attending the last 7 conferences as a commercial visitor, the 3 before that as a political restricted visitor, and the 2 before that as party staff explains why I haven’t been entitled to speak, as opposed to not called. I was last a delegate with speaking rights in 1995.
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11 Lord London Fields Lido // Mar 16, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Can I just summarise Luke’s last post there for everyone?
What he meant was “I, Luke Akehurst, am a relentless self publicist with no idea how big a hypocrite I look”
12 Junior researcher // Apr 4, 2008 at 12:22 am
Some readers may be pleased to know that Lessons from Lambeth has now been revised and is back in circulation - however it will not get general release until 2010 by when we will know whether it is as good as the first.
Like any good sequel Mk II is aimed at beating the c*** out of the Tories not the whinging Libs who seem to have wilted of late.
I have moved north of the river, so I have an entirely new set of people to offend. Hopefully I can follow my own advice and ‘do it again’.
13 Junior Researcher // Apr 4, 2008 at 12:49 am
Just for the record, I was on holiday in Cornwall when some lowlife on the Hackney Labour Group leaked the briefing to Red Pepper. But that’s as close as it got to Luke Akehurst.
In fact, when I interviewed him for a job in Lambeth, while he showed bags of promise, everytime I asked him why he thought rescuing Lambeth Council would be a good idea all he kept spouting was that the Labour Government would like it. Wrong answer - sucking up wasn’t the game plan.
14 Junior Researcher // Apr 4, 2008 at 12:58 am
Some readers may be pleased to hear, Lessons from Lambeth has been brushed off and heavily revised - I’ll put it on general release in 2010 if it works as well as the last.
Like any good sequel, this time it features beating the Tories rather than the Libs - who appear to have wilted of late. But it will stick to the same tried and tested formula and cut out all the c*** - and feature my dear friend and yours, ‘the gatekeeper’.
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