Labour must work on more than just its messaging: it must convert its principles into convincing policies, writes Dr Norman Brady, while Philip Wood says the party’s future lies with the neglected under-40s
Prof Alan Finlayson is right to question Labour’s approach to values when it is treated as a hollow exercise in developing “clearer, sharper, more uplifting messaging” (Labour’s preoccupation with ‘values’ is a basic political error, 6 August).
Simply communicating Labour party values is unlikely to win an electoral majority, particularly if it appears as an opportunistic alignment with the perceived values of the electorate. That would indeed amount to abandoning political leadership in the hope of gaining short-term party popularity.