‘Labour will win in Sunderland once again’
FORMER MP SAYSTHE PARTY MUST UNITE
“I quite enjoyed being the only MP in the country for about 45 minutes.”
That was a pleasure Chris Mullin, MP for Sunderland South between 1987 and 2010, got to enjoy on four occasions.
Every year, the council is overcome with a singleminded determination to make sure the city is the first to declare its’ election results.
And so, for a few minutes, Sunderland is the only place in the country with parliamentary representation.
They lost the race on one of Mr Mullin’s election nights but the result was as it was always going to be.
Why? Because Labour win in Sunderland. Always.
It doesn’t matter how quickly the ballot boxes make it to the count, they’re always stuffed with Labour votes.
But this time round, political pundits and soothsayers are going to take a lot of interest in Sunderland for another reason.
It perfectly embodies the awkward dynamic Labour need to wrestle with: a red town which voted Leave.
In truth, the majorities of the sitting MPs are so healthy they should be unassailable – but let’s not fall into that old trap of “ruling things out”.
Like all good former MPs, he keeps his distance and allows his successors to get on with their job. But he does think they, along with their colleagues, have already made a big error.
The 69 year old, who now lives in Northumberland, said: “I’m surprised Labour voted so enthusiastically to hold a general election.
“In my view, it’s wholly unjustified. Theresa May has called it to avoid trouble with her hard-Brexiteer backbenchers down the line.
“If I had been in parliament, I would have been inclined to vote against it.
“Going along with it is a high risk strategy – they would have been accused of being frit for not supporting it, but given what else they’ve been called it would have been a small issue. “We’ve fallen into a trap.” This an analysis which comes from a place which is gripping countless current and former MPs: doubt.
He admits he is “not optimistic” about the party’s chances nationally, although he insists “its survival is not in question” as some have suggested.
Mr Mullin has been openly sceptical about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the past but says those debates must be parked for now.
He said: “I didn’t vote for him but he is leader and we must unite. There’s no point in playing internal politics now.”
Asked if he believes Mr Corbyn is equipped to be Prime Minister, he replied “the country will decide if he is equipped”.
He has also called for a pact between centre-left parties to prevent the possibility of a Tory rout. But the doubt runs out where Wearside starts and he is certain Labour’s grip on Sunderland will not be broken.
He said: “We’ve got good Labour candidates in Sunderland and the Tories are widely discredited there.
“I’ve even heard Tories in Sunderland admitting a Conservative government wouldn’t be a good thing for the city over the years.
“The challenge might CHRIS MULLIN come from UKIP but I think they are receding as a force – but that shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
Mr Mullin, a Remain supporter, saw the city he represented for more than two decades vote against the party it has always chosen to represent it. If he had been the sitting MP, he says, he “wouldn’t have done any better” in terms of swinging the vote for the pro-EU camp.
Labour candidates should not be lulled into accepting Theresa May’s insistence that this election is all about Brexit, he said.
“The EU question is, I’m sorry to say, resolved for the foreseeable future. This election is going to be about wider issues than that.
“I think it will be about the widening gap between the rich and the poor – that’s the real challenge.
“Sunderland voters won’t necessarily ‘put the Brexit issue in a box’ but the argument has peaked.”
There is one voguish theory that the New Labour governments are responsible for neglecting places like North East. The festering resentment that caused, the theory goes, ultimately manifested itself as a populist backlash in the referendum.
Although Mr Mullin was always viewed as a slightly awkward fellow traveller in the New Labour caravan, he has spoken highly of Tony Blair’s abilities and served in various roles in his governments.
He gives short shrift to the left-behind-by-Labour theory, saying “I can hand on heart say that life for the poor got better under that government”.
His five election wins in Sunderland were “nothing personal”, he says – locals simply “figured out Labour was better for them”.
He warns MPs against the temptation of trying to distance themselves from the Corbyn/Labour brand in an effort to win votes from those who might be considering straying from the party.
He said: “I’m sure that Sunderland’s three Labour candidates will fight it on a Labour manifesto. It would be the height of folly for any candidate to disassociate from the Labour party.”
Mr Mullin’s belief that ties between Sunderland and Labour will endure is resolute. Forget Brexit, forget Corbyn, forget it all – Labour win in Sunderland. Always.
His instincts will be tested to their limits on June 8.