Can someone well-versed in Labour politics explain to me the difference between the Soft Right and the Soft Left? I think I understand the fault lines between the soft and hard left, and between the soft right and the Kendallesque Blair fanatics, but what's really the barrier between Labour left and right? Is it rooted in specific issues, or is it mostly cultural or identity-based?
It's very identity based and Al explains it better, but the soft left are basically those activists who voted for Foot against Hattersley, but banked Healey against the challenge by Benn. They are left aligned but concerned about unity. Most of the membership are made up of these types.
There are two branches of non-Blairite right of the party. The union traditionalists - who are 'right' in the sense they are proudly patriotic, support the bomb and often are mildly eurosceptic, but often still are enthusiastic about central planning and sceptical of privatisation. Then there are the large amount of more technocratic people who don't tend to be factional, but were supported by Brown.
The leadership contest offered us a good selection of the Right. Kendall was running in pure Blairism, a fairly masochostic move (even though she weirdly decided to foreground her most divisive stances and background stuff like German style elected boardrooms.) Cooper was running in centrist technocratic way. burnham was of the Old Right, but crossed over to try and appeal to the soft left (as Ed M did before him).
