Future Leader Stories: Marion Maxwell

One of the first actions of Tory/LibDem Coalition Government was to cancel the creation of Norwich Unitary council, one of the consequences being that we were forced into a by-election in September 2010. 

I was selected as Labour candidate for the Mancroft Ward, currently the stronghold of the Green Party in the city, and deemed difficult to win by the Labour Party.

I was standing because I wanted the chance to work with people in my local community and deal with the everyday problems together and care for each other.

One of the first things I wanted to tackle was the switching off of street lights during the hours from 12 midnight and 5 am throughout Norfolk. This decision was made by the Tory lead Norfolk County Council members many of whom have no knowledge of life in a city centre. 

There are an unusually large number of residents in the city centre, which also has the highest rates of crime in Norwich. The most prominent offences are drug-dealing, alcohol related anti-social behaviour, and vandalism.

Many of the residents faced walking through the city lanes in the dark on their way home from a night out, or from working an evening shift, some encountered the same on their way to work in the morning. This was as a result of Norfolk County Council’s decision to switch off street lights between the hours of midnight and 5am.

I had few ideas in how to approach this problem, and knew I couldn’t do it alone, but I needed people to take action.

The answer came when I attended training with George Gabriel from Movement for Change. My friend Cath and I went along, and both being retired thought we had been there done that, thinking we knew everything, but we were prepared listen in the hope we could get new ideas.

Well, we were blown away with the new ideas, and the different way to approaching problems, but still couldn’t think how it would help us. We had many problems to deal with in the ward, but the most pressing was the loss of light.

The answer came when George got in touch and said why don’t you light up the skies, and that he would help.

Then it started, the most frantic few weeks I’ve had since I retired, we collected names for a petition, we leafleted people to attend a community walk. One Saturday we had 21 people out knocking on doors asking local people to come out on a Friday night to “highlight” the problem. We also asked the residents to use their electricity for the to light up the sky, and surprising had many offers of help.

We were overwhelmed with the amount of interest, but saddened by some of the crime we heard about, from drug dealing to a serious sexual assault that happened only the week before. Then followed a week of ensuring every thing was in place and that everyone knew where to meet etc.

Friday the 27^th August dawned bright and sunny after a week of torrential rain, we were optimistic and reckoned that we could possibly get 40 to 50 people out. 

David Milliband addressed Norwich Labour Party that evening and had agreed to come along and speak at our community event. 

What a sight greeted our return from the Labour Party meeting: well over a 100 people had gathered and the excitement was building. When we walked through the local underpass in darkness the place was filled with people and together they lit up the skies with their fairy lights! Even the reporter from the local paper was impressed.

The speeches went very well with cheering and clapping, and promises of support. Then the good news, together we formed a working party and wrote a letter lobbying for a meeting with Norfolk County Council to voice our concerns.

The leader of Norfolk County Council did not respond to the first letter, so I took the next letter personally to County Hall where it was recorded as being received.

Some two weeks later I received a response from the leader personally which promised that our demand would be given serious consideration and he wrote, “...it seems very likely that very few if any streets within the Norwich inner ring road will be put forward for part night lighting”

This was such a success for all the people who get together to fight the cuts and it enthused them to work as a community to campaign for a better future.

We were all ecstatic in November when the local evening paper’s headline heralded the Tory u-turn on the City Centre switch off.

I didn’t win the election for City Council but to the amazement of many including myself moved Labour from 4^th to 2^nd place and cut the Green majority from 800 to 140. My reward was to see how my fellow residents are helping themselves and are willing me to take the seat for Labour in the May elections.

Marion Maxwell

Future Leader Stories: Kathryn Perera

The Movement for Change: starting from scratch in a non-Labour constituency

I decided to train with the Movement for Change during the Labour leadership contest. I was interested in the idea of reforming the culture of the Labour Party – of creating a living, breathing movement that once again sat at the heart of our communities. That idea still excites me. I believe that Ed Miliband’s intention to weave community organising into the fabric of Labour politics has the potential to shift our culture radically.

I saw the beginnings of that shift in Aylesbury, where I worked as a Labour Party activist. The local Party is a rump of people who are desperate for an alternative voice in an area dominated by cosy Lib Dem-Conservative alliances. The town itself is crying out for organised leadership to oppose the ‘business as usual’ model which has become entrenched. Yet we realised that before Aylesbury Labour Party could begin the task of engaging with the community in a meaningful way, first we needed to forge a common identity – a shared purpose – within our CLP. Some of our members attended the Movement for Change training. Others started to organise one-to-ones and meet each other on a more meaningful basis. Soon a series of house meetings will start, to give smaller groups a space to build the relationships which underpin a thriving CLP. Through that process, I’ve learned about what motivates my fellow activists as individuals and why we believe the Labour Party has a role to play in bringing about local change.

The change in Aylesbury Labour Party is nascent and we are still feeling our way. But slowly, steadily, a different sort of local Party is revealing itself. It is a Party which devotes more time to local issues than it does to bureaucracy, which sets aside time at meetings for discussions of policy that are revealing and honest. I recognise that the process is a long one, yet with increased membership and new voices emerging I believe that we have the beginnings of a local Party which is of the people in our community, rather than simply for them. A quiet but fundamental shift.

The wider question for the Labour Party is how to harness the teachings a movement which is not focused narrowly on quick electoral scores. While voter ID runs the risk of creating relationships which are a mile wide and an inch deep, the Movement for Change flips that method on its head. Its principles challenge Labour activists to discover that true electoral strength will only arise out of meaningful relationships which bind us to our communities. In Aylesbury, we are only just beginning to feel that change.

Kathryn Perera

Future Leader Stories: Furqan Naeem

I decided to join the Movement for Change after hearing how David Miliband pledged to go back to the grassroots and focus on bringing people together from different communities in order to make a real impact and difference on the ground. At first, I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical as I was never convinced that such a change in politics and community involvement could be achieved simply by people coming together and getting organised. Having received the training and going out myself, starting a campaign with a handful of individuals and seeing it being repeated right across the country, it has certainly altered my perception on achieving grassroots political change. Using the Movement for Change training, I conducted some 1-2-1 meetings with people in my community. After holding a House Meeting with a few of those individuals, we decided to raise awareness of the growing number of homeless people in our city of Manchester and how we can come together to listen to the vulnerable and, from there, kick start the process of change.

As it was the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims around the globe, we decided to come to Manchester city centre to share the experience of the opening of the fast with the homeless. We got in contact with the homeless shelters and spoke to homeless individuals, making them aware that their local community would like to share their food from home with them. We had a great turnout and the perceptions of Muslims, not just on the part of the homeless people we fed but also of the wider community, changed significantly from one of hostility to one of trust. The community recognised the growing concern with poverty in our city and that we must come together to make the change that is so desperately needed. The event was titled “Flashmob Iftaar” (“iftaar” means the ‘opening of the fast’ in Arabic) and was not lead by any organisation but merely a handful of young Muslim individuals along with other members of society. Picking up on our Facebook page, various other people across the UK recognised this and showed their interest in taking part. Thursday 26^th August saw 7 great cities participating in their own Flashmob Iftaar and starting the process of change within their own communities.

This included people in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Cardiff, Leicester and Slough.

I hope to see this campaign expanding to even more areas across the UK to help promote social harmony among the different groups in our communities, whilst at the same time fighting off any negative and harmful perceptions that result in social divide.

Movement for Change has started to make changes in communities like mine in Manchester by training people like me how to work with people to run campaigns like the Flashmob Iftaar. If the training is spread throughout the country, we can all begin taking action on the issues that matter to us and making change in our communities.

Furqan Naeem

Future Leader Stories: Alex Bevan

Despite giving my first preference to Andy Burnham in this year’s leadership campaign I still believe that Movement for Change was the single most important development in the debate for the party’s future.

This is not to say that community organising should overtake the running of our party. I have campaigned in local, devolved, UK, EU and (Welsh) leadership campaigns and believe that Movement for Change could have added momentum, volunteers and more votes to each of these. In opposition, a Movement for Change programme that is taken forward correctly could help us prove that our values are absolutely in tune with those of the British public. The community organising model has proven its worth on campaigns from the Living Wage to affordable housing which is why David Miliband was absolutely right to introduce the practice and its techniques to party members.

While I absolutely reject the Victorian notion of the Big Society, I do not believe that Labour should surrender the concept of a powerful civil society to the Coalition Government. We should dominate this debate - it speaks to the best traditions of our party. Movement for Change is born out of the idea that power is unfairly distributed in British society and uses proven techniques to help communities become more powerful. Ultimately, this model seeks to test the accountability and fairness of the Government and indeed the market on behalf of those who drive both - citizens. This is very different to shirking the responsibility of Government as Cameron is currently seeking to do.

The training offered by Movement for Change over the summer will, I hope, act as a taster for a more structured programme for members up and down the country in the coming months and years. After taking up a few days training with Citizens UK following May’s election I felt a bittersweet reaction to what I had seen. While it was great to see such well organised and ambitious action taking place, you leave asking yourself why aren’t we doing this?  

I am excited that Movement for Change has kick-started community organising in our party and hope that it will become a permanent feature of our movement.   

Alex Bevan

Future Leader Stories: Sam Murphy

"We should be the people not just campaigning at elections but campaigning in every town, every city and every village for the things that matter to people there – because that’s the best way we have of reconnecting with people."

These were Ed Miliband’s words at a recent question and answer session at the Labour Party Conference and it is these sorts of views that made me support Ed in the recent Labour leadership election. The Movement for Change training has given me the versatile skills to make this rhetoric a reality.

After attending the training I have realised the importance and power of relationships both within and outside of an institution. The Labour Party has lost its covenant with the people; it has lost the public relationship that is imperative to win elections but more importantly to be the real party of the people. The public does not trust in the Labour Party like it used to and this can only be cured by creating a better relationship between the Labour Party and our communities.

As an institution we have been more worried about the spelling of names in the minutes than the stories and experiences which hold us together. The Labour Party was born out of civil society and now it needs to move back into communities, away from the overly-bureaucratic institution it has become. The party has to trust its membership again but that trust needs to be reciprocated with a hunger from local parties, to work together and build relational power throughout the community.

This change has already begun. Movement for Change, in a very short space of time, has achieved a huge amount; training 1000 people in the skills of community organising in four months. However it will take much longer to reorganise the party into a movement again. That is why I think it must be taken forward within the Labour movement.

We need a party built on the strength of our relationships with each other, rather than being focused solely on bureaucratic tasks. This does not mean moving to the Left; it means moving back into the communities where Labour Party was born. It means being a party of action for local people in local areas, not just a meeting point for its members.

Sam Murphy

Future Leader Stories: Ben Maloney

What the Tory council and MP failed to do in years on the Ladderswood Estate in Enfield, the new Labour Council achieved in just weeks, with the help of the Movement for Change.


With the current Tory ward councilors and MP anonymous on the estate, I’ve been privileged to lead a group of dedicated Labour Party members to help improve the lives of residents in one of the most deprived areas of the borough. One of the biggest problems facing the residents of Curtis House, where two of the failed London bombers prepared their attack in 2005, is anti-social behaviour with drug-taking, violence, and homeless people sleeping rough in the building, creating an environment of fear and insecurity.


Having attended a Movement for Change training and built my team we began to run community walks in the area and quickly broke the problem of insecurity down into a smaller, manageable issue - faulty external doors which outsiders are able to force open on a daily basis.


Through one-to-ones we built a team of leaders living in the estate and organised a negotiation between the Deputy Leader of the Council and the Movement for Change to discuss concerns surrounding the security door. After hearing some moving testimony, the council subsequently agreed to replace the doors with more robust versions, to the delight of the residents who have been asking for this for the past eight years, with no success and no improvement to their security. Two of them, Angela and Noelia, have been instrumental in driving forward the process of change on their estate, making demands of the new Labour Council and having the courage to hold them to account.


Improvements such as those in Ladderswood are an important step in developing the sense of community in the estate, by proving the benefit of organising together to hold the ineffective Tory ward councillors and MP to account. Our work in Ladderswood doesn’t end at the doors; we’re now organising action groups on the estate to tackle other key issues on the estate, such as faulty CCTV and drug-taking.


Needless to say, the Conservative Enfield Southgate MP David Burrowes has been rattled, lashing out at Movement for Change and attempting to brand its positive work in the community as a PR stunt. The bad news for Burrowes is that this isn’t simply a one-off, it’s a movement. Why? Because the people of Enfield can tell the difference between positive action, and hollow words.


So what hope for the future? Well last month the Movement for Change delivered the first Ladderswood Community Day on the estate. Almost 100 people turned out to meet one another, share their concerns and enjoy the food and entertainment that had been delivered by the residents. Some, such as Antonica, had lived on the estate for 31 years but had never had the opportunity to join in a community event organised by the residents.

Others, such as 10-year-old Mark, were actively involved in setting up on the day. Mark’s neighbour at 58 Curtis House used to be Muktar Ibrahim, the notorious London Bomber. But those days are ending. And with the help of Movement for Change the Ladderswood Estate is starting to shake off its image of failure and despair, to build a movement of hope and optimism. And, most importantly, a movement for change.

Ben Maloney

The Movement So Far

We thought it would be an idea to update all of those who didn’t follow the Movement for Change’s progress during the leadership election on exactly what it is we’ve been doing this last four months!

From June until the end of September, the Movement for Change trained just over 1,200 people in the skills of community organising; skills they can now apply to the party at the grassroots level. Most of these people were members, but hopefully those who weren’t were inspired enough to join. Of those 1,200 people, just over 500 attended a full Future Leaders session, whilst the rest attended a “taster” training session.

From these sessions, we received pledges from Future Leaders on the amount of 1-2-1 meetings and House Meetings that they were going to conduct. In total, there were over 2,200 1-2-1s pledged and 513 House Meetings.

Future Leaders who attended the training sessions also went on to take action and make change in their communities. Ben Maloney, a Future Leader from Enfield, went back to his community and worked with the people on a neglected estate to get their damaged security door replaced. In Norwich, Future Leaders lead by Marion Maxwell decided to take action on cuts to street lighting. To get the Tory council to react, the community team ran a “Light Up Norwich” campaign where they took to the streets one evening equipped with masses of fairy lights. Once darkness descended, the fairy lights were turned on to demonstrate the community’s feelings towards the planned cut. This engaging and fun action got lots of people from the community involved and lead to the Tory council delaying the proposed cut by a further 6 months.

Manchester has also seen its share of activity. In Northernden, the Northern Moor Respect Covenant was formed to create an alliance between the residents and shopkeepers in a community in order to tackle anti-social behaviour. 

And in Piccadilly Gardens, that iconic area of central Manchester, Future Leaders led by Kev Peel turned the so-called “ugly wall” into a living wall. To tackle the wider problem of a lack of green spaces, the community covered the wall in cardboard flowers that they had made in order to make the council consider turning the wall into a living wall covered in real flora!

And we cannot forget the Movement for Change National Assembly. 

On August 30^th, over 1,000 people from all over the country attended an Assembly to showcase the work that the Movement for Change had begun. We also heard stories from people who will be affected by the government's proposed cuts to demonstrate why we need a living movement to resist them. These people were a mixture of Future Leaders, people brought along by Future Leaders, and a few with a passing interest in the Movement for Change’s work. This fun and engaging event was many people’s highlight of the campaign and really showed the power of the work that Future Leaders have done.

This is what we achieved in 4 months. United behind one leader, we can now build the Movement for Change throughout the whole party. This unity is also expressed in the range of MPs who have been to our Assemblies and actions over the last 4 months. Backers of all candidates like Sadiq Khan and Hazel Blears, who backed Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham respectively, have all played an active role in the Movement for Change’s work so far. As soon as plans are afoot to take Movement for Change forward, you will be made aware of how to become a part of it. We hope that supporters of all of the leadership candidates can now respond to the need to reinvigorate our grassroots, build stronger relationships with each other and make our movement more relevant to our communities.

M4C Team.

Movement For Change Update

David Miliband MP sent an e-mail to all of his supporters earlier this week. In it, he said:

As Ed gives the party the fresh start it needs I decided that I can best support him and the party as a backbench MP. This decision has not been easy but I am absolutely confident it is the right decision for Ed, for the party and for me and the family.

I am keen Ed has a free hand but also an open field to lead our party. I genuinely feared distracting and destructive attempts would be made to find division where there is none to the detriment of the party's cause.

The result of the contest gives me a chance to recharge my political and intellectual batteries to be of greater service to the party and the country. I have spent 16 years in or around the top of politics in one capacity or another. There's a world out there that I have touched but about which I want to know more - from education to the environment to foreign policy.

I think I can best make a contribution to the election and success of the next Labour government under Ed's leadership by devoting myself to understanding better the new challenges and new ideas and figuring out how to put our values into practice. The new politics of community organising that we started with the Movement for Change has excited me greatly and I want to develop that potential for the good of the whole party.

In addition to David's ongoing commitment, Ed Miliband, the new Labour Party leader, committed to carrying on the work of Movement for Change. At an Assembly on Tuesday 28th September at Labour Party Conference, Ed said:

David fought an exceptional campaign, but I think the most exceptional thing he did was the initiative around the Movement for Change.


We can build on it up and down the country and it's got to be mainstreamed.


Ed also agreed to go on the Movement for Change training.


Responding to Future Leader Kev Peel's question of whether or not he would meet with the Movement for Change Project Board, Ed replied:


I'll definitely meet with you.


You can see some videos of the event taken by Future Leaders here.


In the mean time, while we plan with Ed and the party how we take the Movement for Change forward, we will be posting some of the stories of Future Leaders from around the country. Also, we want to house as many of those stories as possible on this blog. So if you have a story of how you have used the Movement for Change training in your community, e-mail it to us as m4cblog@gmail.com.




M4C Team.