In 2018, we helped launch Labour Together as a network for activists from all traditions of the Labour movement to explore new ideas and thinking on the future of the left. See update below February 2026.
We were approached in 2017 to work on launching Labour Together to Labour Members. The project had been setup by Jon Cruddas, Lisa Nandy and others and the challenge was to engage the breadth of Labour Party members and supporters from all part of the movement in meaningful political conversation. We focussed on deepening engagement and relationships in the Labour movement over short term political wins and we were tasked with creating an engaging communications strategy to launch the organisation.
We knew from the start of this project that it couldn’t be a viral film which berated everyone for failing to talk to each other. We had to go deeper and come up with a vehicle which would create the space for people to come together and confront their differences.
We worked with key stakeholders to produce a creative strategy connected to a scalable organising model to build these conversations. We crated a toolkit and thought-starter content to give Labour members the opportunity to host “Round Table” conversations.
Using the idea of "a child born today should see the year 2100" to help focus people's energies onto the shared challenges we face as a society, as well as our responsibility as a movement to work together to do right by the next generation. The thought starter was voiced by Imogen Walker MP.
Combined with the idea that "We all make the movement" we made the case for putting in the hard-yards to find common ground, even when that seems impossible and we proved that it's possible if everyone is willing to commit themselves to it.
In light of the announcement of an inquiry into the activities of Labour Together, we have published below all our subsequent involvement.
While the story of Labour Together has been rewritten in later years, from 2017 to 2020, while we were involved, we took the task seriously as we were briefed: "The purpose of Labour Together is to provide a space for members and representatives across the party to discuss and debate the future of Labour and Britain; and to support and inspire collective action within the wider Labour movement.”
Following the project outlined in this case study, in 2019 we published the Labour Election Review, which was edited by Ed Miliband, Lucy Powell and Hannah O'Rourke.
In 2020, we worked with Labour Together and Compass to publish their co-authored report: powernow.compassonline.org.uk
We worked with Hannah O'Rourke and Shabana Mahmood on a project in 2020 to explore narratives which could help the left win the culture war against the rising tide of hate and division which we could see building. This project was cancelled by Labour Together before completion.
In 2022: after Jon Cruddas and Lisa Nandy left the board of Labour Together and Hannah O'Rourke as Director. We were asked by the incoming director to help build the communications for the renewed organisation but declined to be involved given the shift in direction.
We still believe in the vital importance of bringing together the labour movement and the Labour Party as a vehicle for the hopes and aspirations of working people. The need to create spaces for discussion and the search for common ground, decency and the end of hyper-factionalism is more pressing than ever. As it says on the Labour membership card "by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone."
