Jess Asato MP Celebrates Thirty Years of Progress
When I joined Progress in 2007, I joined a family of progressives. It was the year of the Tony-Gordon transition. As a pressure group which was set up in the early days of New Labour with a mission to get Tony Blair and Gordon Brown into Government, we had a duty to keep it on track. Our annual conference at TUC Congress House was always a highlight and usually hosted the Prime Minister. I particularly remember Gordon Brown’s first – shaking hands with the staff team lined up. He greeted everyone with something that has fallen into legend as a shorthand now – TYFATYD – thank you for all that you do.
It’s hard to believe looking back now but we pumped out a magazine every single month (even in December). It provided a crucial space for interviews with Government ministers, ensuring the delivery of New Labour’s achievements were communicated and held accountable among friends. The role of Progress in sharing Labour’s thinking in Government shouldn’t be underestimated. We made sure we covered national and international policy, keeping attention on conflicts progressives needed to care about, while looking in detail at everything from prisons to Sure Start. Of course, we also kept tabs on the Tories. Looking at their weaknesses, analysing the flaws in their policies.
We were particularly keen to use what was termed then ‘new media’. Our Progressive Blog was one of the top ten most read in politics. And we leaned in to ways to use the online space for campaigning, using one of the first ‘crowdfunders’ to raise money for candidates in marginal seats in 2010 called ‘David vs Goliath’. Though defeat was around the corner, I remember a bizarre moment doing the conga with editors of other political blogs and members of Bucks Fizz singing ‘Making your mind up’ to promote the need to vote. Fortunately I *think* the internet has lost the footage! And of course our events ensured members were able to debate with Ministers and backbenchers, giving them a front row seat as part of driving the Government’s agenda.
There were some hairy times. I remember one day when our fax machine (remember them?!) started whirring. To be honest, no one could ever remember receiving anything on it. It turned out to be a letter from Carter Ruck, one of the best known libel law firms who claimed we had libelled a client, something which we felt was unjust. The issue of wealthy firms and people using threats to close down legitimate debate had been high in the news due to allegations that Trafigura had dumped toxic waste. There was no way a tiny organisation like Progress had the money to fight back, but John Kamfpner at the time at Index of Censorship and Jonathan Heawood of English PEN, were strong allies. We took out the offending sentence, but then sent our apology to our mailing list which included most of the Labour frontbench and lobby journalists. It was a victory of sorts.
We also reached out across other progressive groupings at the time, working with Labour First and Compass believing we were stronger together than we were working in silos. Fast forward to today and Progressive Britain is back with a hard copy magazine, holding its annual Rally at Labour Party Conference, packed to the rafters and still holding that crucial role of educating and connecting progressives to a new Labour Government. It’s been a wonderful family to be part of in the last 30 years – here’s to the next!
Want to hear more stories from the people at the forefront of our organisation and movement? We’re hosting a celebration to mark the thirty years of Progress in January 2026. To be part of the action, click here to buy your ticket!
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