From Labour With Love

Can you make that 41, please?" asked deputy prime minister John Prescott at the launch of ‘Elfin’ at the annual Labour Party conference in Bournemouth last week. He was talking about the number of MPs who’d signed up for the group everyone had begun to call Elfin. It’s really lfin (Labour Friends of India), not called lfi because there’s already the Labour Friends of Israel—a powerful Jewish lobby in the British parliament. But it’s the same lfi that Elfin has modelled itself upon, making it the first Indian move of its kind to build such a lobby in the British parliament.

Sure there’s already an Indo-British Parliamentary Association, or the Curry Club as it’s called. Sadly, this has been a club more about curry than politics. Elfin has higher ambitions, and a more business-like agenda. As many as 40 MPs signed up to join Elfin at the party conference. Six Labour ministers are waiting for protocol clearance to join; among them Margaret Beckett, Patricia Hewitt and, of course, John Prescott, the intended 41st. But the list has grown since, and the number now is 47.

Another polite little club? Not quite. Look at the three Labour MPs behind Elfin: Tom McNulty, Barry Gardiner and Stephen Cohen. All three represent constituencies in north-west London, and all three constituencies have a strong Indian vote. We’ve heard for years of Pakistani constituency pressure. Now, said one MP at the launch, for the first time in more than 50 years, Indians are making their pressure felt inside the British parliament. Barry Gardiner was somewhat candid about the new equation. Elfin, he said, will "promote understanding between Britain and India and also maximise Indian community support for Labour." Given the quick support it gathered, Elfin, he declared, is now "strongly established". Policies apart, there are some equations here worth looking at. At a million or so, the Indian population in Britain is twice the Pakistani population. In about 30-40 marginal seats the Indian vote can swing the result. In a close finish that could theoretically even decide who rules Britain.

Given those figures, some persuasion, if not constituency pressure, can make or break political careers. Faced with such a survival question, the British can be quite sensible. Elfin was not a sudden emergence at Bournemouth Community, leaders have been talking to their MPs for months in support of an India group in the Commons. There have been scores of meetings between High Commissioner Lalit Mansingh and Deputy High Commissioner Hardeep Puri on one hand with scores of MPs on the other. The last few months have seen some—long desired—real diplomacy from India House.

It all made for a nicely crowded room at the seaside hotel in Bournemouth where Elfin was launched. You couldn’t take two steps in the room without bumping into a Labour friend of India. McNulty gathered the MPs together for a group photograph, warning that if everyone comes up on stage it’ll probably collapse. Lalit Mansingh spoke plainly of India’s hopes from Elfin: that its members would "speak for us" in discussions on India. Indian officials pointed out that friendship always leaves room for differences—of a friendly kind. But it’s support, not differences that India’s looking for, and indications are India will have it. Piara Singh Khabra, the MP for Southall, may not remain the lone voice for India in parliament for long; he might find himself in the middle of at least a small chorus.

Barry Gardiner called it an occasion to "celebrate 50 years of divorce". Gardiner who began his term keeping rather silent on Indian issues has of late spoken up strongly for India. Constituency factors have been at work, the Indian diplomatic initiative has worked, but somewhere behind the change lie the heights of Kargil. Says an official, "Kargil has made many people see what we’ve been saying for years". It seems to have made it that much easier for more British MPs now to support India on Kashmir.

India will find support on other issues too. India, John Prescott said, is an important voice in the Group of 77 developing nations, and a strong voice against "economic colonisation". Elfin, he said, will bring new warmth to relations between Britain and India. "You can feel it in the room," he said. It might have come late, but Elfin is certainly here. It was "long, long overdue" as McNulty said, for in it lies "a recognition of what we gain from the vibrant Indian communities here". Elfin, he said, is likely to be home to "very serious friends of India at all levels". Glad tidings.