Debating Labour
So Tony Blair, to judge by his latest speech, is worried that the leadership/deputy leadership elections are prompting a drift back to a left wing agenda. Even before any real debate has actually begun, he’s terrified that, given half a chance, we might just jettison the New Labour mantra foisted on us since 1997. He obviously can’t bring himself to acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of the Labour Movement never wanted New Labour – as it has developed – and now want to drop New Labour if we’re to have the best chance of winning the next election.
Nobody is remotely suggesting going back to the 1980s. But New Labour is just one variant of modern Labour politics, and a distinctly unprogressive one at that. What we should be doing is promoting a real progressive Labour model that genuinely champions Labour values in today’s current setting, not using the Labour name to cover over what are often virtually identikit Tory policies. Labour, real Labour, does not stand for privatisation, deregulation, growing inequality, lack of democratic accountability, poodle-dom to Washington, undermining of civil rights and liberties, abandonment of the Labour trade union link or extension of means testing. We stand for the opposite.
Tony Blair is bewildered. “I’ve yet to work out how,” he said, “if the public wants more traditional left wing policies, they vote right.” Tony, they didn’t vote right. In 1997, they voted left, to get rid of the Tories at any cost, not for any ideological understanding of, or commitment to, New Labour. In 2001, they voted left again because they were determined not to let the Tories back in again, not for any enthusiasm for New Labour. In 2005, yes, we did win – but only at the cost of losing four million voters since 1997, plus losing over half of our party membership – hardly a clarion call to man the barricades for Blairism.
This party of ours has never needed a debate about our fundamental values and the direction of travel as we need now. I say, let the debate proceed, let our people speak.