The expulsion of Byers, Hewitt and Hoon is entirely justified  – and necessary  – when indeed nobody has done more to bring the Labour Party into disrepute (the grounds for expulsion under the party’s rules) than they have.      But the implications go far deeper.   We are witnessing the final denouement of what was infamously called New Labour.   The Blairite version never had a distinctive ideology of its own apart from taking over the Thatcherite one it inherited.   It was simply a power project from start to finish, and now its underlying motivations of self-interest, money-making and power manipulation have been nakedly revealed, reinforcing ever more strongly earlier examples from the Derek Draper ‘lobbygate’ scandal, the policy for sale exposed by the Ecclestone affair, the peerages for major donors to Labour’s 2005 election, and the Labour peers last year who offered to assist in amending legislation in exchange for substantial payment.The Brownite version of New Labour has been less financially corrupt, but more committed to machine politics and the elimination of democracy.   That has already been made clear by Gordon Brown’s avoidance of a contest at any cost in assuming the leadership (both within the party and afterwards towards the wider electorate), the infamous emails from No.10 involving Damian McBride and (again) Derek Draper, the machinations of another Brownite fixer Charlie Whelan within Unite,  the authoritarian discipline within the party including the elimination of votes on conference motions, and the ruthless breaching of party rules in order to control parliamentary selections.

Uuntil Labour genuinely stands again for social justice, equality, public services,  accountability of power,  and unalloyed party and parliamentary democracy, it will not win elections and indeed will not deserve to do so.

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