Can politicians turn a 180-degrees policy somersault in just 4 months after the election and still be credible?   It’s a relevant question because David Miliband in today’s Guardian (helped, sadly, by Jon Cruddas to give the illusion that he has cross-party support) now propounds exactly the opposite views to those he expressed and supported throughout his long period in government.   It’s a remarkable conversion if he’s really changed his mind so much, or just opportunism if he’s simply burying his real views to win votes in the current election stakes.   Consider the following quotes from his article:

“We need an industrial policy that makes government the ally of wealth creation”.   So when New Labour abolished industrial policy in favour of market forces, why did he not say so before last May?

“We need to…..give employees a voice in decisions at work”.   Did he ever oppose Blair’s boast that he had “imposed the most restrictive legislation on trade unions in the Western world”?

“We want a revived local government to meet the need for decent housing”.   Did he previously ever speak out against New Labour virtually ending Council house-building (just 100-300 Council houses built a year over most of the last decade) and a Council waiting list now 1.8 million households long?

“We seek a welfare covenant that protects better”.   Did he ever previously oppose New Labour’s constant cutting back of benefits?

“Since 1997 we lost support right across society: 1.6 million lower-income voters and 2.8 million middle income voters”.   Not true: we lost 3.2 million working class votes (the psephologists’ C2DE classes) and only 0.5 million middle class votes (the AB classes).   He still has difficulty recognising the absolutely crucial point that Labour cannot win again without a big increase in working class and poorer people’s support.

“We must move beyond…..a timid accommodation to the market”.   What?   Wasn’t New Labour’s market fundamentalism far enough?   Did he ever complain previously that Blairite policies were far too pro-market?

“We need to talk to people’s concerns about debt, housing, violence and wages”.   Why suddenly now, what about the last 13 years when it really mattered and something could be done about it?

“We need a banking system that spreads capital to new businesses across the country”.   Why is this only being said now when for two years the banks have been using £200bn of new publicly provided credit to fatten their own balance sheets whilst at the same time reducing new net lending to businesses to zero?

“We share…..a commitment to democracy and liberty”.   Did he complain when New Labour constantly snuffed out civil liberties and regularly ignored any consultations that ever took place?

David Miliband has said he’s proud to stand by what New Labour did.   Perhaps he should now be less eager to pretend that he’s suddenly undergone a damascene experience.

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