I understand from the news this morning that Peter Mandelson, in a barely concealed warning about Ed Miliband, is issuing warnings that any attempt by a Labour leader to “roll back” New Labour would be disastrous. As it appears in The Times behind their paywall, I stress, I have not read the actual article.
However, I think Mandelson not only over estimates the sense of regard in which he is held by Labour and trade union activists (something he has consistently done, incidentally) but he is also just plain wrong.
When Margaret Thatcher was thrown out of Downing Street on her neck by her loyal colleagues, it became an unbending rule in the Conservative Party that new leaders should pay homage to the blessed Margaret. It was essential that any new leader had to ensure they were photographed with her as often as possible, and that there could be no hint of deviation from the furrow that the Great Leader had ploughed for 18 years in government. John Major, William Hague, IDS and Michael Howard all tried gamely (albeit unsuccessfully) to stamp their own character on the Conservative Party, but never once could they be heard to criticise the achievement of the venerable Thatcher.
Needless to say… it didn’t work. The reason being the reason the Tories knifed her in the back in the first place. They knew that if she continued in office, they were doomed to defeat. The voting public, whilst still rating Thatcher right up their with the best Prime Ministers ever, didn’t think she was flawless. Her cruel and inhumane treatment of the miners and the mining community, her unbending attitude towards the hated Poll Tax, and her regressive social outlook, were all major negatives, and they were driving the political narrative.
David Cameron, helped no doubt by a substantial period in opposition, was the first Conservative leader to question the Thatcher doctrine. He was prepared to confront the Tory backwoodsmen by admitting that there was such a thing as society (and five years later turned it in to a central theme of his Party manifesto). He was prepared to risk the wrath of Le Tricoteuse at the Tory Party conference that not only was homosexuality not a sin, but that gay people would be welcomed in to his party… and black, Asian and other minority ethnic people too. He was prepared to admit the heretical notion that under the Leadership of Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party had made mistakes, and they needed to change.
And that is why Peter Mandelson is wrong. Any new leader of the Labour Party has to be prepared to hold up their hands and admit that the three time victorious leader was wrong about a number of crucial issues. Iraq, the reliance on the market to resolve problems in the public services, cosying up to the wealthy, over regulation in the public sector and under regulation in the financial sector, and an authoritarian attitude to the role of the state, are just some of the things that spring readily to mind. Labour Party members know that is true. Labour party voters, and just as importantly former Labour voters also knew it was true.
Any prospective new leader of the Labour Party also has to confront the errors of the past. If, as Mandelsomn seems to be hinting, we are expecting David Miliband to come riding forward on his white charger as Tony Blair reincarnate, unable to recognise the things that drove 4-5 million people away from the Labour Party over a thirteen year period in office, we will be doomed to repeat the mistake of those Conservative leaders I mentioned earlier, and had better be prepared for a long spell in the wilderness.
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Yes, New Labour is Old Hat.
Do you think thats the reason Brown had his photo done with Thatcher on the steps of number ten, in his mind I suspect he was praying she would rub off on him, she did as a matter of fact both have gone and are nobodies to day.
Mandy cannot live life without the limelight, if this Pratt thought he would be any good in the Tories he had moved over, I was told he has just come back from a holidays so he needs to get back into the lime light.
I do have a vote in the leadership contest through my coop membership, but I cannot be bothered.
Interestingly, I think Brown’s photocall with Thatcher was designed to remind people of her. It was to try to say that the Tories weren’t all cuddly Cameron types and that the nasty party were still there.
Need to start afresh, all those associated with the last government need to stand aside. New Labour’s errors are down to the old guard, elect a new guard and you’re back in business. When Paxo accuses the old New Labour of whatever, just agree, in fact agree enthusiastically, be positive in your slagging off of the old New Labour. Then you will be in a position to slag off Dave and co, not forgetting an occasional bit of slagging off of one of your old New Labour colleagues still clinging desperately to power.
“Iraq, the reliance on the market to resolve problems in the public services, cosying up to the wealthy, over regulation in the public sector and under regulation in the financial sector, and an authoritarian attitude to the role of the state, are just some of the things that spring readily to mind. ”
) talk about policy in terms of substituting their judgment for everyone elses, and trying to find ways through rules and regulations of forcing everyone into line.
Weirdly, those are a list of very good reasons why i’m a Lib Dem, and why I can never support the Labour Party.
Every single Labour member i’ve met (i’m from South Wales, there’s a lot of them around here
It’s the most authoritarian way of thinking i’ve ever come across.
I know your not like that Bob, please keep ramming your views down the throat of your party.
Yes, but life’s one big compromise… which is why you support a party that ‘s happy to penalise the poor and cuddle up to the Tories.
I know you’re not like that John… keep on ramming that down the throats of YOUR party.
Hysterical nonsense for from Mr Piper and his Old Labourite fellow-travellers. How many readers even noticed that he couldn’t even bring himself to name “the three time victorious leader”?
Yes, WINNING 3 historical times. AIRBRUSHED. JUST LIKE THAT.
So let me remind you.
TONY BLAIR TONY BLAIR TONY BLAIR.
You people have NO idea what won it for you THREE TIMES. Not the foggiest.
Btw, I wrote this in April 2008:
__________
(Imaginary) Wikipedia entry, 2050:
HISTORY
The Labour Party was founded in 1900 and disbanded in 2011 after its defeat at the general election of the previous year caused internecine warfare between Blairites, Brownite cohorts and the Old resurgent Left. Its position as an ongoing force was fatally compromised by the narrow Conservative win under David Cameron. Cameron was then forced by the third party, the Liberal Democrats, to accept proportional representation in return for their parliamentary support in a hung parliament.
__________
But what do I know? Not exactly rocket-science to imagine the Tory/Lib coalition of course. Hopefully, the rest of this ‘imaginary’ future will be proved wrong.
I’m not holding my breath if people like you do not understand what you had in Blair. Political, election winning brilliance. Unequalled for decades, and likely to be unequalled when we look back in decades to come.
I knew Labour was wrong closing down those mental health hospitals, we need them now urgent.
All very well winning three elections, but what did he and the New Labour government do with that?
Housing policy is one area which was allowed to wither to the point that there was hardly a policy at all.
There were too many re-organisations in the NHS (a mistake the new government seems anxious to repeat).
Transport and Energy policy was not sufficiently advanced.
Yes, there were many good things, most of them from the first term (minimum wage, Pension guarantees, closing tax loopholes, a balanced budget for four years, better financing of public services after decades of neglect), but vesting all the power and glory in one person is part of the reason for the later lack of coherence.
Winning elections, sure. Making those victories count as more than statistics is the main thing.