Sorry for my immediate freefall into dormancy. I have been suffering from a minor chest infection which exacerbated my asthma. On the plus side, the local hospital is consistently fantastic. If, as Bevan said, the language of priorities truly is the religion of socialism, we should get our act together and prioritise paying doctors and nurses especially whatever they ask for.
The by-elections were good solid results for the Labour Party. I am looking forward to when the Tories collectively realise that, in the absense of the relentless, thumping by-election victories which Labour scored against the government throughout the 1990s, they are not, in fact, re-living the high watermark of Tony Blair's political career under Project Soft and Fluffy. I have been completely satisfied with Gordon Brown's actions as Prime Minister so far - the collapse in the Conservative Party's character assassination agenda on our leader reminds me of the run-up to the 2005 election, when "Vote Blair, Get Brown" backfired in spectacular fashion. Could it be that the public, I don't know, prefers a moderate centre-left party to the political wing of Eton? Never!
Incidentally, I watched Grant Shapps (allegedly in charge of the Tories' campaign in Ealing Southall) being interviewed on BBC News last night. I say 'allegedly', because after thirty seconds, I realised he must be on the Labour Party pay-roll. Between his confused blatherings I gathered he had been sent to argue that pretty much any result better than being run out of town by an armed mob would be taken as good news for the Conservatives. As Luke Akehurst said, the Tory Party really fluffed the expectations game with this one. Surely even the most dyed-in-the-wool Tory who watched his performance realised the game was well and truly up: no wonder these people keep losing elections. I think we should bring back Tony Benn just to even things out.
So, a bad start to this blog, a much better start to Gordon Brown's prime ministership. Well done to all the comrades who pounded the pavements these last weeks.
Friday, 20 July 2007
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Introducing the blog
Hello Internet. Can I call you Innie? Grand. As a Labour Party member concerned above all else with the election of a fourth term Labour Government, I have started this blog both to rant in vain at those, from whinging middle-class liberals through to the hard left, who stand as an obstacle to that fourth term, and to pour venom on the militant Etonian drinking club posing as the official opposition of this country.
I consider myself a moderate Labour member, stuck behind enemy lines in deepest blue England, fanatically supportive of the Labour Government (the outstanding exception being the Iraq war). Generally the political background I will be commenting from is thus:
1. I have believed in replacing Tony Blair as our leader, electorally brilliant though he may have been, since the 2005 general election, when we quite obviously won despite and not because of his leadership. Much like abandoning the baggage of unilateral disarmament and public ownership to win office, so must we now ditch the legacy of spin and the veneer of financial impropriety which has damaged Labour's reputation. Doing so required an end to Blair's premiership and a new, modernising agenda for the Government. I believe Gordon Brown will provide that. As it says in the blog title, it's "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more". Except, er, without actually loving them. Pretty important, that.
2. Unfortunately I believe much of the third term has been wasted due to the confusion, indiscipline and division of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The re-creation of a unified and ambitious Labour Party should be the main benefit of our new leadership.
3. The cabinet has often failed to put our party's agenda into an historically consistent narrative of Labour values. We shouldn't be embarrassed about supporting increased consumer control of health or more locally provided services, nor the vigorous campaign against the crime and anti-social behaviour which blight working-class communities. And we absolutely shouldn't let the Tory Party monopolise the political mainstream, appropriating Labour's reforms and achievements in an attempt to bait the progressive left into rejecting its most successful incarnation ever. Social democracy borders on irrelevance if we are not in power to implement change. And we win or lose on the centre-ground.
4. Labour is a not a debating society for the chattering classes or think tanks. We have become the natural party of government for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the continued success of the Labour Party is absolutely vital for the future of British society and the future of the working class and the poor especially. I believe in a campaigning party rooted in local communities and the trade unions, and have no truck with any talk of virtual parties, state funding of political parties or American-style celebrity contests. Oh, and I wish the Lib Dems would shut up between elections and leave politics to the parties which actually represent solid class interests.
In any case, I hope to provide a sensible, 'social-democratic' perspective on British politics in the context of the Brown Government and its fight for the soul, not just of the Labour Party, but our whole society, against the horde of savage Tories knocking on Rome's gates.
God I love hyperbole.
I consider myself a moderate Labour member, stuck behind enemy lines in deepest blue England, fanatically supportive of the Labour Government (the outstanding exception being the Iraq war). Generally the political background I will be commenting from is thus:
1. I have believed in replacing Tony Blair as our leader, electorally brilliant though he may have been, since the 2005 general election, when we quite obviously won despite and not because of his leadership. Much like abandoning the baggage of unilateral disarmament and public ownership to win office, so must we now ditch the legacy of spin and the veneer of financial impropriety which has damaged Labour's reputation. Doing so required an end to Blair's premiership and a new, modernising agenda for the Government. I believe Gordon Brown will provide that. As it says in the blog title, it's "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more". Except, er, without actually loving them. Pretty important, that.
2. Unfortunately I believe much of the third term has been wasted due to the confusion, indiscipline and division of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The re-creation of a unified and ambitious Labour Party should be the main benefit of our new leadership.
3. The cabinet has often failed to put our party's agenda into an historically consistent narrative of Labour values. We shouldn't be embarrassed about supporting increased consumer control of health or more locally provided services, nor the vigorous campaign against the crime and anti-social behaviour which blight working-class communities. And we absolutely shouldn't let the Tory Party monopolise the political mainstream, appropriating Labour's reforms and achievements in an attempt to bait the progressive left into rejecting its most successful incarnation ever. Social democracy borders on irrelevance if we are not in power to implement change. And we win or lose on the centre-ground.
4. Labour is a not a debating society for the chattering classes or think tanks. We have become the natural party of government for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the continued success of the Labour Party is absolutely vital for the future of British society and the future of the working class and the poor especially. I believe in a campaigning party rooted in local communities and the trade unions, and have no truck with any talk of virtual parties, state funding of political parties or American-style celebrity contests. Oh, and I wish the Lib Dems would shut up between elections and leave politics to the parties which actually represent solid class interests.
In any case, I hope to provide a sensible, 'social-democratic' perspective on British politics in the context of the Brown Government and its fight for the soul, not just of the Labour Party, but our whole society, against the horde of savage Tories knocking on Rome's gates.
God I love hyperbole.
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