Exploiting a conservative moment
David Blackburn 10:43pm
Away from the resurrection of David Miliband, other Labour modernisers convened at the Progress rally earlier
this evening. These weren’t just any old party hacks; they were grandees: Douglas Alexander, Tessa Jowell, Caroline Flint, Liam Byrne and Jacqui Smith to name a few: and the audience was
reverential.
They were discussing The Purple Book, the latest contribution to the debate about Labour’s future. The central thesis of the book is that the state is passé. As Jowell put it, “People are much more sceptical, much more hostile to the idea of the state spending their money on their behalf.” Jowell mentioned community, faith groups and the family as examples of structures and institutions in which the public are finding solace instead of the state, which had been devalued by a legacy of debt.
These social changes have electoral consequences for the party of big government. All of the speakers urged the need for Labour to embrace choice in public services, a creed once preached by Tony Blair. Caroline Flint warned that the party mustn’t get “backed into an anti-choice corner” by defending the state’s vested interests in health and education, because to do so would be to ignore the aspirations of millions of voters.
In fact, Douglas Alexander said, many aspirational voters have already turned away from socialism. He elaborated, saying that the left had assumed it would benefit from the global financial crisis: that voters would look at the capricious market and seek sanctuary in the benevolent comforts of the state. But the opposite had occurred, and the public have since accepted the right’s arguments about deficit reduction and the size of state.
The upshot was clear: this is a conservative moment. But there was general agreement that the Conservatives are failing to exploit the opportunity fully. The speakers' collective mantra was, in the words of the impressive Jowell (for whom the audience was ecstatic), "communtiy where possible, government when necessary". Is that what David Cameron meant by the Big Society?
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TomTom
September 25th, 2011 11:00pm Report this commentWhy doesn't Labour disband ? It is a State Party designed to promote the Salariat on the State Payroll. It has no other function. It seeks to fuse Party and State as it did for 13 years. Blair was the front man for the most left-wing Labour Government in history which nationalised banks, destroyed national identity, and turned society and legal systems upside down - yesterday's crimes became today's virtues and those who stuck to the old ways were criminalised.
Labour is a floating hulk in a junkyard of political parties whose purpose is simply to perpetuate self-serving elites
sinosimon
September 25th, 2011 11:15pm Report this commentJowell, a woman so perspicacious that when a near half-million pound mortgage is paid off on the family home, with cash apparently obtained in to say the least murky cirmcumstances from the orbit of the fragrant berlusconi, either fails to notice or decides it is a matter too trivial for her to question?
is peter mandelson going to give a seminar on filling out a loan form next?
Dimoto
September 26th, 2011 1:22am Report this commentSo Labour have nicked "the Big Society" idea too ?
Sorry, Mr Blackburn, but "Douglas Alexander, Tessa Jowell, Caroline Flint, Liam Byrne and Jacqui Smith" ARE indeed party hacks.
There is nothing "grand" about any of them.
Frank P
September 26th, 2011 1:41am Report this commentsinosimom
V.good!
Nicholas
September 26th, 2011 8:02am Report this commentToo funny. This party will do anything, say anything in order to secure power for themselves.
PayDirt
September 26th, 2011 9:22am Report this commentQuand je pense a Milli, je bande willy nilly (apologies to Georges Brasses et Carla). Milliband, mon vieux est-ce qu’il sais que son nom signifies in Froggie ? A thousand or a thousandth ? Shoot alors, Milliband avez-vous assez, assissy-vous SVP, quel bras. Et vous etes Prime Minister of Grosse Britannia, mon Dieu. Une nouvelle SI measure, comme ratez-vous ceci, mon pet’t ? I’ll give it five millibands, no more. Comme ci comme ca, mais c’est une nomme de plume ?
Boudicca
September 26th, 2011 9:23am Report this commentDoes Labour really think that parading Jacqui Smith, expenses fiddler par excellence, is going to do them any good?
As for Liam Byrne - the Conservatives will never let the electorate forget that this was the man who did what Gordon instructed and borrowed and spent like mad on the run-up to the GE and then had the stupidity to write "There's no money left - good luck" to his replacement.
They're living on another planet, these people.
xenophon
September 26th, 2011 9:47am Report this commentNever before have I seen Tessa Jowell described as 'impressive'. And that list of 'grandees': tell me it's an ironical use of the word, please.
David Parker
September 26th, 2011 10:47am Report this commentNot a word from any of them about what would be best for the country, but just what would give them the best chance of having another go at ruining it.
Nicholas
September 26th, 2011 1:02pm Report this commentDavidParker - absolutely. With Labour it is all about Labour. You only have to read comments from Labourites to understand that they believe in a divine right to rule us.
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