Dave has some special new Labour friends

10 June 2009

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Anne McElvoy spots a new political type: the ‘Labrators’ who have more in common with Cameron than Brown, and may co-operate with a Tory government

However, many ‘right’-wingers in Labour like Mr Milburn are also fiercely loyal to their Labour origins. There’s a social ecology here too. Loyalties forged in early friendships are hard to break, even when the ideas and aversions which once bound them have fragmented.

I once suggested to Milburn that a party including himself, the Lib Dems’ David Laws and modernising Tories would be very attractive. ‘Not to me it wouldn’t,’ replied Mr Milburn, with all the force of his Tow Law roots.

Conversely, Jon ‘Joe Backbencher’ Cruddas and David Lammy, the Tottenham MP, are happy to engage with Conservatives in debate, if not yet in action. As for David Miliband, he ‘would rather shoot off his feet than sit down in a serious way with Tories for a conversation about the future of the big state. He just wrinkles his nose if you mention it,’ says a close friend. (Truly, this is Milibanese for ‘no’.)

Equally, Mr Cameron is more tribal by nature than Mr Osborne, who invites prominent Labour intelligentsia like Ruth Kelly and left-wing BBC broadcasters to dinner.

In terms of the policy and how to enact it effectively, there is a lively argument in the thinking parts of Labour about the size and activity of the state. One of the sundry problems with Mr Brown’s leadership is that this isn’t reflected in Number 10, a policy dead-zone these days.

Matthew Taylor suggests an amnesty under a new government. It ‘would agree not to trash the record of former ministers: but ask them what really stood in their way’. So a Tory team keen on de-centralising power might delve into what kept New Labour so keen on governing from the centre. ‘There are hidden obstacles and it’s better to know about them when you start,’ he says.

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wonderfulforhisage

June 11th, 2009 12:17pm Report this comment

I despair, Brown goes and we get NuLab Lite headed by the Heir to Blair.

It's enough to make a mother eat her young or vote BNP or something.

Rhoda Klapp

June 11th, 2009 12:42pm Report this comment

Hooray, when one party loses credibility these people will just support the other, so that the Utopia of centre-left politics may continue, unimpaired by any consideration of right or principle.

Scum.

Minnie Ovens

June 11th, 2009 8:18pm Report this comment

I suppose it is quite natural for Mr Cameron to look to his immediate left for friends.
I'm sure they approve of his manifesto far more than the right wing Conservatives do.
Well, that's if anyone knew what his policies were, but I guess he's probably told his new friends what they are.
Doesn't seem if Dave is picking up many of the disgruntled voters from Labour.
I wonder why not?

c chapman

June 12th, 2009 12:36pm Report this comment

Frank Field would certainly be a good man to talk to. The inside track on what stopped his welfare reforms and his ideas on controlling the massive welfare budget would be valuable in the extreme. I can never understand why he hasn't crossed the floor. He is far too sensible to still be in the same party as Brown and Prescott.

The Masked Marvel

June 13th, 2009 6:56pm Report this comment

This sounds like some Bizarro version of Reagan Democrats. That worked for at least one election, and one assumes that's all that matters at the moment. Too bad that most voters who aren't already voting Tory use the following formula to understand Mr. Cameron and his party:

Conservative = Toff + "I remember what the BBC remind us it was like under Thatcher".

Crude, but effective. Additionally, Reagan spent far more time on policy, his convictions, and the direction he wished to take the country when elected than on whining about Jimmy Carter's personality and leadership crisis. Perhaps a lesson there for PMQs?

If one is to judge from the recent EU election, it might be a better idea to bring voters over with real policies which will lead the country from strength to strength, instead of trying to triangulate towards them with advice from Labourites. In case anybody forgot, it's those Labourite policies which are the reason Messrs. Griffin and Bron will now have more say in laws which influence British lives than if they were in Westminster.

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