Politics

8 September 2007

The odd thing is that it is left-wingers, not Cameron, who have lurched to the right

Being left-wing has a powerful emotional appeal — it seems morally better, which is why people find it so hard to leave — but it is intellectually less fulfilling. And the idea that it occupies the moral high ground is largely an illusion.

I won’t dwell on the economic arguments — even Neil Kinnock acknowledged that Margaret Thatcher was right. Blair kept her union legislation not just out of political opportunism but because he knew it worked. Although he was elected on a campaign to scrap the NHS internal market, Blair learnt from experience that nothing else worked, and brought it back.

But what of the social arguments? The Left was definitely right on basic moral issues, particularly on promoting tolerance — whether it be gay rights, women’s rights, or combating racism. But on most other social issues, it was wrong. About the causes of crime, family breakdown, the dangers of welfare dependency, personal responsibility, and the drawbacks of multiculturalism, the Right was right. When Iain Duncan Smith visited a rundown estate and was challenged: ‘What are you doing here? This is Labour territory,’ he replied: ‘Yes, and look around you.’

Increasingly those on the Left are agreeing. Many, whether Frank Field on welfare reform, Alan Milburn on public services, Polly Toynbee on low-skill immigration, or most Labour home secretaries on human rights, have reluctantly thought themselves into traditional right-wing positions. It looks increasingly as if Gordon Brown has seen the Right light too, given his predilection for stealing Cameron’s ideas.

Across the policy spectrum, our supposedly left-wing government is adopting right-wing policies, and not just as a result of political opportunism. Rather than chanting the joys of diversity, it is promoting social cohesion, whether by flying the union flag or curbing translation in public services. Trevor Phillips has given us all permission to show right-wing scepticism about multiculturalism.

The government pursues curbs to lone parent benefits and disability benefits because it realises the moral hazard of languishing on welfare. Faced with concern about the breakdown of respect, it is talking and occasionally acting tough on discipline and law and order.