Politics

21 July 2007

Beneath the dynamic surface, Brown is dismantling Blair’s public service reforms

Mr Brown is a master of political distraction. While the Westminster pack has been kept entertained by his colourful Cabinet signings and scrapping of the Manchester supercasino, he has quietly reversed the reform process in such a boring, technical way that almost no one has noticed. His every move is being monitored by Reform, the respected think tank, which will later this month publish a report documenting ‘a very clear and ominous pattern of rejection of the key reform elements’ of the Blair years.

This is why Mr Brown and his ministers were being plied with chocolate-coated strawberries by trade unionists last week: the Prime Minister has delivered for them, especially in the public sector. All this creates a tremendous opportunity for the Conservatives. If David Cameron has the stomach to pick up where the ex-Prime Minister left off (which would mean ditching the woeful producer-friendly Tory health strategy), a prize awaits him. He could plausibly claim (as George Osborne has in the past) that Mr Blair was on the right track, but stranded in the wrong party, which is now reverting to type. And that there is only one way to deliver meaningful public sector reform in Britain: vote Conservative.