David Blunkett gave an odd interview on the Today programme this morning. It rather mirrored the problem with Labour: he clearly knew what he really thought, but wasn’t sure whether he should say all of it, so ended up letting really interesting little snippets out in dribs and drabs in between chunks of praise for the current state of the party. So his position on whether the current Labour leadership should think a break with New Labour is a good thing was a combination of acknowledging that the party does need to move on, and reminding anyone who really does want to move on that New Labour was pretty darn good at winning elections.
But while he managed a pretty damning parting shot about Ed Miliband’s abilities – saying Clement Attlee ‘wasn’t the most vibrant’ opponent who was still a good leader – Blunkett was really laying in to the Shadow Cabinet. It wasn’t just that he clearly thinks they’re not pulling their weight behind their not-too vibrant leader, but that they also need to be shown how it’s really done by the big boys. He suggested that what grandees could do to help, even if they weren’t going to take frontbench roles, was to show the current shadow cabinet how to do their jobs, to get alongside them and impart experience from the days of winning and of government. In short, David Blunkett wants a job, one showing the current lot of inexperienced shadow ministers how it’s really done.
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