Why all the apologies, Ed?

The Labour Conference 2011 has turned into a horrible misery-fest. What a daft idea to make the theme of the conference: “We’re really sorry, we won’t do it again”. At least it’s not the slogan, although it would have been more honest than “Fulfilling the Promise of Britain”. I agree with Steve Richards in the Independent that the pessimism is self-fulfilling. This does not feel like a platform for re-election

I spent most of the New Labour era criticising Tony Blair and his government. I thought he was too cosy with the ultra-rich, cynical about criminal justice policy, disingenuous about the use of the private sector in providing public services and over-cautious about redistribution.

But I recognise the achievements of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and so do the people around David Cameron, which is why Philip Gould’s Unfinished Revolution is their bible. The national minimum wage, the smoking ban, reform of the House of Lords, devolution in Scotland and Wales, civil partnerships – these things just would not have happened under Conservative administrations. It is also true that the Coalition’s reforms in health, education and welfare to work are based on solid Blairite foundations.

Labour lost the last election. That much is undeniable. But the Tories didn’t win it either. A surprising number of people voted Labour even with Gordon Brown as leader and I would wager that most of the people who voted Lib Dem did not want a Tory government. Many will never vote that way again.

What possessed Ed Miliband to believe that the British people wanted a series of apologies? The only thing the Labour Party should be apologising for is not replacing Gordon Brown as leader when it had the chance. Labour politicians should face the truth: despite all the mistakes of the New Labour years it is quite possible that they would still be in government, had they steeled themselves for a coup when they had the chance. If they truly believe their own rhetoric about the damage the Coalition is doing then they have only themselves to blame.