After a gripping week of political theatre in Manchester, James Forsyth invites readers to submit nominations for a new category in our Parliamentarian of the Year Awards: the prize for the Readers’ Representative
If a week is a long time in politics, then a year is an absolute age. In Manchester, Labour delegates appeared staggered by what has happened since the party’s last conference. Now it is the Brownites, not the Cameroons, who take comfort in how quickly things can change, with Ed Balls reassuring Labour supporters that because things have gone so wrong for Labour since last September, they can go equally wrong for the Tories next year.
The last 12 months have been the most dramatic in British politics since the Tories came from behind to win in 1992. We have seen the fall and fall of Brown — at every point when we thought that the Brown bottom has been reached, it turned out that there was further to fall. Labour is now staring at a defeat of epic proportions. Yet the party appears to lack the will to save itself. Among Labour delegates in Manchester there is a grim mood of resignation rather than any fighting spirit. If there is no leadership contest, it will be a sign of Labour despair, not unity.
The New Labour project has unravelled. The compromises that bound it together depended on prosperity, something that will be in short supply in the next few years. While the Tory attempt to replicate them — sharing the proceeds of growth — has been outrun by events.
Labour’s defeat in Glasgow East showed just how far the party had fallen. To lose your 26th safest seat is quite something. But worryingly, the defeat also suggested that Alex Salmond’s plan to break up the Union is on track.
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