Earth To Blairism- You Belong Dead
File under 'ex-Blairites outside the sinking ship trying to get back in by kicking holes in the bottom'.
With Gordon Brown's administraton looking increasingly like a muppet surrounded by pygmies, it's time for another upheaval of earth from the grave a country in mourning tearfully commerated with the inscription 'Blairism 1997-2007 - Please, Just Fuck Off And Die'.
February 1 2008 The Progress thinktank issues a statement backed by a group of cabinet ministers, which calls on Brown to offer a radical reform programme to ward off the Tory threat as Cameron battles for the centre ground with more socially liberal policies
The thinktank urges Brown to draw up "a future agenda which is post-Blair, not anti-Blair; building on the achievements of the past decade, not running away from them".
Now, to us, the only things Brown's shown any real leadership on are rowing frantically backwards from the madder excesses of Blairism, so who are these 'Progress' people? Well, obviously it's Charles Clarke again, you can't keep him down with anything short of an industrial grade rolling mill:
"I don't think it is Gordon's fault, in the sense that he has to make his dispositions with the resources available to him. The party leadership team isn't as clear and strong as it needs to be
or: Labour has wasted much of the first half of this parliament. With some exceptions, our efforts to make the necessary changes have been insufficient.
What exceptions, Charles? This is the same old Blairite boilerplate, there are always 'challenges' for which 'change' is 'necessary' if only we have the 'will' to make an 'effort'. The language is passionless, meaningless, awful bilge and the result is the same - crap policies and crap laws. It doesn't fool anyone any more. Bog off, Charlie.
P.S. Can anyone explain to me why the otherwise readable Paul Linford keeps repeating his view that Labour need Alan Milburn and David Blunkett back? Baffles me.
I'll tell you the answer
I'll tell you the answer myself if you like Tom.
I think Gordon Brown should bring back Milburn - I have never advocated the return of Blunkett, merely stated that Brown had an opportunity to bring him back which he didn't take - for the following reasons.
1. Brown's Cabinet is very raw and inexperienced and needs some bigger hitters. It is all very well bringing on young talent, but they need to be balanced by some slightly older hands. Milburn is still only 49, and bringing him back would add much-needed experience to the Cabinet without necessarily making the government look "old" or "past it."
2. Alan Milburn is one of the few senior Labour figures with some name recognition among members of the public and was generally thought of as being a good minister. He also won a lot of public sympathy for the stand he took on work-life balance issues after he resigned in 2003.
3. Milburn is one of the more interesting and original thinkers in the New Labour camp and Brown could badly do with the kind of fresh-thinking he would bring to the policy making process. His ideas on social mobility in particular could be a real boon to Labour in the run up to the next election.
4. Bringing back Milburn would underline the recent rapprochement between Brownites and Blairites and help to engender the unity that is essential if Labour is to win a fourth term.
5. Milburn has the ability to be a future Prime Minister. Rather than being consumed by the need to settle old scores, Brown should recognise that he now has a responsibility to ensure that the party has a choice of plausible successors. Miliband, Balls and Purnell do not, in my view, cut the mustard on this score, and there is at least a question mark over whether they will ever do so.
I'm sure Paul Linford is
I'm sure Paul Linford is more familiar with Alan Milburn than myself, but I'm not really convinced by his reasoning here:
1 - Brown already has himself, Straw and Hoon on board, plus a number of others (such as Darling) with considerable ministerial experience. What could Milburn add that isn't already available amongst 'all the talents'?
2 - Thought a good minister by whom? (I suspect not necessarily health workers). He might have got seome sympathy for his resignation, but then again, the same could be said for Estelle Morris (another ex-minister with name recognition, and then of course there's Clare Short) - and there's no clamour for her return as far as I can tell.
3 - If you mean 'an unreconstructed Blairite whose last great contribution was the Stop Gordon Campai-- sorry, the 20/20 Vision website', then yes, he could have some interesting ideas. (What is it with ex-lefties and Blairism anyway?) Incidentally, what was Milburn's contribution to the 2005 election campaign again?
4 - ...or the Blairites are going to do what, exactly? If they make trouble for Brown, Labour loses - and the golden rule for New Labour is: Winning is Everything. Besisdes, if Brown already has a cabinet of all the talents (including Comrade Digby), why does he need Milburn?
5 - 'Milburn has the ability to be a future Prime Minister.' So why didn't he run against Brown when he had the chance?
PARDON ME - Milburn an
PARDON ME - Milburn an "original thinker" ??