« Labour Dilemma | Main | Democracy »
February 4, 2005
Manifesto Problems
From this report in the Guardian, it looks like Labour's leadership is going to have an interesting ride as it finalises the Party Manifesto for the next election. As Robin Cook points out...[If the party put forward an] unremittingly New Labour [manifesto it would neglect the fact that] the whole point of winning an election is to create a fair, open society that reflects our decent, humanitarian values.
To which the only reply is Amen Brother!
The Party Leadership is going to try and portray this election as a choice between Labour or Conservative visions of the future. But their election slogan Forward, not back hints at the real battle, between Blairite New Labour and the more traditional values that Labour used to represent.
And that's what you need to decide come polling day. Do you want the Blairite vision of the future, or a more traditional vision of a society that does more than just pay lip service to social values? Forget the scaremongering, the Conservatives are not going to win the next election as even they would admit. So a vote against a Blairite MP in a marginal constituency isn't going to hand the country to the Tories. But it might just save it from the Blairites.
--------
Posted by Clive on February 4, 2005 1:24 PM in the category Old Stuff