The Labour right and the Labour left never was one of the great romances. Ever since the couple plighted their troths on 15 February 1906, theirs has always been the very exemplar of loveless marriage. Little wonder that both partners have been guilty of flirtation – and sometimes adulterous couplings – at repeated intervals, for […]
Posts Tagged ‘Blairism’
The Blairite formula is no longer working
Aug 13th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.In 1994 Blair took over the Labour party and made it safe for British capitalism. Which is why so many top companies and banks were content to contribute large sums to the party in order to hedge their bets – they gained whichever party won the elections. Up till now they have dominated the Labour […]
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British democracy requires a Corbyn victory
Jul 21st, 2015 by Andy Newman.Yesterday marked a turning point in the Labour leadership battle. Neither of the trade unions with a leaning towards the Blairite wing of the party backed Liz Kendall. Community announced that they were backing Yvette Cooper, and Usdaw announced that they were backing Andy Burnham. This follows Kendall’s relatively poor performance in gaining nominations from […]
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A response to “I didn’t leave the Labour Party, the Labour Party left me”
Mar 21st, 2015 by Ben Sellers.I write this, not as a response to Jack Monroe, who announced that she’d left the Labour Party to join the Greens this week, but as a response to the many hundreds of good, socialists activists who have left the Labour Party over the years. It’s not meant as a rebuke, but merely to ask some […]
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Was Blair the ideological child of Thatcher?
Apr 11th, 2013 by Andy Newman.To steal a joke from the late John Sullivan, Tony Blair’s tribute to Baroness Thatcher sounds like a eulogy to John the Baptist from Jesus. However, while it may be difficult for some on the left to accept, particularly those of us who ten years ago were fulminating against the crime of Blair’s war on Iraq, […]
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Labour has always been the natural party of “aspiration”
Mar 29th, 2013 by Dominic Curran.Aspiration: its a political buzzword that has been hijacked by the right. The Tories have launched their “aspiration nation” tagline of helping those who want to “get ahead”. Indeed the Blarites in the party have laid the ridiculous charge that “Old Labour” did not understand the aspiration of people wanting to do well for themselves. […]
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The complex legacy of Tony Blair
Jun 2nd, 2012 by Andy Newman.The rise of Owen Jones as a persuasive and articulate exponent of socialist politics is certainly a very welcome development, and the reach of his articles in the Independent gives him a useful vehicle for propagating left-wing ideals, which he does very well. However, I want to take issue with Owen’s recent article about Tony Blair. One of biggest intellectual challenges for […]
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Why a Blairite party-within-a-party is a structural obstacle to Labour’s revival
Apr 17th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.In the face of defeat in Bradford, Ed Miliband has recognised that Labour needs “real, deep, genuine change” to reconnect with the 5 million voters lost under New Labour. At the same time, Labour right-wingers like Luke Akehurst express “disgust“ that other Labour members can put aside loyalty to their party to express solidarity not […]
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Not all Clause IV moments lead to victory
Jan 19th, 2012 by Andy Newman.Writing in yesterday’s Financial Times, George Parker and Jim Pickard, give expression to the popular idea that Ed Miliband’s confrontation with the unions provides him with the opportunity for a “Clause IV moment”, defining his independence as a potential prime minister from the legacy of labourism.
