According to Peter Watt, a former New Labour General Secretary who writes at Labour Uncut today, “politics is boring and irrelevant“. What he really means is that the politics and concerns of politicians and activists are boring and irrelevant, that is they are out of step with what real people are thinking. This is his recurring theme, and somehow it’s always used to justify retaining the politics and corrupt, authoritarian party structure of New Labour, as if losing Labour 5 million votes after 1997 was nothing to do with them. Continue reading
Tagged with Peter Watt
The Left must back Ed, warts and all
Ed’s speech was carefully measured. A re-statement of the post-war justification for the creation of the welfare state — a social responsibility we all share. Those who saw this as an attack on benefit claimants must be basing their view on the spin and interpretation of the speech rather than the speech itself. And those who fail to see the difference between the Keynesian social democratic agenda of the two Eds and the neo-liberalism of David Miliband’s undelivered ‘victory’ speech need to remove their ultra-left blinkers. Continue reading
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The Blairite ultras would lead Labour to surrender. They must be stopped
I never thought I’d say but it but, Christ, I don’t half know how Thatcher felt. Until her administration came and put the ‘Great’ back into ‘Great Britain’ (and all that), post-war Britain was a picture of despair for Maggie. The Tories had capitulated to the political settlement established by Clement Attlee’s 1945 government, with just a few tweaks. Post-war politics were a “socialist ratchet”, she claimed: “Labour moved Britain towards more statism; the Tories stood pat; and the next Labour Government moved the country a little further left. The Tories loosened the corset of socialism; they never removed it.” Continue reading
