Blair admits resignation mistake / 1994 and all that - 5 comments
It's only blogger's block that's stopping me post a roundup on our Tony, his imminent (or so it seemed) resignation, and the future of 'New Labour'.
Several great articles and roundups have appeared in the meantime - here's the latest - but I think there may still a little space for another view. I will try to perfect something today (Monday). Just bear in mind that some of us work for a living and that I've barely been able to add a word since last Wednesday.
While we're on the subject, I hear a lot from ex-Labour voters who have since gone off in all sorts of directions. I would be very interested to know whether or not we were comrades (sounds so sweet) in 1994 at the time of the last leadership election, and, if so, how you voted, and how your expectations have changed.
I think this is a lot more interesting than having people parrot the views of the particular faction/wing they have ended up in - I want to know what you were like, and how you changed. Also, if you've lost your faith in your fellow man, or the political system, how do you propose - if at all - recovering it?
There are a few people in particular I'd like to ask - the funky thing about blogs is that those few probably already know who they are and will comment accordingly, but if not, I may have to needle you :-)
Just for nostalgia purposes, I'm prepared to reveal that I voted for Margaret Beckett back in 1994. Why? She was seen as awkward-left to Prescott's crusty-left, and Tony was regarded - in those days - as young and "smarmy" (ha!). I vaguely recall - at an earlier stage - favouring long-forgotten Jack Cunningham. It's pretty hard to believe now - in a number of ways - but he did have a kind of rugged, Northern charm.
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5 comments so far...
Why Margaret Beckett? I take it you were a lot more left-wing twelve years ago!
I couldn't have voted for her. I find her volte face from being a Bennite, plus her lukewarm approach over the millitant purge in the mid-1980s difficult to reconcile. Plus, having met her, I find her a bit cold and superior (although I am sure she isn't).
I wanted to see a Blair/Prescott ticket and am glad it has happened. Perhaps next time a Brown/Benn (Hillary) ticket or a Brown/Hain ticket!
Paul, you're far more sensible than I am, and almost certainly more consistent in your views. Would you believe I was pretty well a stereotypical 'stopper' as recently as the turn of 2005? And yet, at the same time, I was pro-free trade and anti-nationalisation, etc.
I would regularly vote for the Campaign Group/Grassroots Alliance slate for the NEC - and here's the Margaret tie-in - not because I thought they were any good, any more principled, or had the slightest chance of winning and/or enacting their policy, but because it was far more important to give the leadership a bloody nose.
Now, if you look around you, you see all sorts of people motivated in pretty much the same way: for example, the common theme that it's much more important for the USA to be taken down a peg ot two than for Iraq to be liberated. Of course these people would have been pleased for Iraq to be liberated, but it's down the list of priorities, and they would be unable to take the obvious step in being glad that invasion happened, and that the US-dominated Coalition was there to do it. It's actually an appalling attitude, and very irresponsible: "I'm glad I live in a country with very low unemployment, a stable economy, etc. but because of my own political ideology - which actually overlaps greatly with that of the PM/Government - I will refuse to give credit for what's happened, and deliberately use my democratic right to make it as difficult as possible for them to govern."
I'm glad I can see this now.
Anyway, onto the future, I must say that Brown/Benn is a very attractive prospect. Not so mad on Hain, but it's about time that people of Benn's generation (and he's no spring chicken) were brought into the very top positions. Prescott's had a good run, but I think his time is nigh.
Another Margaret Beckett voter here, or at least I would have been if I had been old enough to join the Labour Party. All my family were desperate for Ken to be the leader so I think I was being quite responsible in going for Beckett :-)
That said, I have to admit that I stuck by Blair for a lot longer than most people I know - I remember having a very violent argument with my friends on the eve of the 2001 election by urging them to vote Labour. For a long time his domestic achievements seemed to counterbalance his activities on the world stage. I just put my hands over my ears and shouted 'sure start' over and over...
I could be tempted back into the fold by Brown/Hain I suspect.
I voted for Tony Blair - and I haven't regretted once!. Not even when he's done things that I totally disagree with.
It seemed clear at the time that image was very important. We needed someone with charisma and someone who had a clear direction, one that would have a broad appeal. He seemed to offer a vision of the future and we so desparately needed a change from the dreadful dull ways of the Major and from being governed by old, totally out of touch and incompetent Tories. That was a government who never governed for the better interests of the whole of the UK, let alone for global good.
I don't think anyone could have been under too much illusion what we were getting. I still think too this is a government we should be proud of, but we shouldn't be complacent (remember that watch word from before the '97 election?!).
I think I ticked the Beckett box too, not because I particularly knew her from Adam but from what was a distant and always Tory outpost on the South Coast - now Labour for 3 general elections - it just felt like she was probably the most savvy person to craft an inclusive a left moving project for Britain. Donât exactly know what made me think like that, though it may have been my old copies of Marxism Today at that time LOL
Also, I distinctly remember considering the issue of what they may be like personally, but then remember deciding I wasnât that fussed, since it was very likely none of them would be round my house on a regular basis anyway :-)
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