AS THE world sighs with relief that George W Bush is finally stepping down, one wonders what it will mean for the famous “special relationship”. Overall, it has been one of the longest episodes of unrequited love in history – and perhaps no more so in Britain than under “new” Labour.
Archive for January, 2009
Ian Williams: They’re changing the guard at the White House
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, January 17th, 2009Westminster Watch: Upwardly mobile Milburn and new party unityGORDON BROWN’S invitation to Alan Milburn to work on social mobility is a reward for good behaviour. Milburn restricted himself – at least in public and on the record – to contributions about policy, unlike one other former Cabinet minister whose return has not materialised and whose personal criticisms of the Prime Minister have at times verged on the intemperate. Whatever the results of his work on policy, Millburn’s return strengthens the perception that “new” Labour’s two wings – Brownite and Blairite – are reuniting. The implications for the short-term are clear – with one or two exceptions, all “new” Labour’s biggest figures from the past 10 years are working, formally or informally, for the party in the run-up to the next general election, aiming to secure the best possible result for the Prime Minister and Labour in that election, whenever it is held. Whatever fears about Brown tilting to the right to bring and keep them on board have probably been assuaged by the changed role for the state in this period of global economic crisis: the boost to the image of the state as protector and guarantor of economic life outweighs the recruitment of a few Blairites, however eminent they may be. Yet the long-term – or post-election – implications are intriguing. By heeding Brown’s call, the Blairites are clearing the decks for the battle for the soul of the party after the next election, should the Conservatives win a working majority. No one will be able to say that Tony Blair or his supporters undermined the Prime Minister or his Government, and if the efforts of Peter Mandelson, Alan Milburn and the other returning Blairites don’t succeed in defeating the Conservatives, they will have bought themselves a stake in the debate over the future of the party which staying aloof or actively criticising the Brown Government could have endangered. The big question is whether, in defeat, the truce between Blairites and Brownites would hold. Could those allies of the Prime Minister who supported an earlier transition of power restrain themselves from blaming Blair for giving Brown what rugby fans might call a hospital pass, two years into the third term? Would Blairites demur from criticising the behaviour of those who agitated for an earlier transition, or the policy and political initiatives which they undertook in the year before Brown reached out to his erstwhile rivals, establishing a Government of Labour unity? Should the truce break down, the policy debate between the different strands of what used to be called modernising opinion within the party will still focus on the type of “modernisation” which the party needs to undergo in order to regain power. “New” Labour spans a political space which includes John Denham, Ed Balls and Alan Milburn, and the fact that its divisions and debates have dominated political life in the party and at Westminster for a decade and a half could make it all the more difficult for the left to gain traction in the debates which would follow an electoral defeat.
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, January 17th, 2009GORDON BROWN’S invitation to Alan Milburn to work on social mobility is a reward for good behaviour. Milburn restricted himself – at least in public and on the record – to contributions about policy, unlike one other former Cabinet minister whose return has not materialised and whose personal criticisms of the Prime Minister have at times verged on the intemperate.
Dave Anderson: We must never abandon another generation
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, January 17th, 2009Dave Anderson recounts some important mining history and draws some valuable lessons for today as the economic crisis deepens
Martin Rowson: Killing machine is bigger affront than killing joke
By Tribune Web Editor /Saturday, January 17th, 2009SOMETHING strange happened to me last week. It’s my job to produce hard-hitting visual satire of current events, but anything I ever say or draw about Israel – which last week’s events in Gaza demanded of me –- automatically brings with it a specific kind of double jeopardy. I know in my bones, before I’ve drawn the first line, that I’m storing up trouble ahead. This is because of the formidable firepower, not just of the Israeli army, but the Israel lobby, too. In the past, even the tamest caricature of Ariel Sharon has elicited emails accusing me of producing the vilest anti-Semitic cartoon since the closure of Julius Streicher’s Nazi hate-sheet Der Sturmer, neatly if somewhat boldly asserting that any criticism of Israel equates me with one of the more prominent cheerleaders of the Holocaust.
Parmjit Dhanda: Canada’s dry run forms basis for citizenship change
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009SINCE the economic crisis hit, the debate on “Britishness” seems to have fallen off the party political radar. Yet in the face of economic uncertainty and rising unemployment, that discussion is as relevant as ever. The very real threat of the election of the first British National Party MEP this summer should be a wake-up [...]
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009
Should Gordon Brown call a general election in 2009? You said: YES: 52%, NO: 48%
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009
John Street is on holiday. Standing in: Chris Proctor.
Chris Proctor’s Demonstration Diary
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009THE three most dreaded words for anyone at a rally held prior to the start of a demonstration must be: “Our next speaker”. ONS always begins with: “The reason we are all here today is …” and tells us why we’ve turned up. How much of a surprise is this going to be? Do we see people turning to each other and saying: “Blimey! Yes, that’s it. I was wondering why I’m standing here in Hyde Park in the freezing cold on a Saturday afternoon.”
Unions welcome jobs action but want more to curb banks
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009UNION leaders gave a qualified welcome to the Government’s “bold and pro-active” jobs initiatives this week but called on Gordon Brown to take tougher action to ensure the banks are “brought to book”.
Richard Corbett: Why a progressive vote is vital in the 2009 European elections
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, January 16th, 2009There are at least three very good reasons why it is essential for Labour to prevail this summer against the forces of reaction and bigotry