Labour may be down, but decisive action would show the party is still very far from out, argues Mike Ion
Now that the “snowstorm in tea cup” coup is over, Gordon Brown should use the time before the general election to define the dividing lines between Labour and the Tories more clearly.
In politics, expectations are everything. Keep them fairly low and most people stay reasonably content. Raise them too high and you risk disappointing everyone. The Prime Minister learned this to his cost when he teased us with the promise of an early election in the autumn of 2007 and then changed his mind when he realised the gamble was too big – and unnecessary.
More than two years later, Brown and his party are battered and bruised. However, although they are down, they are not yet out for the count. The Government has stumbled from one bad news story to another: the loss of 25 million people’s income tax details, the 10p tax fiasco, a by-election defeat in the supposedly safe seat of Crewe and Nantwich, the Damian McBride affair. Yet the financial downturn, which could have been catastrophic for the British economy, gave Brown the opportunity to lead from the front and set the parameters for the forthcoming election.
Labour strategists should use the “phoney war” period of the campaign to demonstrate that Brown is a man of strong conviction and try to shape the debate around the virtues of fairness, strength and trust. They should seek to portray him as a politician who is striving to make poverty history and who is “not flash, just Gordon”.
This might just make a difference, because the election result is not yet a foregone conclusion. No matter how they try to
re-package themselves, inequality for the Tories remains natural and inevitable. For most in the Labour Party, it is abhorrent and avoidable.
Brown’s appeal for fairness could strike a chord with many former Labour supporters who might regard it as the green light to come home to the party. The backing for the Prime Minister from ministers and Labour MPs in the aftermath of Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon’s failed putsch should give Brown some breathing space. He should take the opportunity to reflect on the direction and the very purpose of his party.
He should reconsider the argument for a windfall tax on the energy companies, act to end the anomalies in health service provision between England, Wales and Scotland, and reaffirm his Government’s commitment to lifting people out of poverty.
People trust leaders who act decisively and with courage. When Labour acted boldly on issues as diverse as debt cancellation, the congestion charge and the smoking ban, it secured popular support. If the Labour Government is to win a fourth term, it needs to focus on the future as much as the past. In many areas, Labour can be proud of its record, but it also needs to show that continuing inequality in health and education warrants further state action and which is the best party to take it
Brown should seize the moment, put an end to the era of fuzzy politics and show that what divides Labour and Tories is far greater than any of the marginal issues on which the parties are united.
Mike Ion is a former Labour parliamentary candidate
