Many readers will share these emotions: an intense and unexpected elation at the result of the election, and an extraordinary sense of pleasure at the departure of the Conservatives. But then comes the deflating question: what is this government going to do? It is not a government without ideas or policies. Leaving aside all the constitutional measures, important work went on in opposition on the transition from a welfare state based on income redistribution to one based on education and re-education. Moreover, as a pointer to what stronger prime ministerial control may be able to achieve, much of this came not from left-wing intellectuals, but from Tony Blair’s own policy unit.
None the less, many of the important issues remain open. One is Europe: being friendly at the first meeting is a good start (John Major was too), but it does not amount to a strategy. Another is the nature of British capitalism: is it an irretrievably Anglo-Saxon type of economy or should it try to evolve towards a more regulated “stakeholder” system like that of Germany? What about macroeconomic policy? Gordon Brown’s initial moves appear to have tied his hands on both fiscal and monetary policy.
These issues have scarcely been debated publicly by the Labour leadership in the past 12 months for electoral reasons. But the argument has continued without them. Indeed, the current British debate over Europe differs in important ways from the past. It has taken Emu as a central question, but it has also brought the British attitude to Germany to centre stage. In fact it has pitted against one another two different types of capitalism: Anglo-Saxon and German.
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