Last month I gave a little dinner party. The guests, all like-minded centre-leftists, included a Labour MP first elected in 1997, whom I got to know in my time as Labour’s director of policy; a former ministerial special adviser with a reputation as a New Labour ultra; and a local councillor with decades of experience as a Labour activist. Next morning, clearing away the empty wine bottles, it occurred to me that the significance of our discussion lay not in its brilliance or originality but-quite the reverse-in the absolute certainty that across London thousands of people like us were simultaneously talking in exactly the same depressed terms about the government we had helped to elect.
Our conversation had ranged over the reactionary rhetoric of junior ministers on the Today programme, to the awful mess of the London mayoral election, through to horror stories about by-elections and falling membership, before-seeking reassurance-we returned to list the real achievements of this government.
In some ways it is bizarre that such a negative tone marks so many Labour discussions. Had anyone said that after three years in power the economy would be in sleek shape, that Labour would have subtly raised taxes on the rich and substantially increased support for the poor, and would be about to boost, hugely, investment in the NHS, we would have thought they were allowing hope to be the master of expectation.
If you are a subscriber, please log in »
This article is available to subscribers only
Subscribing to Prospect is the most reliable and convenient way to receive the magazine every month, and offers the best value.Subscription Types:
Online
An online subscription offers you complete and unlimited access to the entire website, including our searchable archive of every back issue of Prospect, and a PDF edition of each new issue: all this for just £20 per year. Purchase an online subscription »Renewal
Renew an existing subscription »Institutional access
If you are a library, business organisation or any other large institution that needs a multi-user licence, you can obtain institutional access.
Share
Subscribe to post comments
Print
