Never let a good crisis go to waste,” insists Rahm Emmanuel, the hardbitten chief of staff to Barack Obama. Certainly, economic disaster and political disequilibrium create the space for new thinking. They make and break reputations too.
Gordon Brown is trying to bring the British economy down gently. A little like the passengers of Flight 1549 approaching the waters of the Hudson, voters are anxiously wondering if the captain can land safely. In private, even senior government figures now admit that Britain’s economy may shrink by 4 per cent in 2009—a downturn twice as deep as official projections. Latest polls, at least, suggest that faith in the pilot is waning.
As a result Labour circles are full, once again, of post-Brown political chatter. There will be no challenge before the election, of course. But the contours of the debate that will engage Labour in opposition are already becoming visible. It’s a dividing line that fractures the other parties too. On the one side stand those for whom the economic crisis demonstrates the need for a more muscular state; on the other, a diverse group who want to use the state to give more power to individuals.
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