Posted on 01/23/2005 6:26:35 PM PST by wagglebee
Tony Blair insisted he was no 'warmed-up neo-Thatcherite' yesterday as he sought to reassert his traditional Labour credentials in the run-up to the election.
In a speech in London, the Prime Minister moved to galvanise disaffected party activists who believe he has lost touch with their values by warning that Labour must now 'fight to keep' the social changes it had made over the past eight years.
Highlighting achievements with old Labour appeal, from the minimum wage to overseas aid, Blair said: 'This is not some warmed-up neo-Thatcherism or an uncertain drift into splitting the difference: it is the most successful era of progressive change this party has achieved since the 1945 government emerged from the ashes of World War II.'
None of it would have happened under the Tories. He dismissed their tax and spending plans as a 'ludicrous impossibility', but said their threat must not be underestimated.
'Opposition is easy: all you do is criticise. In government you decide, and someone, somewhere, is disappointed.' He told his audience not to be complacent about the party's good showing in the opinion polls. The election 'will be tough. Don't put your faith in polls or predictions.'
This reflects private alarm at the prospect of a low turnout undermining Labour's chances, particularly in marginal seats, with disaffected supporters who think Blair has moved too far to the right sitting on their hands assuming the government will manage without them.
However, Blair added the party could only win by being 'strong on defence and law and order' and allowing 'no political correctness, no outdated thinking' to stand between it and the public. This will be seen by Labour MPs as a warning of further controversial policies on crime and asylum, with Tory leader Michael Howard due to go on the offensive over immigration this week and Labour due to unveil tougher controls next month.
A pocket campaign guide handed to activists at yesterday's National Policy Forum highlights '10 ways' Labour could improve lives, ranging from ID cards, extra police and immigration controls to school discipline and cutting death rates from major diseases.
The 'neo-Thatcherite' label is one repeatedly used against Blair by the left, who believe he has gone too far in introducing market forms and want a change of leader. His speech will be seen as an attempt to show he has not lost his compass.
With Gordon Brown watching from the sidelines, Blair referred repeatedly to Britain's economic success - although not to the Chancellor by name - and savaged the Tories' tax and spending plans as a 'ludicrous impossibility'.
Speaking shortly before Brown was due to explain how the Tory plans could mean £50 billion of cuts in public services, Blair however urged his audience to 'forget the numbers for now' and concentrate on the ideology: 'It's right back, full square into the values this country voted to get rid of in 1997.'
He did not mention the Liberal Democrats, whose chief strategist Lord Rennard warned yesterday that Lib Dem supporters would not vote tactically this time as they did in 1997 and 2001, helping sweep Blair to victory, if he went on attacking their leader Charles Kennedy.
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, believes any collapse of tactical voting - with Liberal Democrats angry over Iraq refusing to back Blair in places where their candidate has no chance - could cost Labour up to 18seats.
Behind closed doors at the Labour forum, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, Ian McCartney, the party chairman, and the election co-ordinator Alan Milburn used the meeting to deliver pep talks on campaign strategy, in a sign that Labour troops are being put firmly on an election footing.
Brown appealed pointedly for 'unity of purpose' as polling day approached.
What's wrong with neo-Thatcherism?
It's all about whether or not the economy is doing well. All this left-right balancing act doesnt mean anything. Does anybody know how the UK economy is doing?(GDP/Unemployment numbers?)
Nothing as far as I can tell (unless you're in the Labour party).
PRESIDENT
António Guterres
Socialist Party, PS, Portugal. Former Prime Minister of Portugal
SECRETARY GENERAL
Luis Ayala
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Rolando Araya Monge
National Liberation Party, PLN, Costa Rica
Deniz Baykal
Leader of the Republican People's Party, CHP, Turkey
Tony Blair
Leader of the Labour Party. Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Party of Democratic Revolution, PRD, Mexico
Joaquim Chissano
Leader of Frelimo. President of Mozambique
Massimo D’Alema
Chair of Democrats of the Left, DS, Italy
Hatuey de Camps
President of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, PRD, Dominican Republic
Elio Di Rupo
Chair of the Socialist Party, PS, Belgium
Alfred Gusenbauer
Leader of Social Democratic Party of Austria, SP…
François Hollande
First Secretary of the Socialist Party, PS, France
Thorbjørn Jagland
Norwegian Labour Party, DNA, Norway
Lászlo Kovács
Leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party, MSzP
Paavo Lipponen
Leader of the Finnish Social Democratic Party, SDP
Mogens Lykketoft
Leader of the Social Democratic Party, Denmark
Plácido Micó
General Secretary of Convergence for Social Democracy, CPDS, Equatorial Guinea
Pascal Affi N’Guessan
Ivorian Popular Front, FPI, Côte d'Ivoire
Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, PvdA, Netherlands
Ricardo Núnez
Socialist Party of Chile, PS
Jaime Paz Zamora
Leader of the Revolutionary Left Movement, MIR-New Majority, Bolivia
Shimon Peres
Leader of the Israeli Labour Party
Göran Persson
Chair of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, SAP. Prime Minister of Sweden
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, PSOE. Prime Minister of Spain
Gerhard Schröder
Chair of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD. Chancellor of Germany
Costas Simitis
Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK, Greece
Abderrahman Youssoufi
First Secretary of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco
I'm actually surprised no American leftists are listed.
Unemployment: about 4.6%
GDP: 41.66 trillion - $27.7k per head
It doesn't include Margaret Thatcher's business sense or her tax-cutting policies.
For a Labor member like Blair, it would be instant apostasy to call himself a Thatcherite, I suppose. After all, she came to incarnate the Tory leader.
Someone once told me that national defense issues aren't always a neat and tidy fit onto the left/right political spectrum. One can be socialist and support nation and defense causes together. I suppose Blair falls into that category. In any case, he gets my support. I think he is a lot more like Margaret Thatcher than he'd like to admit, though.
I agree with you about Tony Blair.
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