The New Labour government is on the rocks. The wreckage of
Blairism, under the leadership of Gordon Brown, was dealt a further crushing
blow at the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. A 7,000 Labour majority was turned
into a 7,000 Tory majority in a swing of 17.6%. It was the Tories’ first
by-election gain in 30 years.
Such a result if repeated at a last general election would
mean a Conservative landslide. They would have an overall majority of 328,
double Blair’s majority of 1997. Labour would be ousted in all but 89 core
constituencies, resembling Labour’s historic defeat of 1931, following the
betrayal of Ramsay MacDonald.
For New Labour, the Crewe result is nothing short of an
electoral meltdown, coming at the end of the best month for the Conservatives
since 1992. It follows Labour’s disaster of the local elections, where the
party was forced into third place, a full 20 points behind the Tories, and the victory
over Labour for Boris the Barbarian as London mayor. One agonizing defeat is
spilling over to the next. New Labour has been unpopular before, but not like
this. This result has allowed the Tories to rise from the political dead. They
can now smell victory as the New Labour edifice comes crashing down. Brown
seems set to suffer Callaghan’s fate – to be the unelected prime minister, who
serves out the closing days of Labour before a crushing defeat.
The plight of New Labour is reflected in the faces of the
party leaders. Brown portrays a lonely grey-faced defensive figure, shattered
by his declining fortunes. His attempts to artificially smile, urged on him by
his advisers, betray his shallowness. He is a man that is clearly out of touch
despite his protests to the contrary. This contrasted to the confident image of
Cameron, standing on the street in Crewe and Nantwich, glowing with success, celebrating
the Tory’s first by-election victory for more than a quarter of a century.
There is utter despair in Labour’s ranks not seen for
decades. Those Labour MPs who were nervous are now petrified. Crewe and
Nantwich was 165th on the Tories’ target list. It was a rock solid Labour seat.
As a result, many in ‘safe’ seats are shaking in their boots, their confidence
gone. There is now deep demoralisation throughout the Parliamentary party, amongst
the very people who nine month’s ago voted for Brown’s coronation as a means of
distancing themselves from the disastrous Tony Blair. Today, after nine months,
Gordon Brown in more unpopular than Blair, Thatcher or even John Major!
Despite all the hype at the time, Brown is no different in
political terms than Blair. He offers a continuation of Blairism, a
continuation of pro-capitalist policies little different from the Tories. All the
illusions that Brown would offer something different have completely
evaporated. He continues to preach the virtues of the capitalist market and
privatization. Profitable postal services are handed out to big business, while
post offices are closed down as ‘uneconomic’. Tens of thousands of civil
servants’ jobs are being slashed, while the welfare state is opened up to
private charities, a throw-back to Victorian times. Workers’ pay in held down
to below inflation while boardroom directors are raking in millions. This has
resulted in massive disillusionment amongst traditional Labour voters, who
stayed at home in Crewe and elsewhere. It is no accident that from 1997 and
2005, Labour lost around five million votes! New Labour is in terminal decline.
Now the knives are being sharpened in the parliamentary
party. “The mood is awful. The tank is empty", said one. There is talk of
a leadership challenge. "People are not far away from thinking that we
cannot win under Gordon Brown," a senior Labour figure said. "We wish
it was different from what it is. But it is hard to avoid looking at the
facts."
With the conviction of a football board talking about the
future of its manager, Harman admitted that there were "discordant
voices" within the party, but she dismissed suggestions of a move against
Brown: "I don’t think that will happen.” Miliband also spoke up for the
prime minister. "We have got the right leader, we elected the right leader
unopposed last year, and we have got the right leader to take us into the general
election," he said, which sounded like the kiss of death.
While the clique around Brown attempts to hold the line with
excuses for the debacle such as ‘normal’ mid-term difficulties, the world
financial situation and the squeeze of rising prices, others are crying the
house is already ablaze and it is a delusion to hope that Brown will turn
things around. After all he gave away £2.7bn in tax cuts in an emergency
mini-budget designed to resolve the 10p tax crisis, but that failed to halt the
defeat. Disgustingly, in Crewe they even tried to out Tory the Tories by accusing
them of being soft on "foreigners".
But the meltdown for the party is not simply due to Brown,
but is the result of a decade of pro-capitalist policy. Miliband, Balls, Straw,
Harman, etc, would all end up the same. They are all tied to the same policy of
working within the capitalist system, no different from the Tories. They
rejected socialist policies, together with the entire tradition of the Labour
movement. With Blair they tried to turn Labour into a capitalist party that
would represent big business better than the Tories. However, they failed to
break the trade union links, the historical bond between the Labour Party and
the organized working class. In reality, they represent a group of Tory
carpet-baggers determined to tie the Labour Party to the interests of
capitalism. This is the essence of Blairism which Brown and the others
slavishly followed.
To Brown’s chagrin, Blair handed him a poisoned chalice.
Blair got out while the going was good, leaving Brown to deal with the mess.
The growing discontent, reflected in the growing number of
strikes (even affecting the Police Federation), indicate a new situation.
Brown is incapable to holding the line. The bourgeois have
drawn the conclusion that Labour has exhausted its usefulness for them. As in
the past, they used Labour and now intend to throw it aside, like a used rag.
They have returned to their traditional ally, the Tory party
to secure their ends. Everything will now be done to discredit Labour and
promote the Tories.
In their endeavours, the Blair/Brown gang had the support of
the right-wing trade union leaders, who also acted as a prop for capitalism
within the workers’ movement. They voted through every change in the party
since the early 1980s. They jettisoned left policies. They abolished party
democracy and drastically reduced the powers of party conference to the
side-show it is today. They reduced the influence of the unions over the party,
helping the Blairites to consolidate their grip over the party. They were
willing accomplices and are also responsible for this current mess.
Unfortunately, many of the trade union ‘lefts’, such as
Simpson and Prentice, have continued with this disastrous policy. They refused
to challenge Brown, stating he was more left than Blair! They refused to back
John McDonnell for party leader. Now we are left with the consequences. It is
up to the rank and file of the unions to put a stop to this capitulation.
All the chatter about creating ‘alternatives’ outside of the
party is simply an empty gesture. All the 57 Heinz varieties of groupings on
the fringes of the Labour movement who have argued this line have been
completely shattered. Their efforts have been a complete waste of time.
For the trade unions, this is no time to ‘contract
out’ of the party, which leads nowhere, but to get stuck into the fight where
it counts. The trade unions should use their strength to clear out the New
Labour leadership and return the party to its traditional socialist stance. As
long as the party remains on the basis of capitalism it will never be able to
resolve the problems facing the working class. On the contrary, as we are
experiencing today, it is being forced to carry out policies in the interests
of capitalism. On this road lie only disaster and the return of a new vicious
Tory government.
