Is this the end of New labour or just a mid term glitch?

May 25th 2008
Is this the end of New Labour or just a mid term glitch?

Who would have thought there would be such a large swing to the tories, in Labour stronghold Crewe & Nantwich, held for 34 years by Gwyneth Dunwoody, a formidable MP, who was not afraid to challenge NL on many issues. Many presumed her legacy would be carried on by her daughter Tamsin, who stood as Labour candidate for the constituency.
It was clear from the result that this was not so. I picked up on something David Cameron said after the result, If this was a protest vote, why did the people not vote Lib Dem or one of the other parties? Why indeed? Usually at a by election people wishing to protest vote would vote Lib Dem or even worse BNP - so what did happen here?
New Labour failed to get their message across, it seems the economy is the main reason they failed at this election, people are scared. They see the tories as the saviours of the country. In my opinion this was not, unlike the recent council elections, a protest mid term, but a seek to change. If this was to happen all over the country the tories would have an unprecedented majority, which would not be good for democracy, as opposition to policies they may make would make no difference. For democracy to work you need effective opposition.
MP Graham Stringer, and Lord Desai are asking for leadership changes in the party if it is to survive the next general election. That is for the Labour party to decide, whether it will make any difference to the voting public, I don't think so. Too many people hate new labour for various reasons, some listen to the hysteria and paranoia of the mass media, others because they are feeling the pinch. For whatever reason, I believe that NL's era is finished. Gordon Brown will go down as the worst PM we ever had, even though I would say his predecessor Tony Blair was.
The tories won't (and can't change much) - they believe in Europe, they can't stop any global changes in economics, and whilst they might cut back on immigration from non EU countries, they cannot change EU policy. I have never been a Labour supporter, but I prefer them to the tories. I can remember the 18 years of Thatcherism and the tories, and the decimation of industries, the inner city deprivation, the alienation of unions and the encouragement of "selfishness" - I'm allright jack, sod the rest of them attitude.
Sensible people wouldn't back an extreme, racist, party like the BNP, who thrive on the uneducated and uninformed, particularly the "underclass" - foreigners are taking your jobs, getting your benefits, your houses, bringing disease etc., They talk of crime only being associated with foreigners. To me, and others who think like me, this is going "backwards" to the 1930's when a certain loose cannon named Hitler, used his propoganda machine to indoctrinate germans into believing the same sort of things about Jews. When you start to dehumanise people, problems begin. Dear God, in the 21st Century we surely are more advanced than to allow another "holocaust" based on religion.
Fundamental islam is a problem, as is fundamentalism of any religion or any political persuasion. Terrorism is a real fact of life in this century - but blind paranoia and hysteria and branding all peoples of the same faith can only take us backwards. Deal with the people spouting hatred (on BOTH sides).
In new labour's defence, they have tried to deal with problems of exclusion; crime; poverty etc., though some of the policies and ideas have not worked. ASBO's were a good idea, but were they workable, it is obvious that for some they became a badge of honour rather than a punishment. Adopting PCSO's to take the burden off police officers, has worked in some areas, not in others. It seems that in order to improve things, some of NL's policies have made matters worse. They did look at Welfare Reform and got an Act through parliament, albeit it at the 11th hour, in 1999, it didn't go far enough and targetted the wrong groups i.e. pensioners, the disabled and widows. Although the ideas are good, they don't seem to have the right people to carry them through. The NHS on the whole provides a good service - however in order to tackle a problem they employ more managers, whereas to tackle the problems of superbugs, they need better cleaning facilities, in house cleaning staff, not contractors and a real commitment to beat the problem. NL seems to think throwing money at something will improve it, and this doesn't always work. (though tories, take money away from vital services, which also doesn't work).
There will be some, who will not see anything good from labour because they don't have an open mind, parliamentary reform has been one thing that has worked, changing the hours, making it a better workplace, particularly for MP's with families -breaking a lot of the old and stuffy traditions of parliament. What is needed is for them to go even further with their reforms, and tackle all the "perks" of the job, and make MP'S equal to other workers.
After the council elections I believed that the voting public had given NL a kick up the backside, warning them to look at themselves, get sorted and be a credible force to run the country again. I was shocked at the Crewe and Nantwich result, not because the tories won, but at the swing to them from Labour. This was no mid term glitch, kick up the backside warning, this was we are utterly fed up and switching allegiance talk.
So to answer the question I started with - is this the end of New Labour or just a mid term glitch? Yes I think it is the end of NL, I don't think they can recover in time to win another general election, unless there is a massive change within leadership and policy.
We can only wait and watch.
Polly