The Guardian reports today that "Labour party figures who backed Gordon Brown's rise to the leadership last year expressed deep disillusionment yesterday at his "disastrous" return to Blairite policies." They mean of course, COMPASS.
Hello...... when did Brown EVER in recent history promise anything else other than the New Labour status quo. Jon Trickett ( who backed Brown for leader like 300-plus MPs) now warns sagely, "We are in a very dangerous position where our core vote does not feel represented, and those people that moved across from Thatcher to Blair are now saying, for the first time, they can see themselves voting for Cameron. We are in a pincer trap."
Look, Mr Trickett. You were warned of this a year ago. What did you do? Completely ignored the warnings emanating from the left and supported a frankly New Labour agenda. Stop re-inventing history.
Likewise Neal Lawson, who told a joint Progress/Compass meeting that when Brown took over last summer, "we saw a new leadership style, with new ideas. Somehow over the autumn that got completely lost. The party has become demoralised as a consequence. The polls are showing this reversion to the old New Labour politics of Blairism is not where the country wants to be."
There is no "reversion ." Brown has been consistent throughout. One wishes the same could be said of COMPASS, which having fallen prey to self-delusion, now seeks to blame the Prime Minister for doing exactly what he said he would do .
Thursday, 20 March 2008
COMPASS STILL IN LA-LA LAND
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9 comments:
Well, be fair. I'm a compass member cos I agree with a lot of their policies (though a lot is wishy-washy, and of course I'd prefer LRC policies, but one step at a time eh?) but I wanted to vote for JMcD in the leadership, and I know others who feel the same. So don't tar us all with the same brush...
Hey, Susan,
You seem to be turning into Ms Angry, yet it does seem that the tectonic plates are finally moving in the LP. I think you could play a very constructive role in that process, please keep up the good work, reporting on Purnell, privatisation,and NL's other social crimes, but the invective doesn't always help.
thanks
All COMPASS people like Trickett have to say is , yep, we got it wrong. AND start to give some credit to their comrades in the LRC ( which they are not doing) who never allowed themselves the indulgence of thinking Brown was going to be any better.
These people were apologists for Brown... so they have some explaining to do.The reason why NuLab is in the ascendancy once more is, after all, partly because of their quiescence.
You're right...I'm thinking of joining the LRC and leaving Compass. I'm an Old Labour right-winger at heart, but I agree with practically everything the LRC says, so it makes sense.
anonymous, the "Old labour right" included Roy Hattersley, now seen as the enemy of New labour. So who knows, eh. If you agree with what the LRC says, of course you are welcome!
For those who thought the Housing Minister , Caroline Flint was just kite flying when she said council tenants should work or lose their homes, well, as i noted, she meant it!
in a exclusive snippet in the Mirror today, 16 pilots have been announced which will mean single mothers will have to look for work or lose benefits. The uber- blairites are clearly running social policy in the Gov't.
welfare state RIP....
"we saw a new leadership style, with new ideas. Somehow over the autumn that got completely lost."
No, what Mr Lawson saw was a bunch of likeminded liberal tossers climbing over one another to praise the new, stern Father of the Nation, without amy justification whatsoever, only to recover their critical faculties somewhat when people realised the media is supposed to report reality not create it.
Compass is what happens when people who might otherwise support socialist ideas owe their jobs to people who will never support socialist ideas: a complicated and ultimately futile attempt to defend the indefensible. Sod Lawson, Trickett and all the other faux-left MPs and commentators who don't have the courage or honesty to admit they are sell-out reactionaries of the same stripe as every single member of this "Labour" government.
Give me a proper right-winger like Hazel Blears any day over these self-deluding idiots.
Don't pull your punches, Dan..... Yes, it's odd how Trickett and Lawson have just woken up to what we were saying a year ago. And Gordon never said he was going to be any different.....last time I heard him say anything vaguely "Labour" was 2003. Still,I suppose they had to justify backing GB for Leader
Heh, sorry. But doesn't it make you bloody angry that these people feel they have some special insight into the Labour Party or politics?
It was embarrassing to watch the Compass troupe people jumping through hoops to explain supporting Brown, but I wouldn't put it past them to continue this charade of waiting for a great Brownite left turn for another few years, before proclaiming that, I don't know, Ed Miliband or someone is the new, could-be-left leader-in-waiting.
The cynic in me thinks that Trickett et al were hoping Brown would offer them a few crumbs as a sop to the left, and now they realise all those speeches he made about "New Labour" were, y'know, a fair assessment of his views. Shock bleeding horror.
The next time there's a leadership contest (one that actually includes one of these novel "election" things and more than one candidate) I hope the Compass pamphlet, Guardian column writing tendency returns to planet earth or stays shtum.
I shouldn't comment on blogs when tired/angry!
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