Chris Burford reports:
Today significantly the TImes report as their main headline Hague Turns
Left to avoid a Labour Landslide. This is important because it shows a
shift in how politics are perceived in the battle between the main parties.
It is a sign that after the election the centre of gravity of UK politics
can and will move leftwards.
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What exactly do you mean by "left"? Just how is New Labour more left than
the Conservative Party? Blair's plans for the privatisation of what remains
of the welfare state, coupled with the acute observations made by Faisal
Islam in the Observer, suggest a lot of lukewarm blather masking an
unprecedented and on-going corporate takeover of Britain.
There is no question that UK politics' centre of gravity has moved
leftwards. It has been doing so for at least a decade (e.g. poll tax), and
can be expected to continue, intensifying once Blair gets to work on
privatising the NHS. But you would hardly know that from the behaviour of
either main party during the last three general elections. In fact what is
so pitiful about the current election is just how imprisoned both parties
are by their respective mythologies. Blair still lives in his nightmare of
1983, while Hague, like Major before him, is captive to a Thatcherite legacy
that is hopelessly anachronistic by any measure. In every instance of
devolution local electorates have made clear their preference for candidates
who reject the diktats and media spin of the centre. New Labour's capture of
the "centre" comes at a cost of the hollowing out of Old Labour's core vote,
and there is no shortage of replacements for that, as the Scottish Socialist
Party, Socialist Alliance, Ken Livingstone, Plaid Cymru (!) et al.
demonstrate. Equating UK politics with the shenanigans of New Labour and the
Conservatives is not a recipe for profound analysis.
Michael K.
