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So - the party's over. As Tony Blair left the stage - that shiny vision
of new Britain's new dawn is dead. I know, it's a bit of a romantic,
sort of through a looking-glass view of the Blair ascendancy - but
that's what it felt like when New Labour swept in to power and swept out
the Nasty Party way back in '97.
Of course - in the end - there was no new dawn and in fact, it was a
rather old and destructive dawn where we entered an era of unparalleled
spin. Trust in politics and politicians died. Ironic really - that
Blair's parting words were about the noble causes that politicians
strive for and the respect he really, really had for the House of
Commons! That respect was rather in short supply when he as PM had one
of the lowest attendance, speaking or voting records in that very same
House!
A great showman in the Commons Chamber - he played it to perfection to
the end. 'That is that. The End' he said with a small hand gesture - and
he was gone.
So now - there's a cold wind blowing through the corridors of power as
the dour Brown era is ushered in to the backdrop of terrorist attacks.
Brown's 'change' agenda - given his brooding, controlling, centralist
track record - is questionable - just as are the sudden protestations
about new Gordon, relaxed Gordon, decentralising Gordon, happy chappy
Gordon all dressed up in talk of challenges - new challenges,
challenging the challenges to bring new change so that change and
challenges will change our challenging world.
However, events dear boy, events. In times of threat to our national
safety, we want to believe that serious Gordon will see them off. We
want to believe that serious Cabinet Government will replace informal
and disorganised kitchen cabinet Government. We want to believe Gordon
when he says he will come first to Parliament to make announcements. No
longer will the media be the first to know and Parliament the last. We
want to believe that the era of spin is no longer. We want to hear that
we will fight to win the hearts and minds of all our communities so that
there is no hiding place for anyone who wishes harm on our citizens. We
want to believe Gordon when he says that he will not remove our civil
liberties without great reason and caution - and not just to catch the
next set of headlines in the next news cycle.
He is right to want to 'change' the atmosphere of governance. He is
right to promise a new kind of politics. He is right to set himself up
as an opposite to TB. And yet, and yet ... he was there at the heart of
New Labour all the time. Let us not forget that this is the same Brown
who agreed with going to war in Iraq illegally and signed every cheque; wasted
millions on consultants for PPP for the tube, wants to spend billions
tagging innocent people with ID cards that won't catch terrorists rather
than using the money to put more police on our streets and more resource
into intelligence and security and closed hospitals and health services.
Leopard and spots are the words that come to mind. Only time will truly
tell.
(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2007
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We want to believe Gordon when he says that he will not remove our civil liberties without great reason and caution - and not just to catch the next set of headlines in the next news cycle.
