Doing the splits
Having been around under the premiership of John Major, I know only too well how party disunity has the potential to damage a Government. It is then quite ominous to see the current state of the Labour Party, and what it bodes for the Party’s future.Over recent weeks we have seen numerous divisions emerge within the Labour party. We saw Labour MPs threatening to rebel over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Over the weekend, we witnessed six ministerial aides call for action to help low paid workers who are set to lose out through the 10p tax change.
The Prime Minister was even forced to interrupt his official visit to the US to speak by telephone to Angela Smith, parliamentary aide to the Treasury Chief Secretary, from the White House after she reportedly told colleagues she was set to quit.
There has been the leak of a secret file drawn up by Labour whips about a large number of rebels opposing the Government’s proposals to detain terror suspects for 42-days without charge. There has been senior Labour figures openly attacking one another in the press. And yesterday Kate Hoey at the last minute pulled out of a press conference at which she was supposedly about to back Boris Johnson as London Mayor.
It seems that calls from both Ed Balls and David Miliband for party unity have fallen on deaf ears. Yet the outside world has received the message loud and clear.
I have recently received numerous letters and have spoken to many constituents who fear the Government is out of touch and in disarray. History shows that voters do not look kindly on self indulgent party infighting.
However the 10p tax revolt goes well beyond the issue itself. Many Labour MPs believed that the departure of Tony Blair would see a new and coherent Brown vision manifest itself, more rooted in Labour thinking. However the disappointment at its total absence is clear, and they are dismayed.
But even they are missing the point. Even if Gordon were to disappear in a puff of smoke, it is Labour itself which is in the dock. The party has run its course, and has nothing fresh to say to resolve the problems which beset contemporary British society, many of which of they themselves have created.
It is then no suprise that William Hill, the bookmakers, yesterday announced that they have not taken even 10p on a Labour election victory since Labour MPs started to voice their concerns over the abolition of the 10p tax band.
When the wheels start falling off….