Beyond Brown and Blair

Labour has to reinvent itself to fight the next general election, says Phil Collins. The leadership contenders must look to the party’s radical roots

So, they were looking in the wrong place all along. For years now the Labour party has been seeking a steely assassin to deal with its unelectable leader. Finally, where James Purnell failed tragically and Geoff Hoon failed farcically, Nick Clegg has succeeded. Gordon Brown has gone and the Labour party is even more leaderless than when he was actually there.

Now that Britain has finally settled on a government, the campaigns will start. Or rather, resume. Discreet campaigning has been going on for some time. For Ed Balls, that means visiting constituency dinners and spending Saturdays writing the front half of the Sunday papers. For David Miliband, it means preparing himself psychologically, after two false starts. Then, for those who cannot decide between Ed and Miliband, there is the both of the above candidate: Ed Miliband. Early campaigning for Ed means making calls ostensibly about something else in which the question of leadership never quite comes up but both parties put the receiver down sure that something important has happened. They are just not sure what. Jon Cruddas will be implored to run by sections of the left and the contest would be all the better for having him in it. Don’t rule out Andy Burnham or Liam Byrne testing the water either. It could be a crowded field.

There could also be quite a fight. Neither the charisma of Tony Blair nor the coronation of Gordon Brown ever united the Labour party philosophically. It just held it, first in awe and then in shock. Now that the old guard has passed on — the desperate and laughable attempt to conjure a rainbow coalition was their last act — the dispute can begin.