Blairism Eclipsed

Danny Finkelstein’s typically excellent column (£) this week argued that Blairism is dead and buried in the Labour party, not least because none of Blair’s followers remain in any position of authority in the party. Blair, he suggests, was a one-off and the party leadership contest has been, if not a sprint, then a trundle to the left.

I think there’s a good deal to that. Indeed, it’s startling how Blair has been excised from the party’s memory. Startling, but not, perhaps, entirely surprising. Faced with a centrist government, it’s easy to see why the Labour party has shifted to the left, if only because a) a smaller parliamentary party is ever more dependent upon its Scottish and London strongholds and b) it needs to distance itself from the government. Cameron and Clegg are camped in the centre so Labour must pitch its tents elsewhere.

And since there are aspects of government policy (in England) in areas such as health and education that build-upon stalled Blairite reforms (while being bolder than even Blair dared to be) it’s the case that Labour in opposition can’t help but disassociate itself from aspects of its own record in government.