Away from the resurrection of David Miliband, other Labour modernisers convened at the Progress rally earlier
this evening. These weren’t just any old party hacks; they were grandees: Douglas Alexander, Tessa Jowell, Caroline Flint, Liam Byrne and Jacqui Smith to name a few: and the audience was
reverential.
They were discussing The Purple Book, the latest contribution to the debate about Labour’s future. The central thesis of the book is that the state is passé. As Jowell put it, “People are much more sceptical, much more hostile to the idea of the state spending their money on their behalf.” Jowell mentioned community, faith groups and the family as examples of structures and institutions in which the public are finding solace instead of the state, which had been devalued by a legacy of debt.
These social changes have electoral consequences for the party of big government.
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