Labour’s tragedy is Britain’s tragedy

If you want a monument to the winner-takes-all conservatism developed by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and reduced to absurdity by George Osborne and Donald Trump, look at the pulverised public realm and browbeaten citizenry around you. The project is a wreck. And I have seen few better examinations of its ruins than The New Serfdom, published tomorrow by the Labour MP Angela Eagle and Labour researcher Imran Ahmed.

Arguments have their time. The self-confidence with which Eagle and Ahmed take apart the ruling ideology ought to be a sign that Britain is ready for a reforming government that can ease the pain and remedy the injustices the Conservatives have presided over. Yet the authors cannot bring themselves to admit that, if radical change comes, it will be a radicalism that destroys them and their ideals. Think about what is not said in this excellent book and you begin to understand the extent of Labour’s tragedy, and Britain’s tragedy too.