When the last Conservative government sacrificed its reputation for competence, it was at least for a worthy cause. On Black Wednesday, British monetary policy was rescued from what was to become the eurozone after John Major’s government lost a shambolic battle with currency speculators. It was a day of ignominious political defeat. But on that day the economy started what has become the longest sustained expansion in history. Tony Blair is absolutely right to say he has not suffered his own Black Wednesday. The tawdry scandals which now engulf him bear no comparison with what was achieved for Britain on 16 September 1992.
The Prime Minister has instead faced a lesser enemy: the combined forces of John Prescott’s libido, Patricia Hewitt’s uselessness and Charles Clarke’s misfortune. The more reflective Cabinet members have been looking beyond the local election results and asking whether the damage Labour has suffered in recent weeks may already have become irreparable.
The mood within 10 Downing Street is ridiculously upbeat. The Prime Minister appears to be in denial, accepting that he has had a ‘bad week’ — later upgraded to nine days — but dismissing the problems as no more than a series of small irritations which will in time be forgotten. In private, he talks enthusiastically about the work he intends to do in the months and years to come. The frightening thought is that he genuinely believes this.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are witnessing the collapse of the very foundations upon which New Labour was built. First, a party elected as being demonstrably cleaner than John Major’s government is now judged as being ‘just as sleazy’ by the public. This, it should be noted, is a measured verdict that was reached long before news broke of Mr Prescott’s affair with Tracey Temple, his diary secretary. The pictures of their cavorting at a Christmas party have simply reinforced an image of sleaze already emblazoned on the public mind.
Iain Dale, the internet-dexterous founder of Politico’s Publishing, has published on his website an inventory of New Labour scandal with 94 episodes ranging from the mildly comical to the truly deplorable.
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