Martin Bright

Why all the apologies, Ed?

The Labour Conference 2011 has turned into a horrible misery-fest. What a daft idea to make the theme of the conference: “We’re really sorry, we won’t do it again”. At least it’s not the slogan, although it would have been more honest than “Fulfilling the Promise of Britain”. I agree with Steve Richards in the Independent that the pessimism is self-fulfilling. This does not feel like a platform for re-election

I spent most of the New Labour era criticising Tony Blair and his government. I thought he was too cosy with the ultra-rich, cynical about criminal justice policy, disingenuous about the use of the private sector in providing public services and over-cautious about redistribution.

But I recognise the achievements of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and so do the people around David Cameron, which is why Philip Gould’s Unfinished Revolution is their bible.

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