There is a feeling on the right that with the election of Ed Miliband it is back to the
good old days. The thinking goes that Labour have elected a lefty as leader and it is time “to do ‘em over just like we did back in the day”.
But this is overly-simplistic. First of all, Ed Miliband is certainly to the left of Tony Blair but he’s nowhere near as far left, compared to the public, as Michael Foot or Tony Benn, or anyone like that. Second, the right in the ‘80s had three fronts on which to attack left-wing politicians: economics, culture and national defence. Now, it only really has one.
The economic argument is, obviously, still live. But the cultural one is now gone. Positions that used to be hallmarks of the loony left in the 1980s are now mainstream and positively embraced by the Conservaitve party.
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