The only conversation I have had so far at Labour Party conference is about why everyone realises that Gordon Brown would do his comrades a great service by standing down but no one can find a way of getting him to do the right thing.
The general feeling is that the Labour Party has the right answers to the economic crisis (this is the least you’d expect), but failing to get the message across. It is right that the British electorate should face a choice between two different strategies for tackling the economic crisis. But the arguments need to be made with equal force. Alistair Darling is emerging as an impressive purveyor of hard truths. His comments to the Observer at the weekend about Labour “losing the will to live” will hang over conference.
The “Project Fightback” stategy is the right one, but it should have started long ago. The drift has been happening for so long that it’s difficult to see how the turnaround will come about. There is some impressive fighting talk from the older generation (and from the younger generation of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates). But thus far, my old favourites, the fortysomething Adrian Mole generation, have to be inspirational.
Labour should be putting the fear of God into people at the prospect of a Tory government during a time of high unemployment. In the United States people are already warning of a “jobless recovery”, which is a terrifying thought for all but the very wealthy. The question every Labour politician should be asking is “Are Conservatives ready for power?” I’m not sure even the most ardent Cameroon is entirely sure of the answer and the government should be taking advantage of the fact at every turn.
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