Sunday, July 27, 2008

Time For A True Labour Fightback?

People are sick and tired of dead man walking Brown "just getting on with the job". Voters can't wait two years for a general election, so bring it on. But a revitalised Party has to first shake free of the New Labour shackles.

Jack Straw, while publicly backing Brown, is already positioning himself as the caretaker prime minister and telling back-benchers to cool it. He doesn't want a general election yet. He's part of the New Labour elite and will try to cling on to power.

But with Brown gone, a general election will have to happen. And then what?

Cameron and Salmond both know their rapid rise has come on the back of the dying days of the New Labour project.

Salmond's victory speech at Glasgow East was even directed at what he rightly called the "London Labour". 

So Cameron's Conservatives will sweep to power at westminster. But only with English seats. Scotland will be there for the taking by the SNP. 

Already Oborne is reporting talks between the SNP and Conservatives to draw lines of demarcation.

It could work. But there is a third way. 

It's called the Labour Party. If only the back bench MPs had the guts to try to throw out the New Labour gang who hijacked the Party back in the 90s. But after eleven years, they've forgotten how to fight. 

With a back-bench coup, New Labour would crawl away and turn into the Social Democrats (which is what they are anyway) and sink into oblivion.

With true Labour, the SNP would have a real fight on its hands in Scotland. Glasgow East could easily revert to its Labour roots. 

Cameron would possibly still win - he has numbers on his side. But there would also be a strong SNP, a big group of true Labour MPs and a handful of LibDems but only if Clegg is ditched. 

So what are you waiting for, true Labour MPs?  Get that letter of no-confidence in the leadership signed by as many MPs as you can muster and sent off to the cabinet. After all, you've certainly got nothing to lose.

You only need one cabinet minister, with his roots in the working class and trade union movement, to break ranks and Brown and his New Labour ministers are out. 

Such a general election would be a good fight. And the country would rather have that, than a fight with a corpse.

No comments: