The future under Brown

[olddutch]

Tony Blair is leaving as PM in the near future because he was pushed to leave by his own Party around the time of his last party conference. This was because the Party viewed Blair as an ever increasing electoral liability due to his heavy responsibilty for leading the UK into the Iraq War. The Labour Party decided that Blair leading them into the next election would almost certainly lose them that election. A change of leadership was viewed as a better election winning option; almost certainly with Gordon Brown at the helm.

Bearing in mind that Brown is so closely identified with what Blairs New Labour has done over the last 10 years (including voting for and financing the Iraq War) is it possible for Brown create a sufficient difference between his policys and those of Blair in the time remaining to win Labour a 4th consecutive term of Office ?

Specifically what would those different policies need to be ???

[Gromit]

Don't really agree with much of your summary first paragraph.

The Labour party are in a far better shape now than the Tories were when in desperation, they ditched Thatcher to win a fourth term. It could be argued that the trick worked then, then there is a good chance it will work for Brown now.

It will or course be easier for a new leader to change policies and tinker with things which could be electorial liabilities.

I was please to read for example, that Brown is reviewing the scandalous pay and hours deal for doctors that Blair oversaw, with the aim of getting better value for the taxpayer, and which will please the voting public also.

[johnlambert]

Brown is an old style socialist at heart, perhaps he will go back to his roots when elected?
I am a Conservative voter, so I really don't care who leads the Labour party, the sooner we have a Tory Government the better in my opinion

[Gromit]

johnlambert,
Can you really tell the difference between Cameron's lot and New Labour? - other than name.

[fairkatrina]

Brown's policy will always reflect his private life - the first rule of New Labour is of course "Look after Number 1." Hence Tony's kids finish uni, and they impose tuition fees. Gordon's wife has a baby, and suddenly we get given more tax credits and baby bond vouchers for reproducing. What's tragic is that it's so transparent.

Yes we do need a Tory government again (following the old cycle of British politics - times are good so we vote Labour, who mess the country up, the Conservatives sort it out and then we vote Labour again), but I have no faith in Cameron's government at all. Personally I think Menzies Campbell should take over the Tory leadership (he's right-wing enough to fit in well there, but not so right-wing he'll be having us goosestepping around the country), and Cameron should take over the Lib Dems. Someone mixed them up!

[Kromovaracun]

Any true conservative should bury their face in their hands at the very mention of Cameron. Fortunately people seem to finally seeing through his PR-machine.

Gromit: Interesting you should compare the Thatcher-Major transition with that of Blair-Brown, as Brown is apparently (though obviously it's early days yet) promoting a return to Cabinet government, in much the same way that Major did.

Probably nothing , but just interesting I thought.

How could Cameron differ from Blair? Apart from the government style I've just mentioned, I'd have thought he'd just try to appeal to the same bloc of voters who voted Labour in in '05 (though that number seems to be dwindling slightly). Plus, some other people believe he's a socialist at heart (I'm not sure of the truth in this but I'm interested to find out).

I also think that people generally realise that Brown is a good deal more competent than Cameron (though that's not saying much as it applies to any random farm animal...)

[Kromovaracun]

*Sorry, where I say 'How could Cameron differ from Blair', I mean 'How could Brown differ from Blair'. Sorry...

[olddutch]

Abers any ideas on precisely what Brown will materially change policywise before the next election to promote his and Labours chances before the next election comes ?

[fairkatrina]

Changes he'll probably promise:

1. No more �100,000 doctors who don't work evenings or weekends.
2. Talk (but probably little more) of pulling out of Iraq.
3. Scrapping the fortnightly bin collection plans (is it just me or do they smack horribly of a publicity-machine?)
4. Movement to make Scotland fully independant, followed by Wales.
5. A reform of the penal system, specifically in the areas of prison overcrowding and ASBOs.

[kwicky]

Stop immediately the problem of trying to solve third world problems. Africa is a huge continent and any attempt to right its wrongs will head in the same direction as when we tried to sort out the problems of India. Maybe for a change they should just concentrate on the citizens of the UK.

[vehelpfulguy]

gromit in the first append says "with the aim of getting better value for the taxpayer"

Do you relaise how much taxpayers money Brown has wasted ?

He sold half our gold reserves at a low price costing this country 2 BILLION POUNDS, see here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics /article1655001.ece

His tax credit system has been riddled with fraud and criminal claims and about 6 BILLION POUNDS has been paid out in error, see here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2007/05/09/ncredit09.xml

And yesterday Brown's New Deal to get youngsters back to work was branded an expensive failure, costing about 3.5 BILLION POUNDS and there are now more young people out of work than before, see here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6652745 .stm

I make that about 11.5 BILLION POUNDS

He will have to get a lot back off the doctors to get his (our) money back.

[Reverandfunk]

The future under Brown will be very similar to under Blair and very similar to a future under Cameron.

In reality over the past ten years of Labour power what has changed dramatically? Nothing.

Taxes haven't gone up, NHS is still a mess as it always will be, Education needs more money spent on it as it always does etc etc. Just don't bother voting lol.

[Reverandfunk]

Sorry fairkatrina just wondered if you could tell me what inflation and interest rates were in the late 80's under the conservative government?

Oh that's right 15% interest rates and 10% inflation and how many people got caught up in negative equaty?

[BenDToy]

Rev - that seems to me to be very New Labour - selective recollection. Why should the late 80s be relevant - any more than the 70s under Labour. What were the comparable figures fro 1997. And who destroyed our pension schemes?

[Reverandfunk]

The point is all parties are as bad as each other, u could tell me one bad thing new labour has done and I could tell you a bad thing that the conservatives did. In general how much differnet has this country been under Labour as opposed to the conservatives? Not a lot.