Now is the time to support Caesar not bury him

There can be little doubt that Gordon Brown is on the ropes, if not on the canvass. Every day brings a fresh headline pointing up his weaknesses and failures. The opposition are triumphant. The media pack are in full cry, baying for his blood as they once bayed for the blood of Tony Blair.

So it would not be unreasonable to expect the Labour Party as a whole to come to his aid, if only to protect the gains of the last eleven years and to keep open the prospect of more to come.

Instead most activists and left-wing commentators seem to be intent on adding their punches to the pummelling Brown is receiving, much in the same way as those characters in that hilarious movie, Airline, queued up have a slap at a panicking fellow passenger. They are largely doing this in two ways.

One, is to use the opportunity to exert maximum pressure on the government to accept their own political nostrums, threatening to bring down the government if they don't get their way. Never mind that this exposes division in the ranks (which is anethema to the average British voter). Or that the government will be seen as weak if they do give way (again something that  is a huge  turn-off for most voters ).

The other (not unrelated to the first) is to throw in the towel, on the basis that a spell in opposition would do us the world of good. Never mind the impact on the lives of ordinary people or the fact that this could pave the way for another eighteen years of Tory rule.

Neal Lawson, whose latest piece for Compass exemplifies the first approach, damns the New Labour project for being two steps forward to the market and one token step in favour of society. As I commented on the related website, I see it more as two steps forward to social democracy, one step in favour of market considerations (or more precisely one step back to to take account of political and economic realities). In today's world this is the only way we can achieve our objectives.

The solution to our current predicament then is not to join forces with the opposition and the vulture- like media to exploit every government shortcoming for our own particular ends but to close ranks and fight back against this massive  attack on what remains our best hope for a better tomorrow.

Comments

[Miller 2.0]

"One, is to use the opportunity to exert maximum pressure on the government to accept their own political nostrums, threatening to bring down the government if they don't get their way."

When a government in which left forces find their only representation commits itself to listening only to the centre, no matter the cost of votes to the left, what else are people who identify with the left supposed to do?

when the middle 5% count for everything, the remaining 95 must become an effective pressure group, or take power themselves. Since we don't want to lose electability, the pressure group option is the only one open to the democratic left.

"So it would not be unreasonable to expect the Labour Party as a whole to come to his aid, if only to protect the gains of the last eleven years and to keep open the prospect of more to come."

Indeed; but we can do that without forgetting about or remedying the retreats.

[Stan Rosenthal]

Miller, there are acceptable ways of bringing pressure to bear. Publically putting the boot in and threatening to bring down the government is not one of them. This simply doles out ammunition to the enemy at a time when the battle is reaching a crucial stage.

[Graeme Kemp]

Sorry, I think Neal Lawson and Compass are right!

Those who benefit most from markets (e.g. traders in the City) have continued to do very well; those who gain less from markets (e.g. those who clean City firms) have not done well. The wide divide continues - and refuses to narrow as much is it should.

Yes, I know Labour has helped the less well off; those on low incomes have done better under Labour than they would have done under the Conservatives.It's not all negative (as Lawson and Compass readily admit). But it's not enough. We need more.

Gordon Brown has not been as effective or good as many hoped. The 10p tax band fiasco was just one more miscalculation. Of course many in Labour are not happy. Yet, the answer is not to remain silent (or abandon Labour).

Stan is too conservative!

[Robert]

Seeing as Stan is New Labour, seeing that Brown attacked the poor to give money to the rich with his so called mistake, some mistake especially if he thinks anyone believes he would make school boy mistake with maths, remove 10p increase to 20p you pay more tax, not to hard is it, reduce from 22p to 20p you pay less.

Phew that was hard.

Seeing as New Labour once offered 75p to everyone on benefits and pensions, and the pensioners stood up and said hold on, since New Labour has been the party which has given nothing at all to the sick and the disabled holding benefits below inflation making a rise worthless.

I think in all honesty the people who matter the ones who have for years voted Labour have had enough. Enjoy chasing middle England and when they go back to the Tories do not come knocking on our doors

[Diversity]

"Bur Caesar" ? Us? He's the one digging the hole.

[Robert]

Stan mate your still having wet dreams over Blair, the fact is social justice or social cohesions has been lost with New Labour, look how many voters Labour has lost, look how many members Labour has lost, something has to have gone wrong.

Yet New Labour still believes the swing voters of the Tories will save them, as Brown and Blair has done often is hit the poor and the disabled and the carers, to make money, perhaps the wars are costing more I've no idea, but to vote for a Party which has no respect for people, no thanks

[BlairSupporter]

So who are all you people going to vote for if not Labour? The Tories? The BNP? The Lib Dems?

Stan is true Labour through and through - and a Blairite. That is no reason to criticise him. I'm a Blairite, but I don't belong to any party. I just think he saw the future better than most of us, and formed policies to cope. Politicians DO need to appeal outside of their own base, or they've had it.

I also believe Blair was a great social reformer. Others have written that in fact HE was the driving force in many societal areas over the last ten years or so, though Brown was given most of the credit.

Blair did not approve of the 75p pension mistake, but was not asked by the tight-lipped chancellor. And he would not have agreed to the dropping of the 10p rate, IF he had been asked. Of course, Brown, in his first big misjudgement, thought he'd walk an autumn election, and the 10p business would have got lost or dealt with appropriately in the ensuing electioneering.

Whoops!

But all this building up Blair or knocking down Brown is beside the point.

Cameron has niftily hooked onto Blair's policies, even those Brown isn't sure about - and there are a few of those, if you read between the lines.

Brown is a man facing both ways. Uncomfortable.

But progressive politics is all about continual change. Without it a political movement dies.

If you want to go back to the wilderness for another spell then keep talking as though the last 11 years have been an aberration. In fact they have possibly been the making of Labour's future. But only if Brown handles it well. So far it's not looking too promising.

You might like to take a look at my thoughts on Labour's possible obituary - Wikipedia entry 2050.

http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/death-of-glue-less-clueless-labour-and-wiki-entry-2050/

[Timc]

"Instead most activists and left-wing commentators seem to be intent on adding their punches to the pummelling Brown is receiving"

Legitimate criticism does not necessarily equal siding with the opposition. Of course, there is something to be said for timing such criticism well.

The reason for all these "punches" from the left is that many people on the left thought Brown was going to be more thoroughly and genuinely social democratic and progressive than Blair, and have so far had their hopes proved wrong.

See here for some constructive criticism: http://fabians.org.uk/general-news/general-news/-change-can-still-be-brown-s-winning-formula

[Blair(andpossiblyBrown)Supporter]

Listen you guys! Brown gave a very good speech recently at the Zeitgeist Europe 2008 conference (Google and the internet). He seemed to be thinking on his feet, talking without notes, moving around the stage.

In command, in other words.

YES, BROWN!

He was even funny. ALMOST, but never quite as funny as Blair could be.

This is the YouTube link to watch him. You'll be impressed, I'm sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btE075p6Ypg

It's mainly the argument FOR globalisation. OK, Blair's made all these arguments before. But, and not just because Blair agrees (and probably "helped" him, he's right!

In fact this is the FIRST time I have heard him speaking so impressively.

Why is he SO unable to speak like this at home?

Simple. Because he is terrified of the backward-looking Left in his own party. Blair was never afraid of them, because he knew they were wrong.

FREE TRADE - no protectionism
GREATER FLEXIBILITY in markets
BE MORE INCLUSIVE - help people cope with change
NEED GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS reform

He also said we should fight a worldwide campaign FOR globalisation. All marching as one for a vision of globalisation. And he mocked the anti-globalisation movement.

So yes, there is more to Brown than we have yet seen. But as with Blair he may well be tempted to move off the British scene to a more comfortable international scene, if his message falls on deaf ears.

Me? I'm still a Blairite and loathe to forgive political treachery. But our present PM has given me food for thought tonight.

And people who know me will know that's saying something.

[jas]

interesting watching the over-the- hill Blairites and the wannabee Brownites fighting on this site! I preferred the "Robert Harris" analysis that Brown was a good man caught in the trap of not knowing quite how to reverse the Blairite hollwing out of the LP. Now it may be, as Stan and others claim, that TINA to rampant globalisation and ever increasing income inequality (call it marketisation/commercialisation/consumerism) or adjusting to the "real" world but you cannot expect the comrades to jump for joy. Me I'm attracted by the Compass approach/analysis that we have to make the case for a different system, culture, and meaning of politics-not to tweak the edges but work for change.

[LeftyCampaigner]

Stan - at last some real sense - Compass and their ilk in the so called left wing press seem to be gleefully pilling the funeral pyre of the whole Progressive movement. Parties are judged as much by how they conduct themselves as by their policies.

I'm not sure the British electorate never mind the Labour Party would forgive another regicide in favour of another unelected leader of the Labour Party. While I happily criticise some elements of the Govt and their policies with friends and colleagues long into the night; the sheer delight at which others are doing this in almost any forum they can find fills me with real dread for the future.

Anyone in an organisation political or otherwise when it is under attack should be ready to come to the aid of the leadership. It is naive to believe that we can suddenly choose this moment to have a no holds barred discussion on everything from personalities to policies of the Government.

The British people by-in-large aren't taking part in these discussions, yet from the tone of the Westminster Village, Left Wing Commentariat and blogosphere you would think it was the centre of everyone’s lives.

Most people are more concerned with real issues, not with what non-entity from the cabinet past or present might stand against Brown. How ever fun these games are for us, the message from Crewe doorstep was clear: they want us to admit where we were wrong on 10p tax, stop playing games and most of all get on with the job of Government.