The challenge!

It is not exactly hard to see that the Labour Party is walking headlong into an electoral defeat whether that comes in 2010 or 2011. The opinion polls reflect a public disenchantment with the current state of politics and a feeling that the Parliamentary team is lacking an agenda and the drive to deliver one. Quite sensible people in the media and in the street are saying that perhaps it is time for a change or waffling on about the cyclical nature of English politics as if that is some kind of good thing. Personally, I wouldn't welcome back another Conservative government whether or not it is led by David Cameron. The Conservative party is instinctively the embodiment of a ruling elite whether it is the aristocracy, an old boy network, a public school Mafia or the nouveau riche and it sees these networks as a replacement for what it still views as a welfare state. Therefore, it is bound to notions of belt tightening for those outside the club and that leads inevitably to the restriction of public spending. However, this blog is not about that but is, instead, about how Labour might change its policies and position itself in a new relationship to the electorate in order to win the forthcoming election. It might also go on to discuss how, having won it, it should try and govern rather differently. There's a lot to talk about!