This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7748780.stm
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| The death of New Labour? | The death of New Labour? |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Analysis By John Pienaar BBC political correspondent | Analysis By John Pienaar BBC political correspondent |
| Not Marx: Mervyn King has been warning banks to increase their lending | Not Marx: Mervyn King has been warning banks to increase their lending |
| Close your eyes and superimpose a huge, scraggly beard on the face of Mervyn King. Ruffle his hair a bit. | Close your eyes and superimpose a huge, scraggly beard on the face of Mervyn King. Ruffle his hair a bit. |
| The governor of the Bank of England still doesn't look much like Karl Marx, does he? | The governor of the Bank of England still doesn't look much like Karl Marx, does he? |
| Now remove the exquisitely tailored suit, and imagine him in a donkey jacket. Michael Foot he isn't. Or, for that matter, anyone but the cautious, conservative, pillar of the British financial establishment that he is. | Now remove the exquisitely tailored suit, and imagine him in a donkey jacket. Michael Foot he isn't. Or, for that matter, anyone but the cautious, conservative, pillar of the British financial establishment that he is. |
| Yet there he was, calmly contemplating the nationalisation of British high street banks. Not just public ownership or partial ownership of banks, but control. | Yet there he was, calmly contemplating the nationalisation of British high street banks. Not just public ownership or partial ownership of banks, but control. |
| No-one has seriously dreamt of such a thing since Labour's 1983 manifesto. Remember? They called it the "longest suicide note in political history". | No-one has seriously dreamt of such a thing since Labour's 1983 manifesto. Remember? They called it the "longest suicide note in political history". |
| At any normal time, it would have been a mind-boggling suggestion. But these times are far from being normal. | At any normal time, it would have been a mind-boggling suggestion. But these times are far from being normal. |
| As it was, it was merely surprising. | As it was, it was merely surprising. |
| Having listened to the latest session of the cross-party Treasury Select Committee, it is a little hard, surely, to accept that the pre-Budget report amounts to the "death of New Labour". | Having listened to the latest session of the cross-party Treasury Select Committee, it is a little hard, surely, to accept that the pre-Budget report amounts to the "death of New Labour". |
| Is this really the return of old-style, redistributionist thinking to the party of Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson (now, apparently, as close as ever they were in the salad days of the New Labour project)? | Is this really the return of old-style, redistributionist thinking to the party of Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson (now, apparently, as close as ever they were in the salad days of the New Labour project)? |
| Cabinet ministers seem to laugh off the idea that Labour has returned to its rather withered, socialist roots. Governor warns banks on lending | Cabinet ministers seem to laugh off the idea that Labour has returned to its rather withered, socialist roots. Governor warns banks on lending |
| The present economic emergency has turned all conventional political thinking on its head. | The present economic emergency has turned all conventional political thinking on its head. |
| Unconstrained borrowing is prudent. A spending spree is responsible, even selfless. | Unconstrained borrowing is prudent. A spending spree is responsible, even selfless. |
| And public ownership of a high street bank may be no more than reminding the board to do its duty in our free market, capitalist system. | And public ownership of a high street bank may be no more than reminding the board to do its duty in our free market, capitalist system. |
| These are, as the chancellor said on Monday, "extraordinary times". | These are, as the chancellor said on Monday, "extraordinary times". |
| In any case, as one cabinet minister put it to me: "We've always been redistributionist. Look at tax credits." | In any case, as one cabinet minister put it to me: "We've always been redistributionist. Look at tax credits." |
| A Downing Street adviser added: " New Labour has always been about adapting to changing circumstances. That's what we are doing now." | A Downing Street adviser added: " New Labour has always been about adapting to changing circumstances. That's what we are doing now." |
| True. The "R" word was always banned and come to think of it, still is. | True. The "R" word was always banned and come to think of it, still is. |
| Euphemisms such as "social justice" are preferred. That and the need to pour cash into the pockets of those thought most likely to spend it. | Euphemisms such as "social justice" are preferred. That and the need to pour cash into the pockets of those thought most likely to spend it. |
| Labour has, nonetheless, returned to a place traditionalist Labour MPs find wonderfully comfortable. | Labour has, nonetheless, returned to a place traditionalist Labour MPs find wonderfully comfortable. |
| Clinton and Obama | Clinton and Obama |
| The proposal for a new top rate of tax on those earning over £150,000 a year is thought likely, by those MPs, to appeal to the British sense of fair-play. | The proposal for a new top rate of tax on those earning over £150,000 a year is thought likely, by those MPs, to appeal to the British sense of fair-play. |
| In the meantime, they love the idea to bits. Cabinet ministers seem to laugh off the idea that Labour has returned to its rather withered, socialist roots. | In the meantime, they love the idea to bits. Cabinet ministers seem to laugh off the idea that Labour has returned to its rather withered, socialist roots. |
| Perhaps they are simply laughing with joy at the sudden influx of cash into their departmental coffers. | Perhaps they are simply laughing with joy at the sudden influx of cash into their departmental coffers. |
| As for the Tories, they seem ideologically comfortable with their return to the principles of fiscal Conservatism. | As for the Tories, they seem ideologically comfortable with their return to the principles of fiscal Conservatism. |
| But they are privately admitting to the discomfort of watching Gordon Brown's hyperactivity from the enforced idleness of opposition, while waiting for an instinctive dislike of deep debt, and a yearning for tax cuts in the distant future, to buoy up their position in the opinion polls. | But they are privately admitting to the discomfort of watching Gordon Brown's hyperactivity from the enforced idleness of opposition, while waiting for an instinctive dislike of deep debt, and a yearning for tax cuts in the distant future, to buoy up their position in the opinion polls. |
| As one senior member of the shadow cabinet put it: "Remember. Bill Clinton won an election on the issue of the national debt." | As one senior member of the shadow cabinet put it: "Remember. Bill Clinton won an election on the issue of the national debt." |
| Maybe so. But Barack Obama won one on the issue of taxing the rich, and borrowing billions to spend refloating the economy. | Maybe so. But Barack Obama won one on the issue of taxing the rich, and borrowing billions to spend refloating the economy. |
| This argument has a long, hard distance to run. It won't be easy for any of them. On both sides, they understand that perfectly well. | This argument has a long, hard distance to run. It won't be easy for any of them. On both sides, they understand that perfectly well. |
| Do you think New Labour is dead? Send us your comments: | |