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This issue has been bouncing around my head for a while now. The change in ideology in the Labour party over the last 15 years appears to have been massive. From the high-tax, union-loving social democrats of the late 80s to the centre-right, big business friendly government of the presant day they have undergone a change of focus, and at a speed, that is totally unparalleled. Why is this?
My theory is that Tony, Gordon, and a few (Mandy) others, all of whom were getting into the game in the late 80s/early 90s, see politics as a career much like accountancy or plumbing. When it came to picking a side they were, ideologically, Tories. However, they also saw that the Tories were on their last legs, and that Labour, at that time crippled by in-fighting, were a well known brand to which people were turning simply because they were not the government. So join Labour they did, and straight away they began to aggressively alter the party's image and outlook. As quickly as possible they began to drag the party to that oh-so-electable ground of the centre right. Gone were those annoying ties to the unions, and in came the media consultants.
The Labour of today share nothing more than a name with those social reformers that took power just after world war II. To call them Tory clones is wrong, they are a party of career politicians, and somehow that feels worse. Am I wrong? |
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