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As we have explained over
the past year or so, the effects of the financial crash and its political
consequences have represented a flash flood in British Politics. After many
years of apparent stability we have entered a period of sharp turns and sudden
changes as the deep underlying problems and contradictions in British society
have broken through the surface of events.
Labour’s National Policy Forum took
place in Coventry over the weekend of the 25th, 26th and
27th July. The policy objectives were to be known as Warwick 2
“They’re tearing
themselves apart, just like we used to do,” a senior Conservative MP said,
beaming in the sunshine. “God knows why he’s done it now.” This is a quote from
the Financial Times (31.07.08) about what the Tories think of David Miliband’s
‘coded leadership bid’.
Last year's 2.5 % pay rise for the police, agreed by the iindependent
arbitration panel, was unilaterally slashed by Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith, to 1.9%, a real wage cut. This interference caused enormous
resentment among the police. Since the 1918 strike, it has been illegal
for the police to strike. Now they are contemplating strike action.
The New Labour government is on the rocks. The wreckage of
Blairism, under the leadership of Gordon Brown, was dealt a further crushing
blow at the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. A 7,000 Labour majority was turned
into a 7,000 Tory majority in a swing of 17.6%. It was the Tories' first
by-election gain in 30 years.
The Crewe by-election, with an 18% swing to the Tories,
confirms that they are on target for a landslide win in the next general
election. Railway workers and other working class people who have voted Labour
for generations have finally had enough. The betrayals and disappointments of
New Labour have caused these electors to break the habit of a lifetime. Make no
mistake about it. Mass working class abstentions have done for Brown and his
witless crew.
The latest attempt
to criminalise young people by "framing and shaming" them and
"filming and repeatedly stopping identified persistent offenders on
problem estates" owes more to the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
than it does to evidence based practice. But what are the real reasons that "Youth Disorder" takes
place and what works?
Following on from the disastrous election results of New Labour last Thursday, those left groupings who were hoping to capitalise on Labour's difficulties also found themselves in a mess. As Ted Grant explained, the working class always ignore the sects and in times of struggle always turn towards their traditional organisations.
The Tory victories in the local elections on May 1st
mean that the Conservatives will almost certainly go on to win the next general
election and form the next government. Theoretically the Labour leadership
could turn the situation round, but they seem incapable of changing their
disastrous course. New Labour is in meltdown.
Every time you think things cannot get any worse for Gordon
Brown, something else comes along. With Labour trailing badly in the polls and
facing what may be yet another round of bad election results come May, even
some normally ‘loyal’ Labour MPs have started to raise the question of getting
rid of Brown as leader. Labour MPs
are rebelling, not because they have suddenly discovered a long-lost socialist
conscience, but because they are staring at the strong possibility that Labour
will lose the next election and they will lose their seats.
They’re back from the dead. We thought we’d driven a stake
through their rotten hearts in the Labour landslide of 1997. Now they’re 13
points ahead in the polls. They should be history. So why are they making a
comeback? Because New Labour have been rumbled. They said they were being
prudent with the economy. They talked about, ‘no return to boom and bust.’ Now
we can see that they were just lucky. Don’t
let the failure of New Labour be the opportunity for the Tories. Reclaim the
Labour Party. It was set up as our party, as a party for the working class.
Fight the Tories with socialist policies.
It is easy to write off Boris Johnson as a buffoon. There is
a real danger he will be running London, a city of 7½ million people in a
couple of months time. Make sure Johnson is not made London’s Mayor in the May
1st elections. As Compass points out, “his buffoonery conceals a
hard line right wing set of views – a type of Norman Tebbitt in clown’s
uniform. The quotes below are taken from their pamphlet Boris Johnson – a man of the Tory hard right.
May 1st, May Day, will see one of the tightest and most important
elections to hit London for some years. The election of London Mayor is
being hotly contested between Ken Livingstone for Labour and Boris
Johnson for the Tories.
It is almost impossible to believe the rank stupidity and/or duplicity
of the people masquerading as Labour Ministers. This is a press release
from UNISON in response to the latest claptrap from Kim Howells, in
which he makes allegations that put at risk the lives of trade unionists
in Columbia. Please use this information in your own unions and demand
the retraction of Howells' allegations.
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