Browned Off?

This week see the latest attempt of Gordon Brown to start off his fightback and secure his position as Labour Leader. To some extent this saga is getting a bit like the Major "bastards" period and I can't help wondering if he might have been better off taking the Major route to resolving it of resigning and standing again.

Fact is the issue for the voters isn't his personality it's his policies and the climate we find ourselves in economically. Ironically his decision to finally do something about those who make money from betting on the failure of other companies is a welcome move to the left. However he must now take similar moves in other key policy areas. The fact is the move of Cameroon to the centre (whether real or imagined) has attracted that layer of voters who New Labour has historically courted. Meanwhile amongst other groups who have historically voted Labour for far longer there is a level of disillusionment at the failure to deliver real social democratic change.

I know some will argue we cannot win from the left but what exactly does that mean these days? For me a government that allowed Councils to build houses, a government that ended privatisation in public services and funded them so that public sectors were not penalised twice for inflation would be popular. A government that continued and accelerated withdrawal from Iraq and began to work an exist strategy for Afghanistan could equally become more popular.

Its time to re-enthuse our traditional supporters not to move ever to the right and onto Tory ground on public services, immigration and other such areas. After all at some point simply saying the Tories are going to be worse will not enthuse our core support to vote. The gap is clearly made more real by the Lib Dems tack to the right and there is space for a mainstream socialist party to benefit advancing policies of redistribution and public ownership is not some sort of Communist manifesto (or as some would view it "Trot dogma") Its common sense its popular and it might just dig Labour out of its hole. Constantly polls show so called "left wing" ideas are popular and this has never been trested to any great extent by Labour. I discount the 1983 election manifesto since cearly it was delivered at a time when the party was riven by the split caused by the SDP. Even then more people voted Labour than did in 2001.

Sadly those who appear currently to be trying to bring about a change seem to think we need to put in a "Cameroon lite" rather than change the policies. Could Milliband be the answer or would he simply deliver more of the same and go further? Those such as my own local M.P. Siobhan MCDonagh (who has voted for every right wing measure brought in since 1997) obviously live in the belief that the answer so more and furhter moves the "new labour" policies not a real break with them. Question is if this is the agenda what is the purpose of winning in any case since in reality that is what Cameroon will deliver? Surely the level of defeatism hoas not reached the stage where such M.P's beleive the answer is to win again and deliver Tory "lite" policies for them?

I want Labour to win the next election but an auction of right wing ideas with the Tories will not do it.