Like many old lefties, I spent most of the 80s wondering if Labour would ever win power again, and most of the 90s worrying about what would happen if Labour ever won power again. I gradually came to accept the mantra that socialism was indeed dead, probably because I heard it so many times from left and right alike.
I knew I still believed in something, or thought I did, but wasn't sure what. I admired much of what the Labour Party managed to do under Blair, despaired of more, but so what? 'Disillusioned lefty claims Labour in power is not left-wing enough' is hardly a new complaint. But what was different was that there no longer seemed to be any people in power who cared about or were battling for the core values I'd believed in all my life - a fair and free education system, fairness for all in the law, fair taxation. I'd never been a hard-nosed firebrand, more a soft left box of Swan Vestas, but I was starting to wonder if I'd turned into Karl Marx.
Then along came a politician who started to talk about things I believed in. A staunch environmentalist, he argued it was no longer feasible for us to carry on flying, driving, heating our homes and destroying the planet - and individuals taking action was not enough on its own. Governments had to intervene, sign up for Kyoto, and more, and we all had to take responsibilty.
There is a very good reason why David Cameron no longer makes such intelligent and thought-provoking speeches. He worked out, as I did from listening to him, that if you take his arguments to their logical end, what he is advocating is an end to economic growth as a goal in itself, and a massive international re-distribution of wealth, from each country according to their means, to each according to their needs. For the first time in years, he made me believe in socialism again.
Thanks Dave. I'm off to spread your word. I know for a fact that I've already got two people reading this blog - which, by Labour standards, is what might currently be called a revival.
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Yes, Dave Cameron may have rekindled your socialism but what would you have done if he had continued to hug an Eskimo’s hoodie and, well, been more to the Left of Labour? Vote for him? Do you really believe that when the Tories win their inevitable landslide they’ll continue on this touchy-feely path? Yeah, right. Or should that be “yeah, Rightwards” because that’s the direction they’ll be taking. As much as I loathed Tony Blair, increasingly detest Gordon Brown for being more Blairite than Blair, think David Milliband wouldn’t last two-minutes in the bear-pit with Cameron, or the likeable Alan Johnson for that matter, there is one cabinet minister who could just stop us being inflicted with “eighteen years of hurt”. James Purnell. Now hold your horse before you come charging out of the gates at me. Think, what would Americans have given if they’d have realised what they’d be getting when they voted for Dubya - just? They’d have voted for Gore in droves. Anybody to stop the Bushwhacker. Purnell is sooooo like Cameron, but with a slight tint to the left, that he alone can fool the public into voting for that very nice public school boy. There’s a 50/50 chance that they’ll get the wrong one and vote, Purnell. If you have to vote for someone who you think will rekindle your socialism before being hugely disappointed then better one from a former Socialist party. Surely?
Are you THE James Purnell, or, more likely perhaps, the one in that faked photograph. I think if you're hoping voters will make the 50/50 mistake and choose the one who's a bit like Cameron, then Labour should re-elect Tony Blair. Thanks for taking time out from your swelling portfolio though sir, and welcome to the blog.
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