John Hart finds the return of New Labour ideology a depressing prospect, while Keith Flett questions the purpose of the party under Keir Starmer’s leadership
Jonathan Freedland attributes New Labour’s electoral victory in 1997 to “doing whatever it took to win” (Tony Blair had it easy. Keir Starmer is in a much deeper hole, 15 October). But there is no point in gaining power if you sell your soul to the devil. The BBC’s Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution, which he refers to, also attributes Labour’s success to vanquishing or at least suppressing the left of the party, thus bringing Labour into the electable mainstream.
This comfortable analysis forgets that no political party in this country has won an election in the past 30 years without the backing of News International. It is this and not the showmanship of Boris Johnson that explains why, despite all the U-turns and bungling of the Covid response, the Conservatives remain ahead in the polls.
