In 1997, a disillusioned and much maligned UK electorate kicked the Tories out. After 18 years of sleaze, 'Cash for Questions' a destroyed manufacturing workforce, record unemployment, lost generations, communities torn apart, miners strike...etcetera time was up for Thatcher and Major's 'no such thing as society' society.
Labour supporters took to the streets, impromptu parties sprung up, the cheers when Scottish Tories fell at the ballot box could be heard throughout the country, the biggest 'ya beauties' being reserved for Messrs, Rifkind, Forsyth and Lang. The Tories lost 178 seats, Labour won an additional 147, giving them their largest victory ever with a total of 418 seats to the the Tories 165.
Bambi Blair was swept in on a wave of euphoria. Expectation was at a height we wouldn't witness again until the arrival of Super-Obama. Things could only--get better. So where, as the cliché asks, did it all go wrong?
Today Labour are desperately fighting to avoid third place in the UK General Election. Labour MP's in marginal constituencies across the UK are bricking it. That generation of predominantly white men in their mid-fifties are facing serious upheaval in their lives and careers. Once the gravy train stops it's nigh on impossible to get back on. What will they do for a living, have they all sounded out consultancies and lobbyists, will they all prostitute their networks for some cash-in-hand representation? Many have filled their boots with as much public largesse as they could grasp.
The expenses scandal which dominated the European elections last year destroyed the public will to participate. A year later we have a legacy of sound-bites and the three 'main' parties all manfully trying to tip-toe around the scandal whilst adopting suitable chastened postures whenever the subject raises its ugly head. Those MP's facing criminal convictions are used as whipping boys by the boys fervently hoping they are still in with a chance of keeping their jobs.
There's a website titled Labour Watch which I occasionally dip into. It's one of the most dispiriting things you'll ever read. The author has catalogued just about every Labour sleaze and corruption story since 1997. Towards the end of 2008, you can see his or her fervour for spotlighting Labour failings begins to wane, I imagine deciding to compile this list can have serious implications for your well being. The expenses scandal kicked him/her off again. Then I imagine sleaze fatigue kicks in again and there are very few posts in 2010. No doubt the author is a Tory, lots of links to the right wing press, Mail, Express, Telegraph etcetera. However, I defy even the most ardent Labour supporter to spend ten minutes scrolling through the headlines and links and not pause to think, if there's even the remotest possibility that there might just be something in the allegations. Just click and scroll, it's a real eye-opener as to how a supposedly socially democratic, left of centre party can be thirled to the attractions of vested interests, power, wealth, fame and celebrity.
Thanks Labour. No more boom and bust, an end to sleaze. Oh and the astronomical figure that keeps flashing up on the screen comes from the debt bombshell site. A truly horrifying debt accumulator reminiscent of the one Nationwide used to run in the 1970's when Denis Healey was praised for overseeing inflation totter along at 25%.
I guess things didn't get better.
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