|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Could Labor Win in Britain?
| Article
# : |
15426 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1989 |
2,146 Words |
| Author
: |
Stephen Haseler
Stephen Haseler is professor of government at City of London
College and a fellow at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, D.C. |
When Britain's opposition Labor Party descended upon the southern coastal town of Brighton in October, the question on most lips was quite simple: Could Labor, out in the political cold for the past 10 years, produce the policies to achieve victory in the next national election, now only a couple of years away?
By the time the delegates had left Brighton, a general feeling prevailed that the party had at least made some headway in making itself palatable to voters. Yet, it is a testimony to the lasting effect of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher upon British politics that, in order to put itself even within distance of wining the next election, the Labor party was forced to adopt not only "Thatcherite" rhetoric but also "Thatcherite" policy.
As part of this accommodation to "Thatcherism," Labor's leadership (now fully in control of the party machinery) decided to use the opportunity of the conference to display how far it was prepared to go in dumping its left-wing image. Labor's new slogan, "Meet the Challenge: Make the Change," set the tone for a volte-face in ideology. "Socialism," once the staple of many a speech from the podium, was hardly mentioned at all--except, that is, for the new and strange concept of "supply-side socialism." On the other hand, the rhetoric was thick with talk about "markets," "efficiency," and "opportunity."
In his leader's speech to the delegates, Neil Kinnock, once the doyen of romantic leftism, decided to abandon every left-wing nostrum he had peddled during the early 1980s and, instead, concentrate on bland assertions of his "green" credentials. Kinnock, like American presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988, has obviously decided to make competence, not ideology, his message.
If Kinnock's rhetoric helped to refurbish labor's image, then the serious business of the conference also edged the party toward the modern world. The conference rejected appeals that the next Labor government repeal the Conservative legislation that has brought Britain's stubbornly militant trade unions within the law. It also refused to back a left-wing motion that sought a pledge to renationalize industries and services privatized by the Thatcher governments since 1979. Yet, even these substantial changes to its domestic agenda were put in the shade by the party's remarkable turnabout on the central issue of defense.
'Conversion' On
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
