Current Labour government (UK)

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This article covers the current Labour government from 1997 under Tony Blair (1997-2007) to today under Gordon Brown.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 In government 1.2 New Labour in the media 1.3 Criticism 2 Labour's third successive term from 2005 2.1 Party finances 2.2 Resignation of Tony Blair 2.3 Government difficulties with public opinion 2.4 Party Funding through illegal means 3 References

[edit] Background

Main article: History of the British Labour Party

Labour was elected in a landslide victory over John Major's Conservative government, which had become deeply unpopular. Tony Blair had become leader of the Labour Party in 1994 and set about re-branding the Labour Party as 'New Labour' in a bid to widen the party's appeal.

[edit] In government

One of the first acts of the 1997 Labour government was to give the Bank of England operational independence in its setting of interest rates, a move mentioned neither in the manifesto nor during the election campaign. Labour held to its pledges to keep to the spending plans set by the Conservatives, causing strain with those members of the party who had hoped that the landslide would lead to more radical and increased spending. It also started its introduction of an educational reform programme, in which Labour introduced new ways of teaching, and later introducing new forms of schools.

Since 1997 Labour's economic policies have sought to take a middle way between the more centralised socialist approach of past Labour governments and the free market approach of the Conservative government from 1979 to 1997. One of the most popular policies introduced was Britain's first National Minimum Wage Act. There have also been various programmes targeted at specific sections of the population: the target for reducing homelessness was achieved by 2000. Chancellor Gordon Brown oversaw the 'SureStart' scheme intended for young families, a new system of tax credits for those working with below-average incomes and an energy allowance provided to pensioners during the winter. By most statistical measures, unemployment fell from just over 1.5 million in 1997 to around one million.

The government has also been accused of being too far to the right in a number of policies. For example in December 1997, 47 left-wing Labour MPs rebelled when the government carried through the previous administration's plans to cut the benefits paid to new single-parents. Tuition fees for university students were also introduced with no debate within the Labour Party itself. The government also promoted wider use of Public Private Partnerships and the Private Finance Initiative, which were opposed particularly by trade unions as a form of privatisation.

The New Labour government has been closer to corporate business interests than any previous Labour government. Several Policy Taskforces in 1997 and 1998 included industrialists and business leaders such as Lord Simon, a former chairman of BP, Lord Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, and Alec Reed of Reed Employment. There have been various reports regarding the effect of such close links, in policies such as the Public-Private Partnerships, the deregulation of utilities, privatisation, and the tendency to outsource government services.

Labour's second term saw substantial increases in public spending, especially on the National Health Service, which the government insisted must be linked to the reforms it was proposing. Spending on education was likewise increased, with schools encouraged to adopt "specialisms". Teachers and their trade unions strongly criticised the Prime Minister's spokesman Alastair Campbell when he stated that this policy meant the end of "the bog-standard comprehensive".

In foreign policy Labour aspired to put Britain "at the heart of Europe" while attempting to maintain military and diplomatic links to the United States. Initially, Robin Cook, as Foreign Secretary of the first Blair Cabinet, attempted to instigate an "ethical foreign policy". While the next Foreign Secretary Jack Straw somewhat downplayed this, the party sought to put the promotion of human rights and democracy, and later the war against terrorism, at the core of British foreign policy. This was first evident when Blair and Cook initiated Operation Palliser, in which British troops intervened to stop massacres in Sierra Leone. This led to an emphasis on the Department for International Development, with ministers Clare Short and Hilary Benn holding influence within the administration. Tony Blair managed to persuade Bill Clinton to take a more active role in Kosovo in 1999, and British forces took part in the international coalition which attacked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 after the regime refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden and expel Al Qaeda from the country in the aftermath of the 11 September, 2001 attacks.

Blair decided to send British troops to fight alongside the United States and a number of forces in smaller numbers from around the world in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Government's involvement in the invasion caused much public disapproval in the UK and within the Labour party, with many calling Tony Blair's credibility into question when questions were raised as to the veracity of intelligence concerning Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the alleged political pressure on the Foreign Office. This loss of support contributed to the substantial reduction of Labour's majority in the 2005 general election.

[edit] New Labour in the media

New Labour (as a series of values) is often characterised as a belief in "no rights without responsibilities" – that a citizen should recognise that one possesses responsibilities linked with any legal rights they hold^{[citation needed]}. The concept of a "stakeholder society" is quite prominent in New Labour thinking. As noted above, New Labour thought also embraces the notion of the "Third Way", although critics point to the lack of any concise statement of its meaning. The term "Third Way" has since fallen from use.

The name "New Labour" has also been widely satirised. Critics associate the new name with an unprecedented use of spin doctoring in the party's relationship with media. The Conservative Party attempted to tarnish the new Labour tag during the 1997 election campaign using the slogan "New Labour, New Danger". After Gordon Brown's budgets became more and more Keynesian, Private Eye magazine began to call the party "New" Labour.

[edit] Criticism

In left-wing circles, the name "New Labour" or Neo Labour is used pejoratively to refer to the perceived domination of the Labour Party by its right-wing. Indeed, some argue that Labour has become so fond of neo-liberal policies that it is Thatcherite rather than democratic socialist or even social-democratic (cf. "Blatcherism"). The dissatisfaction among working-class voters saw the Liberal Democrats making electoral inroads into Labour areas, as well as support further to the left fragmenting away from the Labour Party i.e. Respect - The Unity Coalition, Forward Wales and other small parties and Independents. In the London Borough of Newham there has been particular outrage over New Labour policies with regard to Queen's Market, Upton Park. Questions emerged regarding the centralised and highly personalised style of Tony Blair's leadership, with some critics seeing this as a sign of creeping presidentialism.^[1]

[edit] Labour's third successive term from 2005

The party's popularity and membership have steadily declined since 2003.^[2] Labour won the 2005 general election with 35.3% of the total vote and a majority of 66. Their majority fell to 62 following a by-election loss to the Liberal Democrats and Claire Short's decision to sit as an Independent MP.

Tony Blair's third term was dominated even more than the second by the issue of terrorism. Shortly after the General Election, in the July 2005 7-7 bombings, a number of bombs were detonated on buses and tube trains in London. A fortnight later, further attempts were made by alleged terrorists to launch bombings, although failed. As a result, relations between Labour and Muslims have become more important.

The Blair government has also attempted to crack down on the perceived threat of terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, eliciting claims that they are undermining civil liberties and the rule of law. Dissent within the parliamentary party substantially increased. The Labour government were defeated in a House of Commons vote over the length of time suspected terrorists could be detained without trial: although most of the Terrorism Bill passed into law, the 90-day limit the government wanted was rejected when 48 Labour MPs rebelled, with a compromise limit of 28 days agreed by the House of Commons, receiving Royal Assent on 30 March 2006 passing into law.

The introduction of identity cards presents political and logistical difficulties as civil liberties groups increasingly oppose the creation of a biometric identity database. Despite opposition from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and some Labour MPs, the Bill has passed through all of its readings in the Commons so far. However, leaked Home Office memos have condemned the scheme as originally devised.

The government faces continued controversy over the Education Reform Bill. This provides for greater financial autonomy for state schools, while reducing local government control, and has provoked a large parliamentary rebellion, forcing the leadership to depend on support from the opposition Conservative Party. The Bill has also resulted in outspoken criticism from those formerly in the mainstream of the Party, such as former leader Neil Kinnock.

[edit] Party finances

The party has suffered from the recent peerages for cash scandal involving people from a number of parties, where donors could lend large sums of money for undefined periods (effectively giving money). Scotland Yard began investigating allegations in April 2006. There were suggestions that major donors had been encouraged to describe the money they were giving as loans rather than donations. As a consequence, the Labour Party has run up large debts (some sources put this as much as £40 million), and is having difficulty raising further money. Some of their creditors are calling in their loans, leaving the trade unions in a far more powerful position than before as a vital source of revenue for the party.

This is not exclusively a problem of the Labour Party and other parliamentary parties are facing similar difficulties. Private individuals are less willing to provide donations, and party memberships are falling, leaving all the major parties more reliant on a few rich donors. The Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat frontbenches are considering extending state funding of political parties in the UK.

[edit] Resignation of Tony Blair

In the 4 May 2006 local elections, the Labour Party lost over 300 councillors across England. The gains went largely to the Conservative Party, who saw their best results since 1992. Elsewhere, the British National Party and the Green Party increased their numbers of councillors by 33 and 20 respectively, there were also gains for the left-wing Respect Unity party.^[3] The election followed the release by the Home Office of 1,043 foreign prisoners who had been slated for deportation, nurses being made redundant due to deficits within the National Health Service resulting in the Health Secretary being heckled at the annual conference of the Royal College of Nursing, and revelations about a two-year extramarital affair of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and his assistant private secretary Tracey Temple.

Following the poor election results, Tony Blair planned a cabinet reshuffle, and speculation about the date of his departure as leader and Prime Minister intensified. Blair had announced in 2004 that he would not fight a fourth general election as Labour leader but stated that he would serve a full third term. However as his term progressed, dissent within the party increased. He failed to pass three bills restricting civil liberties through parliament in 2005-2006. His refusal to call for an Israeli ceasefire during the 2006 Lebanon War increased his unpopularity within the party, and he was repeatedly undermined by failures in Iraq and the cash for peerages scandal. Following an apparent attempted coup to force him out, in which a number of junior government members resigned in protest at his continued leadership, he announced that the September 2006 TUC and Labour Party Conferences would be his last as leader and Prime Minister.

On 10 May 2007, he announced that he would stand down as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007. Gordon Brown, the long-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer, had long been widely expected to succeed Blair. He duly launched his campaign on 11 May 2007, and a few days later was the only candidate with sufficient nominations to stand. He therefore took over as Labour leader on 24 June 2007 and took over as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007.

Previous to Gordon Brown's unopposed victory, his potential competitors included:

• Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton – he had announced that there should be a serious contender;
• John McDonnell – he, Gordon Brown and Michael Meacher declared themselves candidates for the Labour leadership, although he was unable to get the signatures of the 12.5% of Labour MPs required to proceed as a candidate. He has been a sitting MP since 1997 and is Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group, although Alan Simpson is annoyed that he did not consult with other members before putting himself forward as a candidate.
• Michael Meacher – On February 22nd 2007 declared his intention to stand for the leadership of the Labour Party claiming he had the support of a large number of MPs, many members of the Socialist Campaign Group are accusing Michael Meacher of trying to split the nominations and keep John McDonnell off the ballot paper.^[4][5]

Two potential candidates were touted in the media, but made it clear they would not stand:

• Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs David Miliband ruled himself out of both the leadership and deputy leadership contests and backed Gordon Brown for the leadership.
• Home Secretary John Reid announced he was not planning to run for any other job than Home Secretary, and a few days before Blair's resignation announcement said that he would leave the cabinet at the same time as Blair, and not serve in a Brown government.

Blair's deputy leader John Prescott faced pressure over marital affairs and friendship with Philip Anschutz. John Prescott confirmed that he would stand down as deputy leader at the same time as Tony Blair left Downing Street.

Some Labour MPs and members of the National Executive Committee attempted to abandon an election for the position of deputy leader, in order to save the estimated £2,000,000 that the contest would cost.^[6][7]

Hilary Benn,^[8] Hazel Blears,^[9] Jon Cruddas,^[10][11] Peter Hain,^[12] Harriet Harman^[13] and Alan Johnson^[14] all stood for the Deputy Leadership and obtained the necessary 45 nominations from Labour MPs. Harriet Harman won the deputy leadership, narrowly defeating Alan Johnson with 50.43% of the final redistributed vote.

[edit] Government difficulties with public opinion

Many Labour supporters remain unhappy with the Labour government's policies regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, the pensions crisis, treatment of public-sector workers and the Identity card database. Others have been critical of increased tax (especially stealth taxes) and increased government spending on education and health with limited results and falling productivity.^[15]

The Labour party suffered significant defeats in devolved elections in Scotland, Wales and local elections England on May 3, 2007.^[16]

In Scotland, Labour was reduced to the second-largest Party after the Scottish National Party (SNP). In Wales, although still the largest party, it lost its already minority control of the Welsh Assembly. In England it lost so many local Councillors that it was reduced from second to third place in local Government, being overtaken by the Liberal Democrats.

[edit] Party Funding through illegal means

The Donorgate scandal emerged on 26 November 2007 that the Labour party had received funding from David Abrahams via illegal means; the party's General Secretary immediately resigned. He took full responsibility, and the initial response from the party was that nobody knew who Abrahams was. The donations had been made via intermediaries in order to hide the original source. It later emerged that several contenders for the deputy leadership race – Harriet Harman and Hilary Benn – had both received donations from Abrahams. In Harman's case, the money had actually been received after the race had concluded. However, in an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, Abrahams claimed that he had only supported Hilary Benn in the contest, and when pressed on the issue of donating to Harman's campaign, he refused to give a decisive answer. Brown declared that the donations from Abrahams had been "unlawful"^[17] and all monies would be returned. The biggest issue yet to be resolved surrounds who knew about Abrahams' donations. In his Newsnight interview, Abrahams quoted from a letter he had received from the party's chief fundraiser, Jon Mendelsohn, which said "The party is of course very happy about all the help you have given to the party... As one of the party's strongest supporters I would like to meet you."^[18] This casts serious doubt on the party's assertions that Abrahams' donations - and indeed Abrahams himself - were largely unknown

[edit] References