Raynsford-There is still a way back for Labour

There will no doubt be a lot of comment over the article that appeared yesterday in the New Statesman.

Ex Labour minister Nick Raynsford writes that the government's position is similar to that of the Tories under John Major after Mrs Thatcher had resigned and points out that they won the election two years later.

There is for him a way out of the hole as it puts it

The historical parallel is closer to 1990 than 1995. While the Thatcher Government was deeply unpopular in 1990, losing the Eastbourne by-election on a similar swing to Glasgow East, the electorate had not yet committed to Labour as the next government. Hence John Major’s surprise victory in 1992. By 1995 the position had changed. The electorate had decisively shifted their loyalty to Tony Blair’s government-in-waiting and nothing could save John Major.

and he adds that

David Cameron has still not secured the unequivocal support of the electorate

The solution according to Raynsford is to stop the relentless search for new initiatives and concentrate on the record instead

Compared with the position we inherited in 1997, today’s Britain is a better, fairer, more successful, more confident and more tolerant society

.

Another reminder that we have two years to an election.The article speaks a lot of truth