RIP Philip Gould-He was a rock says Campbell

Very sad news this morning that Philip Gould,one of the architects of New Labour's three election victories has died at the age of 61.

Philip,who was a key adviser to former prime minister Tony Blair had been suffering from cancer of the Oesophagus.

Only a few weeks ago,he had given an interview to the Guardian in which,after being told he only had months to live told the paper that,"it's a privilege to be in this position to have a deadline, to be given a chance to sort everything out."

Gould was undoubtedly one of the masterminds behind the creation of New Labour.

After leaving school with one O'level he ended up with a good university degree,got into advertising,then formed a consultancy with the pollster Deborah Mattinson which ended up introducing the Labour party to focus groups after meeting Peter Mandelson,then the party's communications director, and the rest is history.

Would New Labour have happened without him? It probably would have done is the answer but as his former boss has said this morning,he was a "huge part of the renaissance of the Labour Party".

Lord Gould,added Blair "was always a constant advocate for the British people, their hopes and anxieties", and a man whose "political contribution was immense".

Current Labour leader Ed Miliband described him as an exceptional man and his death as an exceptional loss

"His contribution to Labour politics was enormous. His work and commitment helped change the lives of millions of his fellow citizens for the better. By helping Labour to win three elections, he helped rebuild our schools, save our NHS and repair the fabric of Britain. Many who benefit will never know his name but will have better lives in part because of his work."

A fitting tribute comes from Alastair Campbell this morning

He was a team player, and his team was Labour. ‘Pollster’ doesn’t really say the half of it. He was an integral member of the inner team that worked to get Labour back into power, and stay there for more than the usual single Parliament breathing space for the Tories. His focus groups, far from being an exercise in PR, were a way of making sure that the kind of people he felt Labour forgot in the wilderness years had a direct voice to the top of politics. He was not a speechwriter but he was the most brilliant analyst of speech drafts. His notes on them always improved the final product. He was also great in a crisis, and always able to lift people and campaigns when they were low. He was that rare thing in politics – someone who was strategic, tactical and empathetic all in one. He was a rock.

Our values have moved to the right since 1997

Hidden away inside the Observer is a report from John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University,who believes that Britain has moved to the right under New Labour.

The proportion of people who believe the government should redistribute from the better-off to the less well-off has fallen significantly over the past 13 years. Research shows that half the population supported such a move in the mid-1990s, but that has fallen to less than a third.

and

Attitudes towards welfare have also hardened over the same period. In 1997, 46% of the population believed that unemployment benefits were too low, but that has now fallen to below 30%.

Will the last person.........

In a piece remininscent of a certain Sun front page,former former Labour Director of Communications Lance Price delivers a stinging attack on his party.

RIP New Labour. Born July 21 1994; died April 22 2009. Cause of death: drowning in a sea of debt. New Labour passed away surrounded by its family and loved ones. It was survived by a shattered party. Memorial service scheduled for May 2010. No flowers.

he writes in the Telegraph this morning

He is scathing of the 50p tax rate which the same believes that his former boss is as well but the attack runs deeper

The declaration of a fresh start based on principle and integrity that had brought the party tens of thousands of new members in the 1990s has long been buried under the cynicism of Iraq and the scandal of cash for honours, to name but a few.

and he concludes that

For now it lies in a coma; the prognosis for a recovery in the short term looks bleak. And having delivered three remarkable election victories, the chances of it reviving in time to help secure a fourth are receding every day.

A shift for New Labour?

The front page of the Independent this morning heralds the end of New Labour's dalliane with twelve years of market forces as it interviews the business secretary.

The paper says that Lord Mandelson

unveils an interventionist strategy under which the Government will subsidise the growth industries of the future.

According to the paper,Lord Mandelson said that

"If markets fail or don't work efficiently, government has a role to play – as we saw in the financial markets.The Government's job is not to substitute for markets or displace the private sector. We are not into bailing out the past, but removing the barriers to investing in the future."

But is this the right step to take? I am sure that many on the left of the party will herald this interview as laying the foundations of rolling back Blairism.

RIP New Labour

I see that in this morning's Sun George Pascoe Watson has written the Obituray to New Labour

THE tragic death of New Labour has been announced in No 10, Downing Street.
New Labour passed away after a 14-year battle with socialism.
The lethal disease was thought to have been eradicated in Britain.
But New Labour was unable to fight off the killer condition which has claimed the lives of previous Labour governments.
The last rites were performed by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling in the House of Commons on Monday.
New Labour died after a fatal dose of tax rises, plans to nationalise the entire banking system and £1trillion of debt.
Its heartbroken father, Tony Blair, was too upset to comment.

Will the Ecclestone affair come back to haunt Labour?

It will be interesting to see how tis story develops as the day moves on.

This morning's Sunday Telegraph has looked back at events of 10 years ago as the first sleeze scandal hit New Labour.
Using Freedom of Information legislation to look at the Ecclestone affiar the paper reveals that

Tony Blair personally intervened to secure Formula One's exemption from the tobacco advertising ban just hours after meeting Bernie Ecclestone, the motorsport's billionaire boss

The revelation says the paper

casts doubt on the version of events given by officials both to Parliament and to lobby journalists when the sleaze scandal first broke in 1997. The documents also show that civil servants believed draft statements on the affair, which were about to be made public, were "disingenuous

Cruddas declares New Labour is over and its time to move on

An interesting piece from John Cruddas in the Indy this morning.The Labour deputy leader contender asks how his party has managed to become the party of the establishment.

It is a calrion call for the party to shift emphisis declaring that the New Labour experiment is over and that

New Labour has created a more individualised and wealthier society but not a freer or more equal one. In its neglect of its core working-class support it has lost its roots and ideological purpose. Despite its extraordinary electoral successes it has failed to build a lasting coalition for transformational change.

and that during its transformation in the mid 90's

New Labour jettisoned the language of ethical socialism and so lost its capacity to match Mr Cameron's pro-social rhetoric and usurp his claim to value politics. In contrast, Mr Cameron's ethical language of social life has resonated amongst many who in the past would never have considered voting for the economic liberalism of Thatcherism.

The left he says

needs to recover its ethical socialism and commitment to equality. There has to be a renewed argument for constitutional and electoral reform and the protection and extension of individual civil liberties. The conditions for trade unionism have to be improved and a new internationalism established. Perhaps most of all, and most difficult, the left needs an ecologically sustainable, pro-social political economy capable of generating both wealth and equitable development. The future is for the left to lose

From Rolls Royce to three wheeler in 11 years

Now we know that Jeff Randle is not a great fan of Labour but he certainly chooses not to mince his words in his Telegraph column this morning.

After a decade of New Labour, the United Kingdom feels increasingly dysfunctional, a country whose economic engine has been filled with bootleg fuel - excessive personal debt, uncontrolled immigration, government profligacy - and is now blowing thick smoke

and goes on to say

Having promised us Rolls-Royce services, they have delivered Del Boy's three-wheeler. A golden legacy is ending up on the scrapheap

.

A tale of private funds in the 3rd World

Richard Brooks' article over at First Post is well worth a read.

He asks how Labour’s big business love-in has perverted a fund set up to help the poor saying that

as global food shortages devastate some of the world's poorest countries, a British government-owned international development fund set up 60 years ago this month stands accused of deserting them.

The CDC fund is 60 years old but has been ravaged by New Labour over the past 11 years

CDC soon established a reputation as an effective developer of businesses which, in awkward parts of the world and not spectacularly profitable, would have struggled to attract private investors.

But Labour has tried to expand the fund whilst not inserting more money by using private initiatives.In particular its chief executive requiring higher returns on projects resulting in what Oxfam said

"investments are in things like shopping malls... which cater to the wealthy elite or expatriate community. These have a neutral or even negative impact for the poor

By 2004,Hilary Benn had sold off the job of running the funding to private equity with predictable results.Record profits last year but invsetments in high return sectors such as power construction and mobile phones.Hardly helping the agricultural infrastructure.

Both parties need to show new ideas

An interesting article over at the First Post.

The attention is going to be on the Tories and what their policies should be and Philip Blond argues that

If anything, the local elections represent a wholesale repudiation of the policies of Blair and Brown rather than any endorsement of the New Conservatives

In fact he goes further to say that

what the voters were really rejecting was the legacy of the last 30 years and its governing ideology

It's true and both for Labour and the Conservatives,maybe its time to look for that clear blue water.As Philip points out all Cameron has promised is another version of new Labour.He has locked their spending plans into those of the Labour party,