Knock, knock, knocking on Labour's door...

David Blunkett has joined the bevy of myopic Labour politicians convinced that the party will rise like some sort of sloppy phoenix from the ashes of Gordon Brown's maladroit leadership skills. Speaking on a Radio 5 interview, he said that even though they had reached 'rock bottom', Labour still stands some chance of redeeming itself, and that, even if the Prime Minister loses next week's vote on new anti-terrorism powers, it wouldn't serve as a 'knock-out blow' - just 'another knock'. But how many knocks will it take before somebody opens the door?

It must be difficult being a Labour politician at the moment. Indeed, many of them must have the hangdog feeling that they've stolen something and managed to get away with it playing on their consciences. According to recent opinion poll results, for example, the Conservatives now stand at 14 per cent ahead of Labour - enough to give a Parliamentary majority of 102 if duplicated in a General Election. So how long can Labour continue to try and convince us that this losing streak is all part of the master plan?

From an objective point of view, it's hard to argue that the public's faith in Labour will be restored any time soon, regardless of whether or not Gordon Brown stands down as leader. The more that they argue amongst themselves, the more Labour MPs present an image of discord and discontent within their party, and the more they present an image of being ill-organised. And if they can't look after their own organisation, how can we expect them to manage the country?

Blunkett's assurances that everything will work out fine allows us to place him in the new school-of-thought in international politics, particularly in the UK and the US, that is essentially based on some form of delusion. It seems that most politicians from Tony Blair to Hillary Clinton to Gordon Brown, all feel that they are on some sort of mission and that fate will lead them to success. They believe that presenting themselves as having an unyielding obstinacy will project an image of strength. Unfortunately, as we have seen, this is not always the case.

Blunkett's 'knock' comments demonstrate that a sly intransigence is at the heart of UK politics at the moment, which means that politicians would rather accept backlash after backlash instead of admitting to their mistakes. As we've seen with Brown nobody can effectively take his power until he's decided that his time's up. Which means that, though the iceberg has cracked, the whole country is being forced to wait for it to break up completely.

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 3 Jun 2008 10:53 AM. Permalink