Noticeable, with people talking about Labour splits, party realignment and all that kind of thing (things that are always about to happen but rarely do) it was helpful to be reminded that party politics -- particularly Labour party politics -- and different politicians place within it is never has straightfoward as you think.
"in 1988 when a statement in a party document on Aims and Values (largely drawn up by Hattersley but issued in both names), arguing that, other than in certain areas such as health, education and social services, 'the operation of demand and supply and the price mechanism is a generally satisfactory means of determining provision and consumption,' had to be modified to meet the objections of people like John Smith. A pillar of the old Right of the Party, a man still rooted in its traditions, Smith didn't feel that Labour had to start all over again. Kinnock became increasingly irritated with people who resisted the Party's modernisation, whether they came from the Right or the Left".
Mckibben also notes that New Labour was formed, in large part, from the soft-left of the party, not from its traditional right, who remained outside the project.
I'd also forgotten that Peter Mandelson was Kinnock's man before he was Blair's;
"Kinnock was very dependent on Peter Mandelson: when Mandelson resigned as director of communications in order to stand for Hartlepool Kinnock 'almost literally' hopped with rage. He thought Mandelson 'irreplaceable'; without him Walworth Road would 'collapse'"
posted by Matthew @ 6/25/2003 01:12:00 PM
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