Solidarity 112, 18 May 2007

No left candidate in Labour deputy leadership race

Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP for Barking and Dagenham, has cleared the threshold to stand in the election for Labour’s deputy leader, leading to renewed calls by some on the left to support his campaign. But is Cruddas in any meaningful sense a left candidate? He is not definitively more left-wing than, for instance, Peter Hain or even Hilary Benn. Yes, he has made critical noises about New Labour’s record, and even talked about the need to restore class to the centre of the Labour Party’s agenda. But noises are really all they are. His only concrete distinction is his support for the Trade...

New Labour cheats workers on leadership election

“THE King is dead. Long live the King!” Blair is dead — long live... er... Blair, Mark II. Brown is the Blair for today and tomorrow. Brown is the new, New Labour blue! Or try it in Stalinist-Orwellian vein. Political choice is most free when there is a complete absence of political choice — when the new leader is elected unopposed. The best New Labour leadership election is — no election! The leader is at his most democratic when he is crowned unopposed. Brown works best at freeing himself from Blair’s “image”, that of liar, spinner, manipulator, fraud, chicane-merchant, when he goes through...

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