News from Labour Matters

Still smiling through adversity

The Prime Minister yesterday called for calm in the wake of the Crewe by-election result, which he blamed on rising food and energy prices caused by the soaring cost of oil. The leader writers however were having none of it. This was their victory and they were going to enjoy it.

David Cameron set the tone, claiming that the result hailed “the end of New Labour,” which really is as pompous and wrong-headed as it sounds. The Daily Mail took a full day to consider this claim, but even it couldn’t quite bring itself to be quite so sure, deciding instead to simply ask the question “is this the end of New Labour?” The Sun likened the result to a football match between the reds and the blues (which continued the theme started by Labour itself in Crewe), declaring it was 1-0 to the blues. It’s weightier bedfellow The Times claimed that Labour MPs were in open revolt and want wanted Gordon Brown “to quit now.”

The hyperbole didn’t end with the traditionally hostile press though. The Guardian jumped on the bandwagon claiming that Gordon Brown “is losing the confidence of his cabinet as an increasing number of ministers voice the fear that Labour cannot win the general election under the prime minister’s leadership.” Quite where they got this impression remains a mystery – the story being attributed to anonymous “authoritative sources.”

Cooler heads prevail at the Mirror however. Having stood alone in continuing to support Labour during the by-election campaign, they agreed with the Prime Minister that it was the international economic crisis which gave the Conservatives victory.

Despite calling the defeat “Crushing, humiliating, a merciless thumping,” the by-election gave Gordon Brown two years “to shape up, prove his mettle, project a vision to improve the lives and fulfill the aspirations of British people.”

Not being part of the anti-Labour coalition, it was also able to offer a hitherto unwritten truth:
“Labour’s ill-fated Crewe campaign masked Cameron’s own negativity. Tories focused on 10p tax without offering an alternative, urging voters to ’send a message to Gordon Brown’. Take it from me that message was heard loud and clear,” wrote Mirror man Kevin Maguire.

“A by-election tactic, however, deserves to backfire in a General Election when a vote isn’t a protest but a vote for a Government,” he concluded.

As he sat in a BBC TV studio waiting for the result be become known early Friday morning, Labour MP Chris Bryant repeated called for the press to make the by-election the point when they start to scrutinise the Conservatives more seriously. That call looks likely to fall on deaf ears as the media continues to do all it can to ensure that the Conservatives form the next government.

Gordon Brown meanwhile continued the business of running the country. It was all smiles as he met with the Dalai Lama for private talks about Tibet and Chinese relations.

The Prime Minister will be well aware that the Crewe by-election result was less of a breakthrough for the Tories than the Mid-Staffordshire by-election Labour won in the 1990. Back then, interest rates were at an all time high and the Poll Tax galvanising opposition to the unpopular Conservative government. The press hailed it as the beginning of the end for the Tories, but two years later not only were the Conservatives returned to power, but Labour’s victor in Mid-Staffordshire, Sylvia Heal, lost her seat.

Gordon Brown is also aware that he remains a heavyweight when it comes to the economy, having steered the country to the longest sustained period of economic growth, low interest rates, low unemployment, and until recently, low inflation. Despite current economic difficulties, not of his making, his record is impossible to match by his opposite number.

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