New Labour is still the defining movement of British politics
“This our hope: not just to promise change but to achieve it. New Labour. New Britain.” In the 1997 parliamentary elections, these words won Tony Blair the largest victory of any prime minister since Clement Attlee. Yet “New Labour” was more than a catchy slogan; Blair aspired to a different type of political party. For twelve years, New Labour diverged from both Thatcherite Conservatives and socialist Old Labour, racking up victories from Inverness to Ipswich. Today, Blair is out of office and his successor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, finds himself at historic lows in the polls. Nevertheless, the government’s unpopularity masks New Labour’s broader political achievements. Conservative Leader David Cameron appears ready to contest the next election on themes more Blairite than Thatcherite, and Old Labour seems irrevocably muted. Thus, while New Labour may face increasing electoral challenges, it has already swung the commanding values of British politics in its favor.
A Different Kind of Labour
New Labour’s centrist origins help explain much of its distinctive success. The faction sprung out of Labour’s unexpected loss in the 1992 elections, often blamed on its image as a party of extreme socialists. In the aftermath, centrist forces waxed powerful, culminating with the election of Blair as party leader in 1994. Despite different motivations for joining, members of New Labour shared common ideological foundations. “New Labour wanted to abandon the word ‘Socialist,’” Boston College Professor James Cronin told the HPR, “but they also talked about the value of the community and the idea of a stakeholder society”; the party’s platform thus contrasted with the Tory “shareholder society” and the Old Left’s nationalizing past.
In government too, New Labour has offered a mélange of left and right. Labour entered power, Cronin explained, aware that “their job was to reform the public services.” New Labour nonetheless rejected their predecessors’ one-size-fits-all approach of privatization and instead focused on improving services. “Labour wanted middle-class folks to use public services, and to do that, you had to satisfy the demands of an increasingly sophisticated public,” Cronin continued. A similar desire to shape government for Middle England prompted a series of tax credits and increased responsiveness for social programs. These efforts appear to have paid off. As Ken Gude, Associate Director of the International Rights and Responsibilities Program at the Center for American Progress, explained in an interview with the HPR, “New Labour changed the debate in the U.K. The delivery of high quality public services, rather than their privatization, is the terrain on which the battle is now fought.”
Labour’s capture of the high terrain, however, soon cost the party considerable political ground. According to Gude, Labour was a victim of its own success. “The internal fights became more important than external fights, but internal fights are debilitating and corrosive for the long-term.” Iraq proved the coup de grâce. The initial invasion split the party and as conditions continued to deteriorate in Iraq, Labourites grew deafer to the falconer. In 2007, Blair left office nearly as unpopular as the premier he once replaced.
The New New Labour?
Gordon Brown has not escaped his predecessor’s dismal approval ratings, even as he continues New Labour policies. During the Blair years, Brown’s grave demeanor and personal rivalry with the Prime Minister prompted speculation that his leadership would be different. Events have not borne out Old Labour’s hopes. “Brown’s style may be closer to Old Labour, but in policy, there’s little difference between him and Blair,” Gude noted. Yet Brown faces a threat that Blair never did; the government must call an election by June 2010 and the Conservative Party now leads substantially in the polls. Brown, moreover, will not face the party of Thatcher. The Conservative leader, David Cameron, supports efforts to halt global warming and regulate the financial City, policies his predecessors would have rejected. The parallel is obvious. Gude observed, “There’s a lot of talk of Cameron doing for the Conservative party what Blair did for Labour. I do think this is a reflection of how New Labour has shifted the political terrain.” When New Labour was first coming to power, Peter Mandelson offered a famously provocative take on the events. Today, Britons would have to agree with him in saying, “We are all New Labourites now.”