Gordon Brown’s decision to step down from the leadership of the Labour party is the right decision at the right time, taken for all the right reasons.
The assessments, valedictories and criticisms of Gordon Brown’s time as prime minister are in the process of being written; in truth no accurate illustration can be provided until economic recovery is well and truly secured. However, my immediate judgement is that Brown’s record will be held in far greater esteem in years to come than the childishly spiteful bad losers of the Tory press would today allow an anxious nation to believe.
Nor will Brown’s detractors ever acknowledge that his tenure as chancellor was the most successful this country had known for decades – some economists claim centuries – and that his life in public service has been uncommonly successful.
Whilst others will make these assessments, it is now time for Labour members of parliament and for every member of the Labour party to now train their attention upon who should lead our party. The field has yet to emerge, but is rumoured to include both David and Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and more. All have quality, all have ability and all must surely want a vigorous and expansive leadership contest. (In the years to come, Gordon Brown will surely regret the absence of a leadership contest before becoming leader. The lack of any such contest became an unintentional millstone around his – and the government’s – neck.)
Both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are giants of the Labour movement. Their legacies are profound and will be lasting – but a new generation of Labour thinkers must now take the baton from the progenitors of new Labour and forge a new social democratic compact for our times. Above all else, for Labour to reform and repair, it is essential that the divisions associated with Brown and Blair are now exorcised from the party. Labour must move on with both speed and haste.
No sweetheart deals. No coronations. No backroom arrangements. We should lift every stone, have every argument and demonstrate both our ability and our ambition. This election has again shown that this is an overwhelmingly progressive country which needs and wants progressive government. That this reality has not delivered a Labour government is the chief conundrum that the party must now answer.
And at the end? At the end – in my view – the leader of the Labour party will be called Miliband…
The Labour Party needs a radical change in it’s election of a new leader. Instead of the obvious names being bandied about, I suggest The Rt. Hon. Frank Field MP. Frank commands tremendous respect throughout the UK. I believe that he is the person to galvanise the party, he would undoubtably prove an inspirational choice. Here in Birkenhead voters across the political spectrum vote for him.
Frank Field well thats should end any further chance of labour being elected.
The fact is the heart has been ripped out of labour, Blair and Brown hand picked people who were then Parachuted into seats, the Labour blood is a pale shade of blue at the moment. Browns love affair with Thatcehrism went turtle up, now labour has to look at getting a mass membership back up and running, sadly for me after 48 years I’ve had enough, I’ve retired.
But unless labour looks again at a party which remembers it’s history and why it was built, it’s going to take a long long time before you taste victory again
As we bow out from government it is now time to re group, discuss and plan. Labour has much to be proud of in our historic 13 years in power and let us not forget that. Like it or not it was New Labour that brought us to power and kept us there for so long, it made us electable.
Clearly as the only truly progressive party we must not be out of power for long but there is much thinking to do to plan our fightback and compromises may be needed on all sides within the Party as New Labour adapts and changes.
We can look back at our history and why Labour was built, with much respect, but the past will not sell to voters. It’s the future they are interested in.
I think that the Labour party should spend some serious, quality time listening to those MPs whose results bucked the national trend.
MPs such as Jamie Reed, Gisela Stuart, Sadiq Khan, John Mann etc.
These MPs obviously earned enough respect from their constituents to outweigh the unpopularity of the national government when it came to deciding how they should vote.
They have much to teach the rest of the PLP.