Don’t listen to Blair... Labour can fly again

TWENTY years ago the No1 single across Britain was R Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly.

Which was apt as, thanks to the events of May 1, many of us felt the wind beneath our wings.

It was General Election night and we were treated to the most entertaining bloodbath since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Big beasts like David Mellor, Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind were skewered on a red spike, as a Labour landslide ended 18 years of Tory rule.

Large parts of this country had been deliberately allowed to fall off the map during that time.

In 1997, unemployment was twice what it had been under Labour in 1979, the number living in poverty had trebled and the richest 10% had became 60% richer while the poorest 10% were 17% poorer. One-in-five NHS hospitals had been shut, waiting lists were at a record high, there was a chronic shortage of nurses and doctors, and the crime rate had doubled.

State schools had outstanding repair bills of £3.5billion and nearly half of all 11-year-olds were failing national curriculum tests in maths and English.

So witnessing Labour win a Commons majority of 179 was, for me, and I’m guessing many of you who were around then, one of the most intoxicating nights of our lives.

How far away does that night seem as we face the latest General Election? And how nauseating to hear the man who led the party to that victory, and who materially benefited from it to an incredible degree, refuse to endorse the current leader, instead urging Labour voters to back whoever is the most pro-eu candidate, even if they are Tories?

Sadly, Tony Blair’s view is widely held among those in Labour who have never accepted Jeremy Corbyn’s election victories, and indeed believe the only person qualified to lead the party is one who adheres to their master’s New Labour doctrine.

Even though the last time Blair led Labour into a national election (the council ones of May 2007) they took only 27% of the vote, which is 2% less than where Corbyn has them in the polls today. I’ve voted Labour all my life and, ironically, the only time I’ve held my nose as I did so was in 2005, after Blair invaded Iraq with his tongue embedded in George Bush’s backside.

I know many Labour voters who don’t like Corbyn because they see him as a turn-off to the wider electorate. But that shouldn’t mean abandoning the party, as Blair and his cohorts want them to. Cohorts who through their own all-consuming vanity can’t accept their share of blame for Labour’s current standing in the polls.

Because voting at a General Election is more than just about a leader. It’s about what side you’re on. It’s about your values and whether you want to give up on them. It’s about defending the party that has given so much to this country, not least reversing many of those appalling Tory statistics listed above. Statistics which compare equally badly today with the last time Labour was in power.

This is not the moment to do a Blair and undermine the party because it is fighting for its life.

The Tories believe Labour’s internal divisions and the external threats to its heartland from the SNP, UKIP and the Lib Dems’ targeting of Remainers are so huge, a May landslide could kill the party.

If so, folks, good luck watching a shower of salivating right-wing hawks sell-off the NHS, crush the welfare state and decimate the life chances of kids in state schools, unopposed, as they bring about a hard Brexit that works only for big business.

And good luck thinking politics will ever make you believe you can fly again.

Voting’s not just about a leader. It’s about what side you’re on