Move on, Tom

Was the Tom Watson MP, deputy leader of the Labour Party, who praised the achievements of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown( your report ,28 September)the same tom watson who engineered the resignation of Mr Blair in the autumn of 2006? In his defence, he may well have been anxious for the then prime minister to go and be replaced by his relatively successful Chancellor of the Exchequer. The judgement of history, that Mr Brown seemed to be a good custodian of the nation’s finances at the time, but ineffectual as a prime minister, will be difficult to argue against. Mr Watson’s judgment then was not sound. It is understandable that many in Labour will feel it is not sound now.

His energies ought now to be focused on giving some loyalty to his leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Many people had reservations about whether Tony Blair, as a youthful MP in the 1990s, would be able to unite the party. Mr Corbyn clearly has a different perspective about his party’s way forward; but his recent mandate, achieved in the face of opposition from most of the Labour establishment, deserves some respect. Even with the hostility he has encountered over the last year, Labour has achieved some good victories outside Scotland – in London, Wales and in successive by-elections.

It will be interesting to see what it can achieve if most of its MPS can swallow their pride and give their leader some respect. Holding a government to account, as well as preparing a prospectus for government, is the primary role of an opposition. Mr Watson might help achieve that if he looks to the future and not the past.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes The evident leftward move in the membership of the Labour Party shows how an influx of determined voters can decide en masse to infiltrate a political grouping to change its direction.

So far, in Scotland, we have not seen the effect that this could have. However, it would be an interesting development if the large number of Scots who are quite happy to have a party which changes its position on policy at a whim, in order to try to bring in more support, were to be targeted in the same way. The SNP has done this with both the EU and Nato.

I am sure that there must be many Scots who would like to have a strong voice in Scottish and UK affairs, but who do not wish to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Were such people to infiltrate the SNP and end its addiction to “independence” at any cost in favour of a more consensual approach to majority views to remain in the UK, then Scottish and British politics could be in for a very much more settled and prosperous future.

ANDREW HN GRAY Craiglea Drive, Edinburgh The latest polls suggest close to half of all Labour voters believe Gordon Brown may have been the last ever Labour prime minister and the party will never win another election. Under Jeremy Corbyn and his co-believers and their successors they will become a permanent and irrelevant protest movement on the fringes of mainstream politics, holding rallies and meetings and attacking those who disagree and putting forward more and more outlandish and fantastical policies.

The real pity is that this lurch to the far left will leave us with a one-party state – at UK and Scotland levels – and around half of the UK’S moderate electorate, 10 to 12 million people, without a voice.

They may not see it as they bask in Labour’s discomfort, but in the long run the Tories and Nationalists will also suffer. No effective opposition will mean the worst and extreme elements in these parties can further entrench themselves in positions of unhealthy and untrammelled political power.

ALEXANDER MCKAY New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh