This is not a history lesson, more an observation.
As we approach the 2015 General Election in the UK I find myself in a quandary. It seems like that either Conservatives or Labour will for the next UK Government but it is highly unlikely this will be a majority Government. It may be a minority Government or another coalition. That got your attention!
I think the non-major parties will do extremely well, especially SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru and even UKIP. I think LibDems will get hammered. Conservatives and Labour support will be substantially down and I believe Labour will be trounced in Scotland. We must add a very big caveat and not fall back down a very big hole we just got out of. Polls show Labour in Scotland virtually wiped out. Remember the referendum, many polls especially internal polls had YES uncatchable – and look what happened. The polls were not wrong – we were in believing them.
Many people have given up on Labour ever since it became New Labour and Tony Blair took the country into Iraq and Afghanistan. But it was more than that. The Blair years introduced and crystalised the concepts of ‘spin’, ‘box ticking’ and ‘political correctness’. I believe the Blair years destroyed what little society we had left.
But am I being fair? was it all Blair, or should I say Blair/Brown because the one was as bad as the other? I wonder. I am beginning to think that the problem is more Labour than just Blair/Brown. I am not criticising all Labour members and supporters because I believe they have at their heart social values that are the bedrock of our society. It is no coincidence that Glasgow and the West of Scotland was very much Labour/Socialism/Trade Unionism heartland. Caring for each other, looking out for each other and respecting our neighbours is part of the Scottish psyche.
But what about our pre-Blair Labour leaders? How well did they fair?
Let’s start with Clement Attlee. Now, Clement Attlee is credited with the introduction of the NHS, the Big Society, nationalising our utilities and the Welfare State predicated on National Insurance. Well, we can’t argue with that. But it was on his watch that we saw the exit of India and Palestine. Did they get a clean break or did we leave them ‘high and dry’ – in the case of Palestine – one wonders. They seem to have been in a terrible state ever since. Oh, and there was also the small matter of the Cold War. Of course, in the background the foundations of the European Economic Community were being laid.
Now I am not saying Attlee was to blame for all this but consider this. Ahead of the 1945 General Election, Attlee would have set out his election manifesto. This was broadly laid out in the Beveridge Report from 1942. Britain had been in the grip of austerity under the Tories for years before the war. Labour promised a new world, a Welfare State, State Control of our vital infrastructure and a National Health Service. During the war years Attlee was Churchill’s deputy. In the background, Attlee and the Labour Party were wooing the British people. Churchill was fighting for the survival of our western culture. When the war ended, Churchill wanted to carry on with the coalition until the country was back on its feet. Attlee and the Labour Party were having none of it. They had the support of the people, the Mirror (at that time the biggest circulation in the UK) and the troops returning home. Labour promised a fresh new world – was it any wonder that an election was called before the dust of WW2 had settled and Labour romped home.
Some see this as a victory for Socialism. I see this as a victory for short sightedness. Labour wooed, flirted and romanced the public with promises of a new world. Does this sound familiar?
So what’s wrong with all that? Well, here’s the thing.
All the really good things that Labour promised could have been delivered a little later. But Labour seized the moment, saw the main chance for power and snatched it with both hands. We are still paying the price to this day.
So what could have happened. Actually, Churchill’s coalition was promising much the same as Labour. But there were some huge differences. Everyone in the world knows dozens of things that Churchill did during the war – not all good – but strategically designed for victory. What did Attlee do? No, I don’t know either.
But, here’s the thing. By the time of the General Election the war in the far east was still raging. The war in Europe was over. Britain was the only Allied country not to be subjugated by Germany. Britain was in a hugely advantageous position to write the blueprint for Europe. The main ‘fixer’ during the war, pulling Stalin on to the Allies side, bringing the US into the war and taking his role as the allies principle strategist – Churchill. In 1944 before VE day Churchill had already foreseen the Cold War and was negotiating with Stalin. Churchill had already seen the imperative to forge a new Europe, one that would prevent Germany from going for ‘best out of 3’.
Of course, to do all that, Churchill had to be the Prime Minister. Do you see Ed Miliband over in the EU at present, negotiating a new deal?? Attlee could only see power – he could not see the danger of not finishing the job – and he could not finish the job himself because he had neither the credibility or skill set – that was Churchill’s gift. Attlee must have known that. He was a stalking horse; biding his time to snatch power, without giving a second though as to whether the time was right.
The world found itself in the grip of the Cold War.
In 1951 the European Economic Community or Common Market as we called it, was formed. But there was one thing missing – BRITAIN. We remained outside until 1973 and when we were allowed in – it was on Europe’s terms; or as De Gaulle liked to put it to us, ‘Non, non, non’.
Had Clement Attlee had a bit more strategic sense and a little less ambition he would have seen the sense in letting Churchill loose in Europe. The giant of strategy would have ensured that Britain, (who may not have won the war in Europe but at least held the lines until the entire might of the allies marched to victory), was positioned at the heart of Europe. Let’s remind ourselves who is sitting at the heart of the EU – yes, GERMANY. If it was not for Britain, our EU cousins would all be speaking German – well, at least the ones that were left!
Take a bow, Labour and Clement Attlee, your hunger for power brought about the Cold War and changed the shape of Europe, probably forever. One thing is for certain, Britain will NEVER sit at the heart of Europe.
And then there was Harold Wilson. I think Harold Wilson was a pretty good Prime Minister. He created the Open University, he fathered the Prices and Incomes Policy and the Social Contract bringing some collective responsibility with the Trade Unions. He gave the UK their first ever UK wide referendum – on continued membership of the Common Market. But, he did manage to devalue the pound. In his now famed, ‘pound in your pocket’ speech he wiped 14% off the value of the pound on foreign markets AT A STROKE!
Britain, clearly had lost it’s way. I think it all went wrong back in 1945 when Attlee snatched the reigns to deliver social reform but forgot about securing Britain’s place in Europe and the world.
And then there was Jim, Sonny Jim Callaghan. Let’s see how Jim fair’d. Well after the Scotland Act of ’78 he enacted the referendum in Scotland for a Scottish Assembly. But he was a crafty old bugger. He stipulated that Scots required 40% of the electorate. In the event they got 52% with a 64% turnout – but that represented 33% of the electorate. Put it another way. With this criteria the UK has NEVER elected a Government – the current Conservative Government has 17% of the people. Labour trickery or treachery is everywhere. Of course the referendum question was very straightforward, Do you want the provisions of the Scotland Act 1978 to be put into effect?. And guess what? the regions that rejected the ’79 referendum were pretty much the same as in 2014??
So what other gift did Jim bestow on the country? Well, between himself and Harold Wilson they had all but bankrupted the country and had to go to the IMF for a massive bail out to save the pound. Needless to say, he plunged the country into the ‘WINTER OF DISCONTENT’ that left the door wide open for our ‘Maggie Thatcher’. Cheers Jim. But before he was booted out he had one final piece of typical Labour magic. In 1975 Scottish oil began flowing ashore. Like a child he made deals with the oil magnate that netted him a few pence on the barrel. This was still a huge amount of money because there was so much oil. Despite securing such a paltry return his biggest failure was the oil fund – saving for a rainy day? With Sunny Jim, every day was a rainy day and Labour Jim blew Scotland’s once in a lifetime legacy. NO OIL FUND. Cheers Mate!
So, in conclusion. We could write volumes on Blair and Brown and the damage that New labour has down to the country. A once proud Empire, all right a large Empire built on the toil and suffering and annihilation of lesser military countries, reduced to a little puppy dog at the side of the US; sometimes getting crumbs off the table or getting a boot up the backside depending on circumstances. This was the British legacy of Blair and Brown.
But on reflection, it was not so much Blair and Brown, as Labour. Blair and Brown were inevitable by-products of the Labour Machine. The same machine that gave us the lack of insight of Attlee, the devaluation of our economy under Wilson and the absolute mess bestowed on us by Jim Callaghan.
As we approach the General Election of 2015 we should reflect on the fact that Labour has made every conceivable promise in their desperation for power at any cost. But once in power they demonstrate an inveterate commercial and social stupidity that results in Britain losing something valuable like a country, destroying the economy, getting us into wars and putting in place or failing to put in place things that will guarantee that the damage they did in office is nothing compared to the legacy they leave behind. Perhaps this gives a little more insight into the global crisis of the last Government. This was not unique to Labour, Labour have been making blunders of this magnitude since their inception – unless we stop them at the ballot box.
I have a good feeling that, fresh from the treachery of Labour in Scotland in 2014, Scotland will lead the charge and boot the current Labour out for good.
With the current Labour shambles well and truly dispatched, perhaps our Labour for Independence colleagues can rescue socialism from the ashes and sit again alongside the other main parties with dignity.