Tonight:
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This is Labour's “fightback” conference: on present showing, it will be an uphill struggle.
One poll today shows the Tories leading on 38 per cent, with Labour and the Lib-Dems neck and neck on 23 per cent. Meanwhile, those surveyed suggested Labour would do better with almost anyone except Gordon Brown as leader. It is asking a lot of any conference to close that sort of gap, or begin to do so. But there are some obvious things the party can do to reverse the impression that, as the Chancellor suggested, Labour has lost the will to live.
To begin with, ministers could stop blaming each other for the downbeat mood and talk instead as if they genuinely believed in victory. They appear to have forgotten just how dispiriting opposition is.
There must also, of course, be an inspirational speech from the Prime Minister tomorrow charting what a fourth Labour term could offer. He will no doubt focus on his preferred role as international statesman and saviour of the world economy. He can take due credit for his handling of the recession at home but he also needs to suggest where we go from here, in reducing the deficit and restoring the lost virtue of prudence to public finances.
This may go down badly with public sector unions but it is not just them he is addressing. If this conference is to succeed it needs to face two ways: to consolidate the core vote and engage with the disaffected middle classes. The genius of Tony Blair was he managed both; Mr Brown has yet to show that he can reach out to southern England especially. And while Mr Brown is obliged to attack the Tories, he would do better to do so on the basis of the Cameron team's inexperience rather than their background. Experience is the one quality he really does possess — he must make the most of it. In an economic crisis, many people are willing to hold on to nurse.
Still, few would put money on Mr Brown winning the election. He knows it, we know it — but he needs to look and sound as if he sees himself as a winner. The alternative is the possibility of a defeat so catastrophic that it puts Labour out of power for a decade or more.
Angela pulls it off
The election victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confounded pollsters who assured us that voters were minded to re-elect a coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.
Instead, Europe's major industrial nation will almost certainly be led by a centre-right coalition of Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats with the Free Democrats. It is a victory for a woman who has made a virtue of being rather dull; in the present climate, she chimed with voters' mood. Meanwhile, for the opposition Social Democrats, taking just 23 per cent of the vote was their worst result in decades.
Mrs Merkel now has an opportunity for economic reform, although safeguarding jobs will remain a priority. For Britain it is good news that Germany's recovery is in safe hands. We might also reflect that we would be lucky to have its problems: a heavy dependence on exports from its strong manufacturing base. Germany under Mrs Merkel will be a strong, sane partner in Europe.
Hers is a welcome victory for unsensational politics.
Crossrail on track
Transport secretary Lord Adonis's message to the Labour conference on Crossrail— that the Heathrow to Stratford rail link will go ahead despite the financial squeeze — is welcome news. It should also serve as a warning to the other parties: last week Liberal-Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable hinted that his party might dump Crossrail, while there have been whispers that a Conservative government might be tempted to save some of the £5 billion central government will contribute. This would be short-sighted not just for London but also for the whole nation's economy. Lord Adonis is right: Crossrail is an investment Britain cannot afford not to make.
Reader views (2)
Mr Brown is obliged to attack the Tories, he would do better to do so on the basis of the Cameron team's inexperience rather than their background. Experience is the one quality he really does possess —
Gordon Brown's own cabinet is inexperience. As for Gordon Brown himself, you might regard it as experience, most people would consider it a nightmare.
- Properganda, paris, 28/09/2009 17:32
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Why! They should just hang their heads in shame and crawl back under their stone.
- Dee Jay, Fleet Hampshire, 28/09/2009 13:31
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