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Labour Party Conference 2002
by James Naughtie
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James Naughtie reports from Blackpool on a defining moment in the history of the Labour party.
Day 1:
Jim arrives in Blackpool
This is the most intriguing Labour conference since Tony Blair became leader. The sinews of the party are stretching again. And yet, in sensing the unease here about aspects of social and economic policy - particularly the private finance initiative - and, above all, on Iraq, you also realise how much this party has changed.
Gordon Brown, on the programme on Monday, had no qualms at all about a possible defeat on PFI. The government had a long-term policy; the critics were short-termists. It was as simple as that. Tony Blair will take the same line on Iraq when he speaks. He will try to persuade and cajole, but in the end his course is set. When the euro comes along the pattern will be repeated.
So what kind of party is this now? I can remember long nights in Blackpool many moons ago when fisticuffs in the Imperial Hotel foyer were expected several times a night, and when a tide of bitterness swamped fringe meetings and even the conference floor. When Labour was going through its eighties agonies, this was a passionate and unruly outfit. Now, even in the midst of these deep arguments which may point to much trouble ahead, you see a party that is much more organised in its dissent. This isn't a matter of control-freakery from the top (although that urge is still there), but is a result of the passage of time and the onset of power. This party is now an establishment.
Talking in that hotel foyer, scene of some of the more dramatic nights in party politics through the last generation, was to find Cabinet ministers who brushed aside a possible defeat on PFI without a flicker of concern. They think of their government and this party as a juggernaut. The Blair speech on Tuesday afternoon will put this to the test. He is going to face many, many sceptics who, if he abandons UN diplomacy at some point in the future to go to war with the Americans, will turn on him with passion. How he confronts that spirit will be the most important story of this week.
The signs are that Blair will not face outright rebellion at this conference, but it may be the point at which we first see the shape of the ideological arguments that will give the latter end of the Blair era its character.
Day 2: reflections on the leader's speech
Day 3: Bill Clinton brings a touch of glamour to Blackpool
LINKS
- from 91热爆 News Online
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James Naughtie hard at work in the Outside Broadcast vehicle |
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