This should be THE crucial question for Labour as the party faces the possible prospect of civil war over leadership, direction and policy.

The left, and the unions, want to reach out to core Labour voters with policies such as more affordable housing and a windfall tax on energy companies.

The right wing of the party wants to continue on the Blairite path; pro-business, pro-choice, pro-reform, etc.

They are lampooned by Alan Simpson, the leftwing MP for Nottingham South, as: “A group of ex-ministers cruising the corridors and cafeteria of Parliament in search of stray MPs….a group of 20 or so ex-ministers (mostly junior ones) meeting to discuss how they could maintain the flame of the Blairite revolution.”

The dilemma for the leadership - and the grass roots - is trying to deconstruct how much of Tony Blair’s popularity was down to his policies (Iraq war, foundation hospitals, academies, PFI, etc) and how much was down to his personality (persuasive, charismatic, telegenic etc) - at least in the early years.

I suspect the latter has played more of a role than anyone - including Blair’s closest acolytes - would ever admit. Would the Blairite agenda really be a vote-winner in the hands of less persuasive politicians such as Stephen Byers (pictured below) or John Reid? Not necessarily. 

August 4, 2008 12:14pm in Gordon Brown, Labour, UK politics | Comment