Dirty, Dirty Tactics

Perhaps a footballing analogy is in order. With regard to the situation the Labour Party finds itself in, of course. Cast your minds back to the 1973-74 season. It was when Leeds United won the old First Division title. Nobody doubted their ability, but everyone (outside of Leeds) hated them. 'Dirty, dirty Leeds'. Under Don Revie Leeds were noted for their gamesmanship, for their dirty tactics, for intimidating match officials to try and get decisions go their way. Basically, they weren't prepared to just rely on talent to get then what they wanted. Now, what has this got to do with politics? Well, back in the 1970s and 1980s, the Tories were like Leeds United - they were willing to use any and every dirty tactic open to them in order to win elections. Labour, by contrast, always seemed obsessed with its principles, even where these got in the way of winning elections. But then Labour re-styled itself 'New Labour' and its slick new management seemed to decide that image was everything and that the best way to beat the Tories was by playing as dirty as they did. The end result is that whilst they still hold power, everyone now hates them.

How can they rectify this situation? Well, they could do a lot worse than turning to Revie's great rival, Brian Clough, for inspiration. As well as being a staunch socialist, Cloughie was a great football manager who believed that success was not the result of luck, but rather the triumph of talent. He hated the kind of tactics employed by Leeds United, his title-winning teams (Derby County and Nottingham Forest) won fairly. He also believed that the key to being a good football manager was making out sure that you always had the right players in your team. You always had to be on the lookout for fresh new talent and always be prepared to drop old favourites when they faltered and bring in new talent to replace them. This ensures a constant influx of new ideas. Now, I'd venture that a lot of Labour's problems currently stem from the fact that Gordon Brown doesn't have the right players in his team.. He needs to ring the changes, get of those bloody 'New Labour' barristers and other middle class professionals. Bring in some new faces - people from different backgrounds. People more representative of the party and the public in general. People with new ideas. People who aren't obsessed with spin. People who have principles. People who have risen due to talent, not patronage or privilege. But hey, what do I know? I'm just some old socialist dinosaur who still gives a damn about things like integrity, fairness and liberty. The sort of things 'New Labour' seems to have forgotten about.