Labour needs to grasp the opportunity it has been given to renew. The electorate did not wholly reject the party as it did the Tories in 1997, and the Liberal Democrats have now conceded any pretence to progressive politics by entering a coalition of the centre right.
Therefore, the Labour leadership election needs to invigorate a debate on the centre left about how the progressive agenda, in particular themed around social justice and localism can unlock the political stalemate and set out a new electable government of the centre left.
The ideas and policy will matter as much as the charisma of a leader who gets it. That is the vacuum of power and personality that has been left by the New Labour era. Neither Nick Clegg or David Cameron get it, and they appear to be fighting over yesterday's agenda, seeking to right the wrongs of New Labour rather than defining a new politics as they much talk about.
The real political debate is not some coalition of the mediocre or mutually agreeable, but a strident renewed progressive centre left reaffirmed in the values that were such an embodiment of the 1997 tide which need to be recast and reflect modern Britain today.
What do you think?
Therefore, the Labour leadership election needs to invigorate a debate on the centre left about how the progressive agenda, in particular themed around social justice and localism can unlock the political stalemate and set out a new electable government of the centre left.
The ideas and policy will matter as much as the charisma of a leader who gets it. That is the vacuum of power and personality that has been left by the New Labour era. Neither Nick Clegg or David Cameron get it, and they appear to be fighting over yesterday's agenda, seeking to right the wrongs of New Labour rather than defining a new politics as they much talk about.
The real political debate is not some coalition of the mediocre or mutually agreeable, but a strident renewed progressive centre left reaffirmed in the values that were such an embodiment of the 1997 tide which need to be recast and reflect modern Britain today.
What do you think?
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