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UK: Decline of Labour Party

Abdul Ruff - 5/12/2008

US-led terror war in Islamic world seems to be taking its political toll in several Western countries, Britain inclusive, and the unfavorable political climate for the ruling Labor party in UK only reinforces that fact. In the 2008 April local elections Labor Party suffered their worst results in 40 years finishing in third place with a projected 24% share of the national vote. The New Labor era that started 1997 with Tony Blair’s arrival as UK premier ended miserably with Blair himself opting out of 10 Downing Street on account of corruption scandals and failed terror war. This led to replacement of Blair by James Gordon Brown last year ostensibly to gear the party to the general poll 2010. However, the fortunes have been disappointing in the recent poll. The Conservatives, the once dominant party of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill, were in buoyant mood after more than a decade in the political wilderness. They scored victories in the north of England where they have struggled and in Labour heartlands in Wales .

Labor Party suffered a net loss of 331 seats in local elections in England and Wales on 1 May. The Conservatives grabbed 44 per cent of the vote, with the Liberal Democrats winning 25 per cent, pushing the Labor Party to the third position to its worst share since comparable records began in 1973. Labour had lost 331 councilors and the Conservatives had gained 252. Anything more than 200 losses for Labour would be a very bad result. "It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour," Brown told reporters. "My job is to listen and to lead and that is what I will do." The ruling Labor lost as many as 400 council seats, mostly to Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Labour lost Reading council, its last remaining stronghold in the wealthy southeast of England . Britain ’s Labour Party lost control of London , forcing Prime Minister Brown to rethink his strategy to avoid losing the next national poll.


Conservative Boris Johnson, a journalist-turned-lawmaker prone to gaffes, wrested the prized post of London mayor from Labor's maverick Ken Livingstone, who has run the sprawling metropolis of some 7.5 million people since 2000. Johnson thinks his victory represented a turning point for the party which has been in opposition since Blair swept to power in 1997. In the process the British National Party (BNP) has also made a rare inroad in politics. For the past 10 years there have been predictions that the B N P could achieve a major electoral breakthrough. The gloomy economic news continued to roll in. British house prices suffered their biggest annual fall in 15 years in April. If the economic crisis continues through 2010, Brown's dead in the water," MORI pollster Robert Worcester told Reuters.Shadow Defense Secretary Liam Fox said Brown was "caught in a mental rut" by repeatedly claiming a record of economic stability at a time when families were being hit by rising prices. Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan on Brown’s claim about his “fight back” in the polls said: “if that was a fight-back, Gordon Brown is now in deeper water."

Brown acknowledged he had made mistakes over the decision to axe the 10p tax rate, spending "too little time" thinking about getting his message across to the public and allowing speculation about a possible early general election "go too long". Brown said will attempt to regain the political initiative during the next few weeks by demonstrating that his administration is not out of touch with ordinary voters' concerns. He said he would be "taking the fight to the Conservative Party" over the next few months, which he said was "slick" and "impressive in its salesmanship" but short on substance. "Of course we can recover from this position. First of all by sorting out the immediate problem with the economy and showing people we can come through as we have in the past very difficult economic times. "Secondly by showing people that we have the vision of the future that will carry this country optimistically in my view into its next phase."

Labor strategists are alarmed by the 20-point lead the Tories achieved over Labor in last week's town hall elections. If repeated in a general election, it would be enough to put David Cameron in power with a majority of more than 100. Brown had urged voters to judge him on his performance during 2008 as he warned it was going to be a "very big year" with major economic problems looming. So far, senior Labor lawmakers have rallied behind Prime Minister Brown, saying the former finance minister is the man to lead Britain through an economic downturn — but voters are unconvinced. Rising food and fuel costs, a fall in house prices in a country where two-thirds of the population own their own home, and a tax move by Brown that left five million of Britain ’s poorest households worse off have all soured the public mood.

The May 2008 election results were a major blow to Brown himself, who enjoyed a brief honeymoon with voters after he took over from Tony Blair, but has since been beset by economic turmoil, industrial unrest, administrative blunders and an image problem. People have sent a clear and strong message. Conceding defeat, Gordon Brown has said Labor "will recover" after its worst local election results in 40 years, and told the BBC he took the blame. However, despite growing dissent on the Labour back benches, Brown is confident his position is safe. Brown is preparing a package of initiatives aimed at the hard-pressed former Labour voters who either stayed at home last week or defected to the Tories. He admitted to some mistakes but said he had the "conviction and ideas" to take the country forward. In his first interview after the results were announced, Brown said that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills.

Most Labor lawmakers say that the whole cabinet should take responsibility for the "big beating" Labour took in the local elections and the party would be foolish to start casting around for a new leader Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who has been tipped as a future Labour leader, said Brown was "the right man to take us forward into the next general election" and urged the party to pull together. Labor’s deputy leader Harriet Harman said voters did not want Labor to look "inwards to ourselves" and said Brown was "the very best placed person" to lead the country through economic turbulence. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said Brown remains the right person to lead the party and the country. "He represents the qualities that we need. He thinks deeply, he cares passionately and his record shows that he takes the right decisions," said Benn and wants MPs work together to meet the challenges that lie ahead;

Domestic Policy

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is mounting a final fight-back after Labour crashed to its worst electoral drubbing for a generation at the hands of the Conservative Tories and criticism mostly form opposition wings intensified of his record as Prime Minister. Brown’s retreat was accompanied by hints of help in other hugely sensitive areas. They included: Giving more detail on how the Government plans to compensate up to 5.3million people hit by the scrapping of the 10p starting rate of tax; Keeping open the prospect of a freeze on fuel duty in the autumn to help motorists; Action to rein in the impact of food price rises with competition law reform aimed at tightening the rules on price fixing, etc.


Gordon Brown (1951) took office as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 27 June 2007, three days after becoming leader of the Labor Party. Prior to this he served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007, becoming the United Kingdom 's longest serving Chancellor in modern history since Nicholas Vansittart in the early 19th century and during his tenure UK economy made significant raises. "I will be judged on whether we take the right long-term choices for the British economy,” Brown said on BBC's Andrew Marr show in early January 2008. Worried about their own future, many Labour lawmakers are unhappy with Brown's decision last year to abolish a 10 percent tax rate band, which helped lower earners, to fund a cut in the main tax rate to 20 percent from 22 percent. Labour ministers and lawmakers said the government had failed to address Britons' fears of rising food and energy prices, higher mortgages and a possible housing market slump.

In policy matters, Brown takes advice from his predecessor Tony Blair on how to win the next general election despite pressuring him out of office. The crisis of confidence Blair suffered in April 2004 at the height of unpopularity over his decision to take Britain to war with Iraq and accused Brown of "rattling the keys above his head”. Cherie Blair told the Sun that brown was putting too much pressure on Tony to quit when Tony wasn't ready. She also revealed Blair would have stood down earlier than last year if Brown -- then running finances as Chancellor -- had been prepared to back him on key public service reforms. Brown had agreed to let Blair run as leader of the Labour party in a deal struck in 1994, on the proviso that Blair would eventually step aside. Brown had agreed to let Blair run as leader of the Labour party in a deal struck in 1994, on the proviso that Blair would eventually step aside. Blair would have stood down earlier than last year if Brown -- then running finances as Chancellor -- had been prepared to back him on key public service reforms. But Brown's impatience to take over as prime minister eventually soured their relationship. Brown must call an election by 2010 at the latest.

In the poll campaign Brown has proposed moving some traditional prime ministerial powers to the realm of Parliament, such as the power to declare war and approve appointments to senior positions. Brown wants Parliament to gain the right to ratify treaties and have more oversight into the intelligence services. He has also proposed moving some powers from Parliament to citizens, including the right to form "citizens' juries During his Labor leadership campaign, Brown proposed some policy initiatives, such as: Health sector reform; end to corruption and Constitutional reform: Brown has not stated whether he proposes a U.S.-style written constitution—something the UK has never had—or a looser bill of rights. He said in a speech when announcing his bid that he wants a “better constitution” that is “clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today”.

So far, Brown has pursued the same old policies of Blair but has suggested a new set of reform on the eve of polls. However, the Brown government was involved in controversy on the poll eve in April 2008 over the decision to scrap the 10p Income Tax Band and he was forced into making concessions. Many ministers reported to have voiced concerns about the abolition of the 10 percent rate last week. Brown remains defiant for now. He said that people who had lost out because of the band being scrapped were compensated by other allowances and people would eventually come round to the idea he was doing the right thing for the economy.

Brown also plans to set up an all-party convention to look at new powers for Parliament. Brown has said he will give Parliament the final say on whether British troops are sent into action in future; House planning restrictions are likely to be relaxed. Brown said he wants to release more land and ease access to ownership with shared equity schemes. He backed a proposal to build new eco-towns, up to 100,000 new homes in total.

Foreign policy: Europe-USA Unity

Blair’s admission of failure in terror war in Iraq meant that there would be a shift in Brown’s foreign policy. Thus Brown made his first overseas trip as Prime Minister not to Washington, but to Berlin Brown remains committed to the Iraq War, but said in a speech in June 2007 that he would "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in Iraq. There has been widespread speculation on the nature of the UK 's relationship with the United States under Brown's government.

Brown, though was expected to revise his foreign policy goals, set out a vision of foreign policy that embraced closer ties between Europe and America and also the emerging economies. "Now is an opportunity for a historic effort in cooperation, a new dawn in collaborative action between America and Europe," he said in a speech in Boston . Brown off late has been talking about Euro-USA unity to solve world problems and for collective life. Upon completing his three-day trip to USA in April, Gordon Brown has called for US-European dialogue for closer cooperation. The USA should take the lead in driving closer global cooperation, Brown said on 18 April in a speech that looked beyond the George W. Bush presidency


Brown's close aide Douglas Alexander was widely reported as both a policy shift and a message to the U.S.: "In the 21st century, strength should be measured on what we can build together…we need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist, active and not passive, and driven by core values, consistently applied, not special interests." However Downing Street's spokesman strongly denied the suggestion that Alexander was trying to distance Britain from U.S. foreign policy and show that Britain would not necessarily, in Tony Blair's words, stand "shoulder to shoulder" with George W. Bush over future military interventions. Brown personally clarified his position; "We will not allow people to separate us from the United States of America in dealing with the common challenges that we face around the world. Brown said that America 's leadership is, and will be, indispensable for UK and all efforts should be made to forge better ties. The speech seemed to look toward the new White House administration that will be ushered in when the Republican president leaves office in January 2009.

That new focus was evident when Brown discussed global issues with main candidates for the November presidential election -- Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain -- before Bush in Washington on April 17. Brown wants to see reform of the international institutions to reflect the new world order. His argument is that global problems need global solutions as shown by the credit crunch that has seized financial markets. Brown always said his interest in Israel and in the Jewish community has been long-standing… Brown said in a letter published March 17, 2008 that the United Kingdom will hold an inquiry into the Iraq war -- but not soon. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will skip the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, on August 8, 2008 in Beijing , Brown has been under intense pressure from human rights campaigners to send a message to China , concerning the 2008 Tibetan unrest.

James Brown, a Scot himself, is under growing pressure to support a referendum on Scottish independence after an unexpected volte-face by the Scottish Labor leader Wendy Alexander in which she supported nationalists' demands for a vote on Scotland 's independence. Gordon Brown is confident the Scottish people would reject independence from the United Kingdom if the question were put to them in a referendum.

Looking to Future?

In the background of increasingly failing terror wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (though USA claims “victories”), UK has witnessed what was expected before the polls. The trouble started since the days when former premier Tony Blair faced first criticism at home on his foreign policy and involvement of Labor politicians in corruption scandals that finally rocked the government forcing him to quit 10 Downing Street to let Brown assume his mettle. Brown policies the domestic as well as foreign being pursued by Gordon Brown establishment have not enhanced the image of Labour government. It seems even Tony’s departure to take up the job of Quartet chief to mediate peace in Middle East and Brown’s promises could not cut much ice with the English voters. Mere promises made by Brown alone were not enough to prevent his ruling Labour Party taking a pounding in local elections on May 1. The polls have served as a turning shock for the ruling Labor party, but the outcome is an embarrassment for Brown, who took over as prime minister from Tony Blair in June 2007. He now faces an uphill political battle against the Conservatives, if he is to remain in office following nationwide parliamentary elections that is due to be held early 2010.

The New Labor government led by Tony Blair came to power in 1997 promising a government “whiter than white” got derailed way though and Blair had to step down caught in corruption charges and failures in terror war in Iraq . With still two years to go before national elections, Labor recorded its worst results in 40 years in local polls. The question now is whether the rout was just mid-term blues from which Labour can recover before the next general election, due by mid-2010 at the latest, or whether the tide has finally turned towards the Conservatives.

Policies pursued by Brown do not seem to have made any significant impact on the poll verdict and, by all probability, there has been downward slide otherwise in the fortunes of Labor politics, both at home and abroad. The Conservative success in the elections would put the opposition party and their leader David Cameron under renewed pressure to prove they can lead the country after more than a decade in the wilderness.

The image US-Europe unity has come handy for Brown to hide the economic failures of his government. On the eve of UK local polls, Brown unsuccesfully tired to divert the domestic problems especially in economy. The US economic crisis has affected the world, including Britain . The English economy is no longer the former finance minister's trump card -- it is slowing and Britons are becoming increasingly worried about the prospect of a housing market crash as mortgage lending dries up in the face of a global credit crunch. Brown called in senior bank executives this week to discuss the drying up of funds in credit markets and a new plan to kick-start lending is expected next week. Brown is counting on the economy picking up next year in time for a national election that must take place by 2010.

The Treasury will now be under pressure to come up with new measures to restore Labor's credibility on the economy -- hard won over the past 10 years when Brown was finance minister but squandered in recent months after a mistake over tax rates.

Of course, Gordon Brown is now down and he has accepted the fate, but he is not out, not only because his colleagues still support him vehemently, but more than that he has revised many of his domestic policies. He seems to be clear about his destiny and confident about victory for Labor in 2010 polls.. (Not because, astrological predictions in December 2007 showed that Brown was heading for troubles ahead but from July 2008 for the next two years his life would be steady). From this it follows that unless Premier Gordon Brown takes firm steps to improve economy and change UK ’s part of terror war strategy, among other measures, the Labour situation in 1910 would not be entirely different form what is today