Gordon Brown must not go V2

The second post on this new blog said Gordon must not go.

This evening I’m on BBC Radio 5’s Matthew Bannister show. To give you a heads up on where I’ll be coming from I’ve just added my name to this letter from LabourList:

We are dismayed that Labour’s positive start to the New Year has been overshadowed after only two days by veteran Labour MPs who should know better. As candidates and activists, we know that nothing turns the public off more than introverted infighting in the corridors of Westminster and we hope that this distraction fizzles out as quickly as it started. Whether Labour wins or loses the next election will rest on whether we have the right answers for the challenges of the next decade and the right approach to politics.

This new approach has to recognise that there can be no return to the old style of politics after the next election. The public, rightly, have lost the last vestiges of faith in the political class after the expenses scandal, and the only way we can win it back is if the Labour Party tries to do things differently from the usual political cribsheet. We must not resort to negative attacks on the basis of class war. What matters is not the school someone went to, but whether they can understand the hopes and needs of all our people and are able to govern in the greater interests of our nation. It means that Labour must be willing to accept not everything it has done in government has been perfect, but that it’s ready to learn from its mistakes. And it means that we must go to polls on the boldest, most progressive platform we can muster. This is not a time for triangulation or cheap dividing lines. It’s a time for clarity of vision and ambition.

As the grassroots of the Labour Party we don’t doubt that the next four months will be difficult, but part of being a progressive is to maintain hope that nothing is insurmountable. We believe that an authentically Labour manifesto combined with our significant achievements in government and our passion for organising could bring about a historic fourth term. We call on Labour’s leadership in parliament, in government and in Downing Street to focus on bringing about a better future for the people of Britain.

Stuart Bruce