Gordon must not go

Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you how vehemently opposed I was to Gordon Brown becoming Labour Party leader. It wasn’t because I didn’t rate or like Brown. I rate him extremely highly. He’s the one you’d always want on your team. He’s the one you’d always ask for advice. He’s the one whose counsel you would treasure. It’s just that I never thought of him as a leader. A leader is someone you’ll trust and follow even if your own instincts say something else. A leader is a communicator. A leader is someone who inspires. Gordon isn’t that sort of leader.

But he is the leader that we’ve got. It’s far too late to regret our mistakes. Sheerman, Clarke and Pope need to accept that. We must rally around Gordon and fight to win. Because Labour can win. No matter how poor a leader Gordon is, he’s still a gigantic political figure who gave sterling service as chancellor. And he’s surrounded by cabinet colleagues who bar two or three would all be capable of stepping up and leading the Labour Party and the country. Contrast this with what the Conservatives have. Cameron is it. He’s the best they’ve got. He’s all they’ve got. Who have the Tories got to replace Cameron? The boy George? I hardly think so. William Hague is a possibility, probably the only possibility.

And how popular are the Tories under Cameron? The simple answer is that they aren’t. They might be leading in the polls, but by nowhere near enough. People aren’t making a positive choice in favour of the Conservatives. They’ve lost faith and turned away from the Labour Party.

Labour can still win the general election. But only if we present a clear vision for the future. It’s not enough simply to point to our record or what people would lose under the Tories. We need to offer them something more.