Britain: Don't let the Tories in... and kick them out of Labour

During the next four weeks we can expect to be subjected to the least inspiring general election campaign for over a century, with polling day expected to be in early May. The rabid reaction spewing forth from Tory campaign posters and candidates is a timely reminder of why none of us wants them back. They propose to create a national border police to keep out the hordes of illegal immigrants they spuriously claim are trying to enter the country. They turn their venom on travellers, and hint at a new attack on abortion legislation. Their ignominiously dismissed deputy chairman, Howard Flight, spilled the beans on the devastating programme of cuts they would implement if Michael Howard got his hands on the keys to Number Ten.

The Tory threat should have been eliminated by eight years of Labour government introducing measures in the interests of ordinary working people. Instead Blair and Co.’s slavish support for the City bankers at home – privatising, cutting jobs and pensions – combined with their servility before US imperialism and its adventure in Iraq, have chronically undermined Labour’s support and allowed the Tories room to recover.

Nevertheless, Labour will probably win the election in spite of Blair, and in spite of the Labour leadership’s worship for the market economy. On the morning after there will be no street parties. This election result will be greeted with the least enthusiasm of any Labour victory in history. Given the experience of the last eight years how could it be different? The prospect of more of the same is hardly an edifying one. 100,000 civil service jobs are to be axed. The attack on public sector pensions has only been postponed. It is little succour to know that the situation would be even worse if the Tories won.

Is there an alternative to voting Labour? With all due Respect to George Galloway and friends, their new party will go the same way as all their many predecessors, quietly into the night. In the recent past the Scottish Socialist Party has garnered some electoral support, however their own internal crisis suggests their blend of nationalism and reformism will not gain further ground. In fact, polls suggest they will face wipe-out in two years. Meanwhile the nationalists in both Scotland and Wales may bandy around a few left phrases, but beneath their national flags lurk pro-capitalist policies.

Challenge

As for the Liberals their radical side always shines more brightly the more distant they stand from any serious challenge for office. They talk about renationalising the railways, yet where they lead councils they are enthusiastic supporters of PFI privatisation. Their fate is to be crushed between the two main parties. To win support in working class areas they must lose support in Tory strongholds and vice versa. They are not so much a third force in British politics as a fifth wheel.

With no real alternative available many workers will go to the polling booths to put a cross next to Labour whilst holding their noses. The only real alternative before them is to stay at home. No doubt that is the way in which many will choose to protest. It is hard to blame them. However the low turnout should still not be enough to allow the Tories back in.

They will make a certain recovery (inevitable given the historic low of their last result, their worst election since 1832), regaining many of those who supported UKIP in the last European elections, by moving further to the right themselves. UKIP – split over the ego of Robert Kilroy-Silk – will not repeat their earlier success. Nevertheless the growth of such groups is a symptom of an important development which may be hidden beneath the headline results of an election, the growing class polarisation of British society.

The media claim low participation in elections is a sign of apathy – people in general, and young people in particular, are not interested in politics. Utter nonsense! Look at the millions who have demonstrated against the war. It is not politics that fails to inspire but careerist politicians, the stench of corruption seeping from the corridors of power and the deceit and deception of government ministers. Many people feel “they are all the same”, like the betrayed farmyard in Orwell’s Animal Farm one looks from government bench to opposition MPs and cannot see the difference.

A re-elected Blair will imagine he has a mandate to continue to privatise and to attack public sector pensions. The Blairites will claim the low turnout is only a reflection of “voter contentment”. They will be in for a shock.

A third term for Labour will be very different to the last eight years. Until now, a boom based on credit and speculation has served to mask the continued decline of British capitalism. Property prices continue to defy gravity, but they cannot avoid the laws of physics forever. They are now like the coyote in the Road Runner cartoon who runs over the edge of a cliff, but does not realise immediately that there is nothing beneath his feet. When he looks down, however, he plummets at great speed.

The British trade unions have begun to change. The massive vote to fight the attacks on pensions reflects the growing anger of workers across the country. As a result of the war in Iraq Blair and Co. are widely seen as a pack of liars who cannot be trusted. This is not the basis for a renewal of a honeymoon!

Economically, politically and industrially a new Labour government will face an entirely different situation. Blair may win the election, but Blairism is already dead. Facing new crises, Blair may finally decide to retire to his expensive new home, handing over to Brown. However, this would represent the most minor cosmetic change. The trade unions and the party rank and file must set their sights much higher than this.

No-one wants the Tories back. But we don’t want them leading the Labour Party either. The only alternative is to be found in the organised trade union movement, in a militant defence of jobs, wages and conditions, and at the same time in a struggle to purge the Tory interlopers from Labour’s ranks.

- Keep the Tories Out!
- Drive them out of the Labour Party!
- No to capitalism – Fight for real socialist policies!