Was dumping Tony Labour’s biggest mistake ?
Why have one in six Labour voters switched to Cameron?
The data from the latest ICM poll shows that of those who said they voted Labour at the last general election a total of 18% of them now say that they will be voting Tory.
On top of that 11% say they’ll switch to the Lib Dems although the net switch to Clegg’s party is partially offset by some 2005 LD voters going the other way.
The conventional way of looking at Labour problems is to blame it on Brown. But could it be that whoever took over from the party’s three in a row election winning vote magnet, Tony Blair, was going to have a challenge on his/her hands.
For, as has been said many times before here, Blair’s great achievement was to make Labour acceptable to vast swathes of voters who would never have considered supporting the party. Once Tom Watson and the other Brown Central heavies decided to dump Blair then Labour’s days in power were surely numbered.
Successful leaders have to good communicators and have a real feel for how they and their party and being perceived by the public. Also a dash of charisma help.
The Labour movement never warmed to Blair but he had one fantastic characteristic – he was a winner unlike every other Labour leader since Harold Wilson thirty-five years ago.
And now it looks as though Blair could be coming back big time – as Britain’s candidate for the Presidency of the EU. Could the old stager’s arrival back on the scene help his party. I sort of doubt it.
"..Just wanted to write to you and let you know how touched I was by all the tributes to Sam on the pb. I read the messages with tears in my eyes, good tears. It gives me great strength to know how many people have been touched by Sam, even those who have never met him in person..I will continue to follow the discussions as an outsider when I get a chance...."