Labour/New Labour - Same Difference

Fifteen years ago, before they came to power, we were promised an end to sleeze and patronage, devolution of power to the people, open and honest government, and end to the 'old-boy network'.

Nothing changes, does it; even today the promises still keep coming, only the latest promises are invariably provided with a Scottish accent instead of an English one.

Sleeze: Leaving aside the well documented items such as the Ecclestone affair, the Robinson/Mandelson loan/mortgage arrangements, the Mandelson/Passport affair to name but three, nothing changes. Nowadays we have the Truscott/Moonie affair, the reported instance of a Home Secretary claiming allowances for a London home she does not appear to own, Labour MPs and Government Ministers 'forgetting' to submit donations, cases of married MPs both claiming a London allowance for living in the same property and a Speaker of the House of Commons, again reportedly, blocking moves to prevent information about MPs from being released into the public domain - information that we, as taxpayers and the source of their salaries, expenses and allowances, have a right to know.

Patronage: From the very beginning of this government we had Prime Ministerial cronies, Ministerial cronies and cronies of cronies, people such as Irvine and Falconer, placed in positions of power. We had Labour businessmen, such as Lord Sainsbury, become instant ministers, the daughter of a former Prime Minister given the job of running the House of Lords - the whole, in effect, creating a new 'barony' seasoned by the odd 'tsar' or two - a 'barony' composed of donors to Labour funds. Today we have an unelected Secretary of State running our Department for Business, supposedly in our interests; someone who is in receipt of a pension which depends on his not acting in defiance of the provider of that pension. Any processes such as these shows a contempt for the democratic principles of election, representation and accountability. And this was an end to the 'old-boy network'?

Devolution of power: There is not one thing that Labour has done to bring power closer to the people. By the use of Quangos, Advisory Bodies, Fake Charities, and the Local Government Act 2000 which 'cabinetised' local authorites and in effect dis-enfrancised local councillors who were not members of 'cabinets', did nothing to bring power closer to the people but in fact had the reverse effect. Today we get the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announcing the creation of 'super-authorities', members of which will be appointed, thus being even further removed from the public.

Open & honest government: Oh, we have open government - if you can call 'consultations', with selected, hand-picked audiences, on which government policies get based, open government. We do have open and honest government, if you can accept bills being forced through Parliament with limited debate time and restricted matters for debate, for example the Lisbon Treaty.

15 years ago we were told by our soon-to-be Prime Minister "Families work best when the members of it help and sustain each other" yet nowadays we have local authorities who interfere in family matters because, for instance, they consider grandparents not the 'right' type of carer.

15 years ago we were told that public services (amongst the examples provided was the post office) were just that, public services and which should stay so for the people of this country; yet nowadays the post office is being split up on the demands of an authoritarian body whose members we did not elect and whom we cannot hold to account.

15 years ago we were told that we were being taxed, not to invest in the future but to pay for past failures - so today, what has changed?

15 years ago we were told that we could expect our uniformed services, the police, to be freed from paperwork thus putting more officers back on the beat - so today, what has changed?

Back in about 2000 Helena Kennedy warned that cronyism and control freakery could in time undermine this government, just as sleaze did the Tories. I think it reasonable to say that 'the chickens have come home to roost'.

My condemnation of this government can best be summed up with the following words - which should be familiar to members of the present government as they are those used by them about the government of the day, back in 1994.

Their time is up. Their philosophy is done. Their experiment is over. Their failure is clear.  It is time to go. 

And why are they incompetent? Not just because of the individuals. It is not this or that Minister that is to

blame, it is an entire set of political values that is wrong.