Jonathan Freedland (Guardian Utd): Principled pragmatism (election reform)

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Wednesday May 11

Principled pragmatism
Only by beginning the march to electoral reform now can Labour keep the Tories at bay long term
By Jonathan Freedland

The days immediately after an election are the moment to think big. In the weekend after the 1983 disaster, Labour looked to Neil Kinnock and set out on the long road to electability. Forty eight hours after the 1987 contest, David Steel called a halt to the double-headed, two Davids arrangement that was the Alliance – and proposed a merger. Thus were born the Liberal Democrats.

So far, the Conservatives seem keenest to follow the tradition. Despite their arguments over the leadership and last night's reshuffle, they have nevertheless begun a full-throated debate about what they need to do to govern again. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, have promised a wholesale review of policy, which will doubtless turn on their central strategic dilemma: should they be to the left or right of Labour?

Only the governing party has shown little interest in the post-election, big-picture conversation. Instead, it has concentrated on the leadership question: when will Tony Blair step down for Gordon Brown? That can be riveting, to be sure. As political drama, the Blair-Brown saga has no rival. And it is a marvel to see how quickly Blair, who until last Thursday was presenting the chancellor as his conjoined twin, has resumed his old habits. The key test of the reshuffle was not the names but the manner of their choosing, whether Blair would consult or act alone. As it turned out, he reverted to type: Brown first learned that David Blunkett was to take charge of Work and Pensions — an area in which the Treasury has an obvious stake — when he heard about it on the radio news.

Still, gripping though it is, the transition question does not amount to the strategic debate that ought to follow an election. Maybe that's because Labour won; perhaps introspection is for losers. But the current lack of it could prove to be a mistake. For 2005 looks a lot like a turning point, perhaps the last gasp for the anti-Tory politics that have dominated Britain for the past 13 years.

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