AFTER TONY BLAIR ?

For some months this Blog has carried a Link 'After Blair?' Now that Tony Blair has decided to resign on 27 June a few people asked me today, when I was delivering my latest Newsletter in Pan (No. 9), what I think about the future leadership of Labour and Britain. The answer to that is the same as what I said in my September 2006 Newsletter (No. 6):

'With the impending departure of Tony Blair as Leader of the Labour Party, Geoff is adding his support to calls for a party debate about the future direction of the Labour Party, when the party elects its next Leader and our next Prime Minister.

Geoff is NOT one of those who thinks that Gordon Brown should be crowned as the next Leader, whilst nothing much else changes on government policy. Geoff is consequently supporting the leadership campaign of John McDonnell MP—not in the expectation that he will win, but because John represents the opportunity for a real debate about Labour’s future policies.'

My current newsletter goes on:

'there is no doubt that for ordinary people Gordon Brown has been one of the most successful Chancellors of the Exchequer in modern times. If we remember what the UK economy was like under the Tories—high inflation, low growth, high mortgage rates, high unemployment, record levels of house repossessions—we can easily see why we must never let Britain return to the bad old Tory days. That is why whoever becomes the next Labour Prime Minister in the next few weeks should command the support of ordinary, working people at the next General Election in 2009/10. '