A New Britain - A British Political TL (1995-)
- Thread starter Daudkhan
- Start date
Those aren't comparable to 1992-2012 though and we all know it. In the 1860-1880 period, Republicans were kept in power because of the civil war and reconstruction. In the New Deal period, Republicans were coming off of 12 consecutive years in power where they had overseen the largest economic collapse in modern history and then World War II came around, keeping democrats in power because no one wants to switch administrations in the middle of the biggest war the world has ever seen, especially when the incumbent is a well respect figure on good relations with the allied leaders. Please don't compare these two with the 1992-2012 period where there was no such economic collapse tainting the GOP for decades to come, nor where there any other mass failures that could cause such a thing. In fact, this was an era when the GOP was coming to dominate congress between 1994-2006. Its completely unrealistic for one party to win five consecutive elections outside of extreme circumstances which simply do not exist in this TL as it has been written. Especially when the candidates that are achieving this are Al Gore, a man with the charisma of a block of wood, and the scandal ridden John Edwards. Its just not happening.
It's fine and having researched John Edwards I can understand your point but the US were still in the midst of a booming economy with a constant declining rate of unemployment and rapid access to healthcare and education. Plus the Anti-Poverty agenda would be massive help for the democrats. This would be a contrast to a republican party divided between the moderates and the right wing. And divided. parties don't win. But do remember Democrats have won 5 elections before in 1932,36,1940,44 and 1948.
I explained in a previous comment why I don't think those two situations are in any way analogous. Don't forget, the democrats IOTL lost in 2000 in an economy that was booming far greater than it is in 2008, and that was only after two consecutive victories. Another thing is that economies simply don't boom for 20 straight years, hell, they don't even boom for 10 straight usually. Also, divided parties do absolutely still win elections. The GOP was divided in 1968, 1980, 2016, etc and still won, and democrats were divided for most of the 20th century and still managed to win elections. Not to get into current politics, but the democrats were more ideologically divided than the GOP in 2020 and they still won. I've said this in other threads before, but wank TLs (whether left or right-wing) where one side always benefits from the things that happen and the other side always loses are unrealistic and it takes away from the enjoyment of the good writing.
2010-2011
Post Election Reaction
As the Labour Party were coming into power for their fourth term, Tony Blair was not only the longest serving Prime Minister this country has ever had but he had won four general elections. This was huge, winning four elections in a row is huge for the Labour Party and therefore they felt totally vindicated that they were the natural party of government. As Tony Blair came back into MillBank he said 'How does it feel to be apart of a fourth term Labour Government, this Labour Party had become a changing party and with it we are changing the country and now let's keep going thank you'. As Ken Clarke returned back to CCHQ he proclaimed a huge advance. Indeed gaining nearly 90 seats was huge plus the conservatives had now officlaiy solidified their position as a party that could contend for government. Clarke said 'So here we are shocked of course and saddened but be in doubt we have made some good strides and that time will come when we will win'. As for the Lib Dems well it was interesting. Winning 27% of the vote was undeniably good for them it was less than the huge 32% won by Paddy Ashdown. But winning 71 MPs was substnaitla and effective.
As the Cabinet ministers went to Downing Street the ministers looked plausibly happy and here is how the cabinet looked.
Prime Minister-Tony Blair
Deputy Prime Minister -John Prescott
Chancellor- Gordon Brown
Foreign Secretary- Alan Milburn
Home Secretary- Jack Straw
Education Secretary -Charles Clarke
Health Secretary - Jacqui Smith
Work and Pensions Secretary - David Blunkett
Environment Secretary - Margret Beckett
Trade and Industry Secretary- Bob Marshall Andrews
Minister for Employment- Rodney Bicketstaffe
Transport Seceretary - John Prescott
Scottish Secretary - Tom Clarke
Welsh Secretary - Alun Micheal
2010 Queens Speech
As the government reconvened for their thirteenth queens speech, having focused on the issues such as the health service and education which were regarded by many labour voters as the traditional issues that they campaigned on mainly in regards to the front line services. The queens speech was focusing on Health and Education. Fourth term in power had been a huge morale booster for Labour MPs and therefore the government proposed the following provisions
- An Annual rise in NHS Spending by 4% every year
- Constructing more city academies
- Ensuring the establishing of a national plan in order to boost our economy
- Leaving Iraq by 2012
- Escalating funding in drug treatment centres
- Increasing the number of police officers by 5,000 by 2011
- The Legalising of Cannabis
- A Royal commission into Drugs
- Increasing Education spending by 3.6%.
The Queens speech was interesting focusing on front line services and therefore the Labour Party were focusing on two things. Siezing the centre ground was important for the Labour Party but this was an interesting thing. The establishing of the national plan in radically increasing economic growth would be beneficial. Except for China the UK had the fastest growing economy in the world. Therefore by focusing on public services it was working. The vote looked like this
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Absentions |
| Labour | 358 | 0 | 3 |
| Conservatives | 21 | 167 | 3 |
| Lib Dems | 70 | 1 | 0 |
| Others | 12 | 11 | 7 |
| Total | 461 | 179 | 13 |
The legislation passed with ease, the tories had figured out that there was no chance of stopping the bill from being passed so therefore Ken Clarke decided to vote against it but there was a nod and wink arrangement that allowed certain MPs Like Alan Duncan and Eric Pickles to vote for it.
Budget 2011
As the chancellor stood up to deliver another budget speech it became clear that the economy was still booming, The UK was experiencing growth rates of 4.4% in 2011 , 4.6% in 2012 , 4.7% in 2013 , 4.5% in 2014 and 4.8% in 2015. These were extremely string growth rates that was attributed mainly to the debt-free that the UK had become as a result of the strong surplus buidlng that the UK had done. The projected surpluses were to be £135 billion in 2011 , £143 billion in 2012 , £150 billion in 2013 , £158 billion in 2014 , £165 billion in 2015. The surplus will rise from being 5.6% to 7.2% of GDP and therefore the nations economy did constantly rise as a result of the prudent economy.
As for public spending the percentage of government revenue taken uo by spending had risen from 36.2% in 1i997 to 42.2% of GDP by 2011. This is to the tune of £138 billion in expenditure. This was mainly focused on the front line services. The expenditure on front line services was a huge part in redeveloping the economy as a result of front line services being given greater levels of income and therefore the quality of standards within the front line improved rapidly. This was shown by the NHS Waiting lists falling quite rapidly under 1 million and with 63% of schools getting 80% of students at least 5 GSCEs this is up from the 38% in 1997.
As for tax reductions. Brown did rule out tax cuts for the next two years but saying that in 2013 he would be able to have a fundamental review on income taxation.
2011 Scottish Election
As the Campaign kicked off for the Scottish election, Labour were fighting for their fourth term in power. Jack McConell had been the leader after the death of Donald Dewar. McConell had been the first Minister for a decade. The Scottish Labour Party had been more to the left than the Labour Party in Westminster. polices such as tuition fees and prescription charges were non existent the establishing of policies such as the National Care service. Plus the driving up in standards so that with Scotland being no.3 in the world for maths. Yep, No.3 in 1997 they were 66th. But the Huge quadrupling in education funding had led to more schools and more teachers plus schemes such as the golden handcuffs which paid teachers £45,000 staring salary providing they had a university education of a 2:1 or higher had allowed better teachers to come and help out. By the time the election was ready it was clear that labour were going to do well but nobody knew how it was going to go.
As for the Conservatives they had decided to allow David Mundell to run again for the tories in order to win Scotland they would have to have a leader who was in the centre socially liberal and charismatic. Thankfully for Labour Goldie was none of those things. The tory campaign had been shambolic. Ken Clarke had decided to focus on the new leadership and he had in a favour used the election to teach he right a lesson. Clarke was debating with his right wing faction which way to go and therefore he decided to stump around the country on the hope that they could win the local elections. However Goldie had to step down in January 2011 because of her comments about LGBT rights. So the tories decided to select Ruth Davidson. A centrist who was socially liberal and who was certainly on the Clarke wing of the party. It was an interesting campaign as Davidson did fight an election on her socially liberal values and her economically centrist.
The Lib Dems had fought the campaign on 12 years of success, they had been in coalition with Labour and it was known that they had been there moral conscience on issues such as health service funding and tuition fees. It was also known that the Education funding policy was based of their initiatives The Liberal Democrats had been fighting the election on it's achievements and it was working with the polls being at 27% the Lib Dems were able to effecitvely state that they would be the brain and heart to Labour.
After 6 weeks of the campaign the result did look like this
| Parties | Seats | Percentage |
| Labour | 60 (+2) | 40.5% (+2.1%) |
| Conservatives | 25 (+6) | 24.7% (+3.5%) |
| Lib Dems | 22 (-4) | 19.4% (-3.8%) |
| SNP | 12 (-6) | 7.3% (-3.7%) |
| Green | 10 (+2) | 8.1% (+2.0%) |
The elections was an interesting result, the Labour Party had gained 2 seats and were only 5 short of a majority. Also winning 40.5% of the vote was effective interns of re-building. And doing a. deal between them and the liberals was going to occur and renewed for the fourth time. There had been talk of a coupon coalition between the two parties but they ran seperaeley. The majority had gone down from 39 to 35. But there was still a comfortable majority. For the tories well they had an interesting night to say the least they had gone from being at the start of the year polling at 13% and had ran a strong campaign with Ruth Davidson and had solidified their position. The SNP. were in terminal decline. The Greens had gained seats and 10 MSPs was respectable.
Wales Election
The Elections in Wales were interesting, Labour had done a coalition with the Lib Dems but it was known that their AMs were more aligned to the Welsh socialist party. As the Election began for Labour the first minister Rhodri Morgan had been in office for 8 years. Morgan had made his campaign based on a purist labour campaign focusing on the health service and education. The reason this was effective was because the campaign was working in South Wales the traditional labour heartlands. They had also campaigned in areas such as Aberconwy and Clwyd south. But after 12 years would the public be ready for 4 more years,
The Tories had an interesting campaign Andrew R.T Davis was a complexed figure whilst a comitted eurosceptic and a small c conservative. He had a 35% voting record on Labour legislation and therefore he was able to campaign on a left of centre proposals such as the NHS promising to match Labour's spending plans was huge. Davis was close with Eric Pickles and therefore he was more of a social democrat than a conservative. He had an effective campaign.
The Lib Dems had an interesting campaign they had been in power for 12 years but they knew that the rise of the Welsh socialist party were going to be a key thing for them since though the Labour Party and the Lib Dems had been very good coalition partners there was a shift to the left within politics. So the Lib Dems decided to be socially democratic and campaigning on their record of achievements on education and health and the huge reduction in poverty.
| Parties | Seats | Percent |
| Labour | 30 (+1) | 40.3% (+1.5%) |
| Conservatives | 15 (+2) | 31.1% (+4.3%) |
| Lib Dems | 7 (-3) | 17.0% (-6.2%) |
| Welsh Socialist Party | 6 (NC) | 6.4% (-0.7%) |
| Plaid Cymru | 2 (NC) | 5.2% (+0.9%) |
The Election was Interesting labour had secured a fourth term in office as expected they did a deal with the Lib Dems and had a majority of 14 seats. Labour had comfortably re-built Wales after the tory de-industrialisation. The Labour Party had been in power In Wales and winning 40% of the vote in Wales was outstanding. The Conservatives had a very good night, Winning 2 new seats and getting nearly a third of the vote. The Lib Dems didn't have a good night losing 3 seats and therefore there was a bit of hostility to doing a deal with Labour again. But then they decided it knowing they can take it to the centre left instead of allowing them to work with the Welsh socialist party.
Local Election 2011
As the 2011 local elections started it became clear that these would be an interesting campaign, the Labour Party had been still feeling the goodness of a fourth general election victory so therefore initially there was a bit of a laidback approach but there was still a genuine fire with Tony Blair doing a few rallies and Gordon Brown and Alan Milburn stumping around the country around the country to canvass for votes. The Labour Party did treat elections very seriously and knew it would provide them with momentum and new power.
For the conservatives it was very interesting, Ken Clarke had firmly established the conservatives as an opposition party that looked ready for government, there was a clear broad link on age with the likes of David Cameron who were in the centre ground, The whole broad thinking of the Conservative party had been changed and had an ideological shift towards the centre ground, the centre ground was a key part of thinking for the Conservative party. Clarke had infamously called the conservatives 'A new modern centrist compassionate Conservative party'. The Clarkeite faction within the party had taken a domineering role within the party.
The Lib Dems has a centrist faction led by Vince Cable though he had moved away from the socially democratic faction to a centrist faction. But, Cable did keep a focus on the liberals and the centrist faction the party had moved away from his emphatic Europeanism to a more pragmatic position but they were not having any committed support for joining the Euro but they had remained explicitly supportive of remaining the Euro.
| Parties | Councils | Councillors | Percentage of the Vote |
| Labour | 63 (-15) | 7,351 (-896) | 35.6% (-3.1%) |
| Conservatives | 58 (+12) | 6,212 (+751) | 37.7% (+4.5%) |
| Lib Dems | 23 (+4) | 2,653 (+381) | 26.7% (+1.4%) |
| No Overall Control | 18 (-1) |
| Labour 281 (-54) | Conservatives 256 (+65) | Lib Dems 74 (+3) |
2011 Conservative Party Conference - Caring Pragmatism- Leeds- 05.10.11-09.10.11
As the Conservatives convened for their sixth conference with Ken Clarke as their leader they were feeling good, the truth was they had a steep mountain to climb it looked like Ken Clarke could be able to take the tories back to power and therefore he was able to proclaim that the tories 'were on their way back to government' the Clarke leadership had been able to focus on the centre ground within society and therefore the Clarke leadership were able to focus on front line services. As he said in the tory conference.
'We are able to show that as a centrist party we have taken the lead wether it's on our public services such as the NHS we have said this party is in favour of the NHS and no conservative govnement would ever seek to undermine or end the principle that healthcare should be free at the point of use, in a modern compassionate society we have to be pragmatic but caring, and being pragmatic but that is our thinking that must govern the way we are. We are deeply compassionate people and though we believe in prudence and sensible spending we should be pragmatic but also compassionate'
The Conference had been a success for the Clarke leadership the fact it had focused on the policies of the centre ground and not running to the right had allowed Clarke to stick to his guts. And therefor the opinion polls looked like this
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 41% |
| Labour | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 24% |
| Conservatives 304 (+113) | Labour 243 (-92) | Lib Dem 51 (-20) |
| Candidates | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 71% | 25% |
| Vince Cable | 66% | 30% |
| Tony Blair | 56% | 40% |
2011 Labour Party Conference- The Next Move Forward- Manchester-11.10.11-14.10.11
The Labour Party conference was an interesting one, it was Tony Blair's 14th conference as Prime Minister. Having been. leader of the Labour Party for 17 years and Prime Minister for 14 years he was able to convene for their conference they were able to cheer about their fourth victory which for them was unthinkable. The Labour Party had been able to run the country. But also as Tony Blair started his speech talking about health and eduction and the public services. It finished by saying this,
' We have done so much in the last fourteen years and we have done so much change of this country and we can continue this change but by modernising health and education services will allow us to transform these services. Because what matters within our public services is not just investment vital though that is, it's the quality knowing the they will have properly run services if we can do this and change our public services then we will be able to be custodians of our public services for a generation, We are society that can only be truly caring if we are allowed to run our country, you can't run a country from the benches of the oppisiton you can only do it from the benches of government. So let's get out there and make that change'
It had been one of Blair's most robust conferences speeches yet and therefore proving that he wasn't done with politics, the Blair premiership had been based off the notion of the third way within o society that needed strong public services but also needed to know that their taxes will be kept low. This economic combination was working and therefore it allowed Blair to proclaim that the Labour Parry are now the natural party of government,
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 39% |
| Conservatives | 37% |
| Lib Dems | 24% |
| Labour 330 (-5) | Conservatives 250 (+59) | Lib Dems 50 (-21) |
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Vince Cable | 73% | 26% |
| Tony Blair | 68% | 30% |
| Ken Clarke | 63% | 36% |
Browne Report
And here it is, the long awaited Browne report having meant to be reported in 2009 it was delayed till after the 2010 election and then delayed for another year. But on the 24th October 2011 it was to be reported and therefore here is what came out of the report. It advocated a rise in the headline rate of fees to £5,000 and the increasing of maintain e grants to £5,000. But it did support in principle the idea of a graduate tax. Brown had been in favour of the idea of a graduate tax levied at 4% for incomes above £23,000.
Cabinet Meeting
TB-Tony Blair
GB- Gordon Brown
TB- So here we are debating tuition fees, there are three solutions to the state of university fees we could raise the fees to £5,000 and use maintenance grants but equally we could use a graduate tax at 4% at incomes above £23,000 or we could abolish fees. Gordon what are we going to do,
GB- The thing is we have to decide what is going to pass parliament, now I don't think we can raise fees without a rebellion but can we even afford the abolition of tuition fees so what I suggest is that we impose a new graduate tax at 4% of incomes above £25,000 which will raise £7.9 billion and therefore allow us to fund state education.
TB- Ok let's do this.
House of Commons-University Education financing
As the government convened for a vote on univerisity education, nobody honestly knew how it was going to go, the Labour Party had always prided itself on being the party of the working class and therefore this bill was always going to create a substantial level of controversy and that's why they had tried to fight this through. But here is what were in the bill,
- A 4% Graduate tax for incomes above £22,000
- Using the proceeds to give an extra £9.5 billion for state educaiton
- No return to Tuition fees
- Increasing maintance grants to £5,000
- Keeping this system until 2025
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Labour | 312 | 11 | 12 |
| Conservatives | 13 | 170 | 8 |
| Lib Dems | 6 | 57 | 7 |
| Others | 12 | 11 | 7 |
| Total | 343 | 249 | 34 |
The Government carried the vote easily this was a contrast to what many had thought ws going to happen, most thought the government would win by 10 votes. But the reforms to university financing had helped Labour win plus the 'wets' had helped the government win the vote, incidentally Ken Clarke had voted against the govnement but nevertheless the government had won the vote.
End of Year review
As 2011, came to an end the Labour Party were an interesting position, after 14 years of being in power the Labour Party were still polling at 35%. The last poll in 1993 put the conservatives at 28% so therefore the Labour Party were in a good place. But equally the leadership of Ken Clarke and his pragmatism and his bloke image had allowed the conservatives to be neck and neck with Labour. Most polls put them ahead on 37%. But for the Lib Dems Vince Cable was polling at 26%. The three party system looked hear to stay. But interesting enough all parties were more or less in the centre.
Next Up
Budget 2012
London Mayrol Elections
The end of Iraq
New National Plan
Labour Conference
Tory Conference
Budget 2013
And some shocks?
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2012
Budget 2012
When you have been chancellor for 15 years you do become a household name. Gordon Brown had been Britains longest serving chancellor and seen by many as the architecht of New Labour's 4 election victories. As he stood up and decided to speak about the economy, he could report what the economic forecasts looked like the economy was set to grow by 4.8% in 2012, 5.1% in 2013 , 5.2% in 2014 , 5.1% in 2015, 5.3% in 2016 and 5.4% in 2017. Except for China the UK Economy was the fastest growing in the world. The average EuroZone growth was 2.7%. The United States grew by 3.7%. In fact under Labour the UK has the third largest economy. As for the surplus that the economy £148 billion in 2012, £159 in 2013, £175 billion in 2014 , £181 billion in 2015, £190 billion in 2016 , £200 billion in 2017. Since the UK was debt free the surplus was often used to save in case for a crisis. The Inflation rate was forecasted to be 0.9% in 2012 , 0.7% in 2013 , 0.6% in 2014, 0.5% in 2015 , 0.7% in 2016 and 0.6% in 2017. Inflation had been kept below 1% and this was economically benificial as it means wages would rise above prices increasing living standards.There had been huge boosts in public expenditure, the NHS had seen a near quadrupling in spending from £43 billions in 1996/97 to £161 billions in 2011/12. This was monumental and therefore though the cash had gone in, the chancellor had laid out a plan for a review into the NHS. Simon Stevens who was the head of NHS England would produce a report to show how the NHS could be sustainable for this decade and then for the next generation. NHS satisfaction rating had reached 86% in 2011, this was primarily attributable to the waiting lists being slashed by over two million. Or the fact that people will only have to wait 48 hours for an appointment. Brown did give the NHS the £6.4 billion or the 4% that they promised in the General Election campaign.
But also with Education there were some fundamental reforms there with Britain being no.2 in the world for english, no.1 for maths and no.2 for science the fundamental reforms had included greater levels of independent trust schools plus the golden handcuffs iniative which payed teachers a starting salary of £43,000 providing they teach in an inner city school plus if they do it for five years then there tuition fees debt will be wiped off. Also the reforming in allowing more coursework created a more progressive education system that allowed standards to be raised. Alongside the tripling in investment from £36 billions in 1996/97 to £108 billions in 2011/12. Brown had pledged an extra £4 billion but decided to comission a report where the head of the National Union of Teachers and the Head of Ofsted would detail the long term funding of Education and the reforms to education.
Overall the budget had produced much change, Brown was able to hail his record on not only public services but also the Anti-Poverty agenda had been effective in reducing the number of people in, in-work poverty from 6.5 million in 96/97 to 2.4 million in 2011/12. Child poverty had come down from 4.8 million in 1996/97 to 832,610 in 2011/12. Plus, the quality in public services being raised was a key factor in New Labour being able to stay in government. As Ken Clarke stood up he knew that the budget was interesting, it didn't have many fundamental reforms but even he couldn't deny the economic prosperity. Since the conservatives were still ahead in the opinion polls he decided to say this:
'So here we are 15 years of these budgets, and whilst they have done some very good things with the economy, where is the fundamental change, they call themselves keyensians but they seem to be impersonating Margret Thatcher more than Tony Benn, isn't it time for a government who will enact proper radical change for this country and be focused on helping everyone not just someone'.
The Budget had been a success overall because it focused on the themes of social compassion and public services. Indeed the conservatives were in a spot of bother because though Micheal Portillo was a successful shadow chancellor and the conservatives were ahead in the opinion polls they had to deal with the right wing who were snaping at their heals and Clarke who had made no effort to throw red meat to the right wing infamously calling them 'derranged bastards'. Portillo had decided to comitt to Labour's spending.
2012 London Mayrol Election
Ken Livingstone had been the mayor for 12 years in that time he had radically reduced the fares on London transport from £4.35 to £2.10. He had expanded the scheme of travel cards. Plus the modernisation of the rail network had allowed Nearly all TFL stations to be modernised allowing there to be lifts and security doors on the platform doors. Plus the radical council house building agenda had been effective in stopping prices rising. There had been in a surplus in supply which had allowed the price of a house in London to come down from £285,000 in 2008 to £242,000. Plus the Mayor had created new homes with regulated fixed prices of a £100,000.
Then there was the Livingstone Factor. Ken Livingstone had been personally popular as shown in the 2009 floods with him spending four days in Croydon cleaning up the ruin and sleeping on the floors. The Mayor's Question Time which had been run every week where 50 members of the public were allowed to come in to City Hall and ask the mayor a question. These events lasted 2 hours normally every Thursday night but they proved to be popular with Londoners feeling their interests had been listened and acted on. But also Livingstone i 2007 had changed up the format going to the public infamously in Tottenham where this question time had bene focused on inner city schools and Livingstone had been able to show his views on state expenditure. But also,Livingstone did give up 10% of his £130,000 salary for the London community fund.
So what about the conservatives well they were in an interesting predicament, the tories had nominated Boris Johnson and he did fairly well but this time they decide to nominate Shaun Bailey, he was just about the worst candidate you could nominate in terms of policies. A right wing eurosceptic in a socially democratic europhilic city is like chalk and cheese. Bailey did himself no favours when he famously remarked 'Single Mothers have the human intelligence of a pea'. The tories had withdrawed funding mainly because they knew that this campaign was going to be a failure from the word go.
As the Campaign went underway the priorities had been focused on the fares of London transport and crime. Livingstone had pledged to expand the railcard scene and the freedom pass and also pledged to hire 10,000 more officers. Livingstone had spent years being tough on the causes of crime and he had made his messge, Len Livingstone fighting for londoners. Eventually the result was foregone.
| Candidates | First Ballot | Second Ballot |
| Ken Livingstone (Labour) | 47.12% | 57.57% |
| Brian Paddock (Lib Dem) | 28.13% | 42.43% |
| Shaun Bailey (Conservatives) | 20.85% | |
| Jenny Jones (Greens) | 3.60% |
Yep, the lib Dems came in second in London and that was the story of the night.Whilst Ken Livingstone had won a fourth term and as astounding as that it is .that was predictable what had stunned the public was the closeness of the fact that the liberal democrat had secured 42.4% of the vote. It was known that Ken Clarke didnt think highly of shaun Bailey and would have preferd Rory Stewart or Alan Duncan. But this election was almost used a stick to beat the cashites. Bailey came from the cashite wing of the party and therefore by only securing a fifth of the vote showed how their form of politics was done.
Ending of a conflict
The rebuilding of Iraq after the years of Saddam had been hard but the use of international support due to the second UN resolution had made the conflict percieved in the eyes of the British public to be leigitimate. But Iraq had been an interesting conflict because with the topling of a tyranical regieme in place with a democratic government had been a very popular measure. As the UN Coalition had finally brought the troops home. The doctrine of humanatrian interventionsim had been effective.
New National Plan
It was a plan to change Britain that's what it was. In 1965 Labour had introduced the National Plan to deal with the economy and to rebuild the country and prepare it for technological change and whilst even the most Left wing Labour MPs would agree that Britain of 2012 was nothing like 1965. Gordon Brown was determined to make Britain the fastest growing economy in the world, the accelaration of growth that had been a key feature of the Brown years had been an intresting component of the whole economic plan for the New Labour years. A public-private partnership within the economy had been a key part. The idea of a national plan had originated in 2010 and Brown had set up a secret comittee within treasury called 'Operation Revive' which was founded in order to see could a national plan could work. And therefore here is what they came up with.
- A Laser light focus on growth with a drive to reach a 6% growth rate by 2016
- Ending the trade deficit and running a permernant budget surplus
- The re-nationlisation of Steel. and Electricity
- Reducing Corpration tax from 28% to 20% by 2017
- Increasing foreign investment as a percent of GDP from 0.5% to 3% of GDP by 2018
- Having a fixed policy of re-industrialisation and therefore working with private industry in order to revive the manufacturing sector.
- Using 40% of the surplus to create a New National Investment bank in order to revive the forgotten industries.
The Plan was to be put to Parliament with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to put the case for the national plan and then for industries to revive this was a key element of the national plan to revitalise the industries that were simply allowed to die in the eighties.
Chancellor's Statement on the National Plan
The week was spent on debating the biggest piece of economic legislation which was going to revive the British economy the reason the National Plan was so signficant is because though the majority was 20 the Labour party had the political capitol to do this and therefore as Gordon Brown stood up and gave a 91 minute speech detailing the National Plan and finished with this:
'For years we have all on sides of this house talked about re-transforming the British decline, well we have the strongest economy, the lowest unemployment and inflation rates but we need to go further than this, we need to be bolder and clearer in our aims. If the 2000s were about our public services then let the 2010s be about our industries, the transformative agenda that we have done for our public services must be done for the industries and communities that have been left behind, because Mr Speaker be in no doubt there are industries which have been abandoned by the conservatives and we have a duty to make sure that they can function and thrive.
But let's explain these provisions point by point. Having. a strong desire for a permanantly high rate of economic growth would be benificial for the entire economy, if we can run a trade surplus then we will become a strong manufacturing nation, if we can cut corpration tax and therefore incentivise greater levels of foreign investment on our business that we will create more jobs, if we can nationlise steel and electricity we will be able to help those industries which have been destroyed by the old ways of thinking, boldness and radicalness within our society is what needs to be done and if we can set up a new National investment bank which will allow us to properly invest in the north of England and regenerate and transform that will allow us to change this country, bold radical action thats what I'm proposing and I commend this statement to the house.
The speech was a very interesting one that clearly reflected what Brown believed about industries and how to preside over them, the plan was responded to by Micheal Portillo the shadow chancellor who said 'This Plan will need to be scrutinised in greater detail and of course there are things in here that we welcome not least because we believe in them, the tax cuts for corprations we welcome, the desire for a trade surplus we welcome that , the 6% growth target of course we welcome that but re-nationlising industries that seems to me Mr Speaker like the dark old days of Labour, tax and spend it's good to see that history is repeating'. The speech was robust but also thought through but it looked certain that the national plan will be passed through and then it happend, Eric Pickles and Alan Duncan announced that the Tory Reform Group and its 45 MPs will vote for the bill.
| Parties | Ayes | Noes | Abstentions |
| Labour | 316 | 2 | 17 |
| Conservatives | 55 | 133 | 3 |
| Lib Dems | 67 | 4 | 0 |
| Others | 12 | 11 | 7 |
| Total | 450 | 150 | 27 |
The legislation passed with Ease, this was because not only the tory reform group supported but Micheal Portillo himself had led 9 other MPs to vote for the legislation it was a bold move, as though Ken Clarke had pledged to vote against it he knew that nothing was going to stop them. But Labour's boldest piece of legislation had been supported.
Conservative Conference-Bolton-Let's Keep Changing- 29/09/12- 03/10/12
The movement for change, that is what had dominated the tories thinking since Ken Clarke became the leader seven years ago, Clarke had modernised the party by focusing on public sector reforms, he had promised to match labours spending plans in 2005 and that is what played a significant role in the detoxifying of the conservative party, Clarke had been able to focus on being able to work with the centre ground. Because what Clarke knew was that Tony Blair had a lock on the centre ground on courting those aspiring working and middle class voters who wanted low taxes but strong public services. The beliefs that Clarke had were deeply located in the centre ground. And therefore as Clarke delieverd his speech it was focused on the domestic issues of health and education. It finished like this-
'So here we are another conference and another year in oppisition, but my friends we are changing wether it's in our comitment to our public services or wether its our devout belief in the NHS as conservatives we are capable or renewing and changing, because when we do we gain councils across the country and we are beating labour in the polls, but as conservatives we are pragmatists and therefore we saw what happend in London where we came third, and if we don't change then we will come third. But by modernising and changing and focusing on what works then we will be able to say to Labour voters and Lib Dems we are on your side, Change within pragmatism is essential but we can't be purists. I know we can win, but let's keep changing'The Speech was a typical robust speech from Ken Clarke, his shadow cabinet were interesting with the likes of Micheal Heseltine who was able to have the conference in the palm of his hand through his oratory. Micheal Portillo who had been focused on modernised still recieved a standing ovation. But new Blood like David Cameron who talked about a Global Britain. The changing in the attitude had helped the tories gain nearly 100 seats in the 2010 General Election. And nobody knew how another general election would go because whilst the tories would need to gain 135 seats in order to win an overall majority anything looked possible.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 42% |
| Labour | 33% |
| Lib Dem | 25% |
| Conservatives 321 (+130) | Labour 239 (-96) | Lib Dem 50 (-21) |
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 73% | 24% |
| Vince Cable | 68% | 28% |
| Tony Blair | 57% | 40% |
Labour Party Conference- Manchester- A future fair for all-05/10/12 - 08/10/12
'So here we are halfway through a fourth term labour government this is quite an achievement be in no doubt. That this party is now the natural party of government, wether it's the elimination of the national debt or the radical increases in public services or the National Plan, we as the labour party can change but we can also help and assist, this party a moderate party but still a radical party, the reason is just because we are not going back to the seventies that doesn't mean for one second we cant still be on the left. We are a left of centre party, not a right of centre party. Compassion, social justice and opportunity for all that is the way we think in this party and if we can progress and change whilst keeping our core values then we will be able to run this country for a generation',
The conference like the tory one had been a success as with speeches from the likes of Bob Marshall Andrews and Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown the party were able to present a clear united front and it was working, as after 15 years of being in government the Labour Party were still polling between 34%-37% and therefore thats why the election result looked impossible to predict.
| Party | Result |
| Labour | 37% |
| Conservatives | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 28% |
| Labour 317 (-18) | Conservatives 242 (+51) | Lib Dems 73 (+3) |
| Party | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 74% | 25% |
| Vince Cable | 69% | 28% |
| Tony Blair | 67% | 30% |
End of Year
UP Next
Budget 2013
Local Elections
Lib Dem Leadership Election
NHS Reform
Labour Party Conference
Tory Conferance
Budget 2014
EU Elections 2014
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But that's the key thing, the new labour years were a success but the Blair/brown disputes had prevented more things. So i have taken that out what I did was that Brown had stood in the 94 leadership election and lost by 52-48. But with that aside Blair made him the most powerful chancellor.
.. If Brown had stood, surely their alliance would have not been as strong as OTL. Have Brown stand, Blair would probably trust him less, plus I just can't see him remaining Chancellor for... 15 years is it now? Surely Balls or Johnson or somebody would've taken over.
That's a perfectly fair point but I think if Gordon Brown had lost to Blair in 94 then Brown wouldn't have felt entitled to become PM. To be honest i did think about making Alan Milburn the chancellor in 2010 but then what cause would Blair have to get rid of brown. I mean he ran a strong economy and invested in public services plus he would be more close to the traditional labour thinking. But Gordon won't be prime minister.
2013
Budget 2013
In the budget with the economy clearly in an extremely good place as a result of the strong economy that had been run by the Labour Party for the last sixteen years, as Gordon Brown took to the stage he was able to pride himself over the longest sustained economic growth that the UK ever had. As he opened his speech with growth rates of 5.3% in 2013, 5.5% In 2014, 5.7% in 2015, 5.8% in 2016 , 6.0% in 2017 and 6.1% in 2018. This is obscenely strong rates of economic growth. These were the strongest rates in Europe and the Second in the G20. And the Second in the G20. The Eurozone had only grown by 2.5% and the US by 3.3%. The surplus for the economy was reported to have been reported to be £156 billion In 2013, £171 billion in 2014, £180 billion in 2015 , £189 billion in 2016 and £200 billion in 2017 and £209 billion in 2018. The Inflation rate was low very low, 0.8% in 2013, 0.7% in 2014, 0.5% in 2015, 0.4% in 2016 and 0.3% in 2017 and 0.3% in 2017. These were some of the strongest rates of the economy has ever seen. But also there were figures within the trade surplus, it took longer much longer to get the trade figures in the right place. But it was reported like this £38 billion in 2013, £47 billion in 2014 , £58 billion in 2015 , £70 billion in 2016 , £78 billion in 2017 and £85 billion in 2018. These were strong economic figures and the national plan was beginning to take effect in the surplus figures.
The Public spending was also a key fact within the National Health Service. The NHS was an interesting budget throughout the period of the Health Service funded under New Labour was an increase in the NHS Budget was raised over the Course over the last of the decade and the half with NHS Spending up from £46 billion in 1996 to £170 billion in 2013. The radical refinancing of the NHS was so significant in helping the public, Brown outlined a future spending plan that would allow the NHS Budget to have an investment of £10 billion in 2013, £11 billion in 2014, £13 billion in 2015 , £12 billion in 2016, £14 billion in 2017 and £15 billion in 2018. This is because the strong investment in the NHS was allowing guarantees such as the 24 hour maximum waiting for appointment. Other policies such as the 12 week maximum waiting times within the hospital or the hiring of 48,000 new nurses this had allowed Labour to proclaim that under their stewardship the NHS Satisfaction rating had risen from 49% in 1997 to 92% in 2013. The rise In NHS Standards had been one of Labour's classic achievements. Brown also announced that Mental Health will receive an annual £3 billion cash boost. He also announced that only with assets above £80,000 would need to pay for social care.
As fo Education the Budget continued to focus on state education, whilst there had been an immense effort on creating more choice within the education sector allowing private schools to become an optional scheme but there was massive investment in the education budget from £36 billions to £118 billions in 2013. This was a single investment of £10 billion investment in one single year. This was huge and therefore it allowed brown to proclaim the success of the Labour Party. The re financing of university education as a result of the introduction of the graduate tax which had allowed there to be the ending of university tuition fees. But it also allowed a substantial injection of revenue into state education. It was undeniable that with class sizes falling to under 20 in most primary schools and averaging 22 in most secondary schools as a result of the 4,320 schools that had been built or refurbished since 1997. The focus on teaching standards was interesting Brown had announced that the education secretary Charles Clarke would announce a new set of reforms to exams and to the actual running of the classroom.
There were also investments made to the law and order system with the police. budget rising to £39 billions up £5.4 billions on the previous year, there had been the policy to hire 10,000 police officers onto of the 54,000 officers hired since 1997. There had also been an emphasis placed on hiring more armed officers and having more inspectors. The crime rate had been falling year on year by on average 3.9% annually. This was because if not only the sentencing reform but also more emphasis on rehabilitation. There was also a focus on the welfare state, the reason why this was an interesting part was because Under Labour welfare spending had only risen by £41 billion which was 24% in 16 years due to the emphasis on welfare to work programs. The way that the Labour Party had changed it had led to Unemployment coming down from 1.78 million in 1996 to 453,121 in 2013. But also the working tax credit the baseline figure rose from £2,410 a year to £2,750 in 2014 and then £3,000 in 2015.
As For Income Tax, Gordon Brown had decided to enforce a new radical restructuring of the tax system with the new personal allowance of £10,000. The 10% rate £10,000-£35,000 and then the 22% rate will be £35,000 to £80,000 and then and only then will there be a 40% rate of income tax. Brown announced a reduction in National Insurance from 11% to 10%. And the top up rate from 2% to 1%. As for VAT Brown had announced a cut in VAT from 17.5% to 16%. Also, with corporation tax coming down once again from 30% to 27%. A 3% cut in tax was interesting but also there was a radical review in small business rates that businesses with profits below £200,000 would pay business rates. There would be four rates of business rates, The 0% rate would apply to profits between £1-£23,000. The new 5% rate would be between £23,001-£75,000. The 10% rate would be applied to £75,000-£150,000 and then the 20% rate between £150,000-£200,000.
The Entire budget had been a 67 minute fascinating speech the strong investment in the front line services, the emphasis being placed on the front line services along with the strong investment in the genuine public services but then also the reductions in income tax and the £28 billion in tax cuts announced had forced the tories to far from going after Labour focused on the new alternative for a conservative Britain and therefore focused on radically increasing public service funding but continued a focus on running a strong economy. The budget was an interesting one to say the least and had received a 71% approval.
2013 Local Elections
It was his eighth as leader, Ken Clarke had been leader of the tory party in what had been extremely good economic circumstances for the Labour Party and it was widely accepted that had it not been for Ken Clarke and had someone on the right of the party been the leader the tories would proably be in third place. As Clarke began to lead the Conservative party in the local electrons he focused his priorities on the health and education budget and by proposing to meet the Labour spending pledges had been a huge boost in the popularity of the conservative party. Ken Clarke had also promised more money for the NHS than what Labour wanted. Clarke made his proposals in the budget for an extra £15 billions every single year. The Campaign he was running along with Micheal Heseltine, David Cameron, Eric Pickles and Micheal Portillo. This campaign had been focused in the centre ground.
For Labour, Tony Blair had decided to give this campaign his all, he was focused on winning the local elections, No-one knew about his position interns of would he fight the next election, though it was expected that he probably would. Nevertheless Alan Milburm, David Blunkett and Gordon Brown had become the key figureheads of the campaign to not only focus on the achievements of the Labour Government but also how they were able to keep renewing, the emphasis was placed on the National Plan and the front line services. The achievements on the front line services in terms of rapidly improving the quality of the NHS, Education,Transport,Defence,Police and the Foreign Aid budget. This had been huge credits to the Labour Party and therefore they would be giving the tories on helluva fight.
As for the Lib Dems, Vince Cable had announced that this would be his final local elections, Cable was successful in keeping the Lib Dems on a very successful polling position at 24-26%. This was fairly substantial and effective. But also the Cable leadership in taking the party to the centre ground had been effective. It had been interesting in that all three parties were affiliated with the centre ground and therefore it had been all three parties fighting for the same people.
| Parties | Councils | Councillors | Share of the Vote |
| Conservatives | 91 (+6) | 9,101 (+656) | 42.1% |
| Labour | 49 (-7) | 5,121 (-832) | 34.3% |
| Lib Dem | 39 (+1) | 4,102 (+310) | 23.6% |
| No Overall Control | 15 |
| Conservatives 316 (+125) | Labour 264 (-72) | Lib Dems 43 (-28) |
The Election had been successful for the conservatives winning the local elections by 8% and gaining 6 new councils ontop of their already successful election night four years ago it allowed Clarke to fully vindicate his leadership but there was a serious and genuine prospect that the conservatives may just get an Overall Majority at the next election which would be extremely stunning.
Lib Dem Leadership Election
After 5 years, Vince Cable decided that he would no longer be an effective leader for the Liberal Democrats and therefore decided to step down and therefore there had to be a leadership election of some kind. As for who would stand it was clear the contest was between three people. David Laws, Chris Huhne and Charles Kennedy. Laws was foreseen to be on the libertarian wing of the party, Huhne was on the Centrist Cable wing of the party and Charles Kennedy was definitely on the left of the party. But the result did seem rather forgone.
| Candidate | First Ballot | Second Ballot |
| David Laws | 41.01% | 53.24% |
| Charles kennedy | 40.62% | 46.76% |
| Chris Huhne | 18.37% |
It was a foregone conclusion that David laws was going to be elected he had become a vocal voice within the party of his views of becoming a more libertarian society. He had called for a 'Liberal and more freer Brtiain' It was known that Charles Kennedy was annoyed and remarked that the party was 'fucked under that disgrace'.
Shock
As Tony Blair came to sedgefield to give his speech no one knew what it was about thought to be about setting out the agenda for the second half of the fourth term of a labour government instead he came to announce his resignation of Leader of the Labour Party having been the Leader of the Party for 19 years and the Prime Minister for 16 years he had decided to give his speech which he outlined not only yh successes of the Labour Government. The Interesting part was that the resignation announcement only came in the last five minutes of the speech.
'So I have come today to announce my resignation as leader of the Labour Party, I have been Prime Minister for 16 years I think that is long enough and you know we have done a lot for this country and of course during the whole 24/7 media culture there will be those who will try to cast doubts on our achievements but go back to 1997 think back no really think back, think about your own living standards then in may 1997 and now, visit your local school any of them round here or any of them around this country. Ask when you heard of people lying on trollies or pensioners freezing to death in the winter, there is only one government who can say all of the following more jobs, fewer unemployed better health and education results and economic growth in every quarter only one government this one, So I give my thanks to you the British people for the times I have succeeded and my apologies for the times I have fallen short but good luck'.
He would be resigning once the Labour Party selected a new Leader and though that was most likely going to be Gordon Brown and with Brown being the front runner as a result of the extreme strong rates of economic growth that he had presided over along with the huge investments that had been made into public services. The focus on public services had been a key part of helping Labour stay in power but also the ending of the Blair premeriship would be on the 9th October 2013. He was the Longest Serving Prime Minister since lord Liverpool. Ken Clarke led the tributes by saying 'Undoubtley he was one of Labour's greatest leaders and had radically changed the country for the better and though we did disagree I never doubted Tony's kindness and Integrity', Gordon Brown had Also led the tributes saying 'He was Britians Greatest Prime Minister who did acres of good for this country and he will be remembered as a hero'.
Conservative Conference- Time For a Change-Brighton- 27/09/13-01/10/13
'We know that as conservatives that we need to serve the people and as conservatives we can only do that from a position of power and of signicnance that we simply can not go into the next election promising a series of tax cuts but nor should we go into the next election promising like labour do a series of uncounted spending pledges, there is one place we have to be and that is the centre ground emphasising the need for a strong defence, a prudent management of expenditure but also saying let us invest in the front line services let us make sure that as the third richest nation on earth we have a standard of healthcare that meets upto that and that is the core motivation behind the pledge to spend more than Labour on the NHS. Because yes they created it but we will maintain it. But we as conservatives understand that we need to aspire and in order to do this we must create an aspiring class of people so that under a conservative government we will seek to raise the threshold of inheritance tax to £2 million.(Long, Long applause) We will also raise the threshold of stamp duty to £500,000. Because whilst we do believe in having extremely strong public services we need to get the government off peoples backs and let people keep their money so lets keep making the change we need and lets win the next election'.
The speech was one of Portillo's best infront of the tory conference since 1995, clearly whilst Portillo had been one of the core leaders of the modernisers within the tory party he still knew how to effectively work a crowd and when he pledged the commitment to raise inheritance tax to £2 million it was getting conservatives ready for the next election and motivated behind the leadership of Ken Clarke. Micheal Heseltine had also been a very good speaker at the conference had also been a leader of the modernising movement he had a speech which had focused on the themes of modernisation and change.
'Well conference, here we are again gathered yet again in opposition but this time we are presented with a greater opportunity as w know that the prime minister will be going in a fortnight and the Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister we as the new modern compassionate Conservative party will be able to make the changes that we can make because we have done it before, but I keep hearing people saying that the conservatives are over as a political force now its true that the Labour Party will become the longest serving government in history but please remember that since Gordon Brown brags endlessly about his economic recovery and it's true that our economy is growing exceptionally well. Lets just remind the next prime minister that we remember a man called Chancellor Ken Clarke who initiated the plan for growth in 1995 and I seem to remember a Prime Minister also known as Me, who ended up not only supporting this long term iniaitve but worked with Ken to boost our economic growth. Gordon Brags about the public services investment and the fact that 44% of GDP is spent on public spending but I think we remember who initiated the public spending drive in 1996, Ken Clarke. And then we here the chancellor talk about the NHS investment scheme but who invested £9 billion in one year Ken Clarke and who is now proposing an extra £15 billion a year, Ken Clarke. So the chancellor can brag all he likes but remember this we started it and when we win the election we will continue it'.
It was another interesting speech from the Deputy Leader of the Conservative party and the shadow secretary of state for trade and industry. Like Portillo though Heseltine had been a moderniser he had still been able to get a conference to stand on his feet because ion his ability to orate with confidence but also an ability to work with the public. It was known that since the tories were on their way back to power, that even the right of the party couldn't do much because as many had remarked to them, 'You had your chance'. As Ken Clarke took to the podium it was an interesting speech with the tories being ahead he decided to use this speech as a means of getting the party around his message knowing that the next tory conference would, be used as a means of pitching to the country.
'We are here again in what has been an outstanding conference now with the polls looking as they are we could have just played it safe and gone sensible but we didn't we remained ambitious and as we said Time and time again it's time for a change. A radical change that whilst we won't change the Labour Party reforms on health and education in fact we will increase the amount of money that goes onto health and education and put more than Labour are doing , because we are the party that whilst we focus on self reliance and freedom and control we are also the party that has a devout comittment to public services. But why do we need to change because I believe the culture of regulation has gotten out of control and ended it up with that farce that didn't it with two police officers standing by a lake after a boy had drowned saying that because they felt the rule book said they couldn't intervene that they shouldn't well I say it's about time we throw out the rule book and start using some common sense and iniaitve. In Government we will take this revolution of freedom and control and use it to enhance society but we will also be the party of aspiration and as Micheal reminded us in that great speech we are back as the party of aspiration and we are going to raise the threshold of inheritance tax to £2 million (Still long applause). But in order to make that change and pursue that effective tax cutting agenda we must understand why people do vote Labour it's not because they love the state it's because they understand that whilst they want to be autonomous and have greater levels of freedom and control they also want to know that they will be helped and protected. And we make sure that this modern, compassionate, tolerant, caring Conservative party is just that so let's get out there and win the next election'.
The conference had been an undeniable success for the Conservative party because what it had done is that it had made the conservatives a party that looked genuinely ready for government, the tories hadn't won a general election in 21 years and therefore the public were giving a second look especially with their successes in not only the local elections but also within the Scottish parliament and the welsh sennned. The modernisation or the macminalisaiton of the Conservative party had been effective for the polls. As shown by these figures.
| Party | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 45% |
| Labour | 35% |
| Lib Dems | 18% |
Yep, an 10% lead in the opinion polls the conservatives looked genuinely in a good position the conference had been an undeniable success for the conservatives having successfully seized the centre groudn they looked popular and also with figures like David Cameron and Eric Pickles who were seen as the new generation of the conservatives.
| Conservatives 341 (+150) | Labour 258 (-76) | Lib Dem 24 (-47) |
An Overall Majority of 32 is what that poll predicted with the tories making some huge gains but also the way the the conservatives were going around the country talking about how the party had changed with it's new forward thinking socially democratic polices which were paying off but the fact that the polls were predicting an overall majority for the conservatives had been a huge morale booster for them. The labour Party were not surprised the conference had been a success but as there conference convened they knew they had a record to stand on.
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 77% | 21% |
| Tony Blair | 68% | 30% |
| David Laws | 31% | 65% |
Labour Conference-Manchester - 05/10/13-08/10/13- Changing Brtian for the Beter
As the Labour Party convened for yet another conference it was their sixteenth in government, Running the country for 16 years and winning 4 General Elections along with the minimum wage, devolution, tax credits, peace in Northern Ireland, the 10% rate basic of tax, huge investments in the NHS and schools, the ending of the budget deficit, the paying off the national debt, the longest period of sustained economic growth this country has ever seen, the lowest mortgage rates the country has ever seen, and the lowest rates of inflation. the lowest waiting times on the NHS and the highest rates of GSCEs and A-Levels that the country has ever seen These were some of the many huge crowning achievements that the Labour Government had to it's name and despite the rise of Ken Clarke which had thrown them off their guard they were still polling at 35%. So as Tony Blair took to the stage for his final conference speech he was given the reception of a hero, with it being clear that his time was over he was going to give a conference speech which would be able to make it clear that this was the Labour Party. His Speech was 71 minutes long and here is one of the key extracts.
'Friends, this is it we are the natural party of government in this country, remember what life was like in 1997 the NHS on it's knees, the 18 month waiting lists, an education system on the verge of collapse, inner cities abandoned and for all that is left to do just for a moment dwell on what has been achieved, the longest period of sustained economic growth, mass unemployment a term we have to be reminded of , the ending of the national debt, the most sustained investment in the NHS and Education. Unemployment at the lowest point for nearly 60 years, 3.3 million new homes and bright new dawns for Leeds,Cardiff, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham,Bradford and Manchester. And just remember this is a changed country and there is the tories having to pretend they love it all, the minimum. wage which they opposed, bank of England independence which they never did and foreign aid which they cut now they fall over themselves saying how much they agree with us don't lose heart from it take heart from it. And I could;dn't have done it without people, I couldn't have done it without the most successful deputy leader this country has ever had and the most revolutionary transport secretary John Prescott. Or without Alan's brilliant expertise in foreign affairs and reforming the NHS and making it the most effective public service. Or without Bob Marshall Andrews and Rodney's expertise in reducing unemployment so that we have the lowest rate of unemployment in 60 years. Or without great ministers like Jack Straw or David Blunkett or Margret Beckett. But I know that New Labour would never had happen and four election victories could never have been secured without Gordon Brown. He has presided over the strongest economy this country has ever had and he is a remarkable with a remarkable mind. So here we are finishing the conference after 16 years of government and despite what the cynics say we have made some extremely transformational changes and we have a duty to keep winning and to jeep changing so ;et's keep doing it'.
He got a standing ovation for what was an outstanding speech, though the next election looked uncertain, Tony Blair had made history he was the first Labour leader to win four general election and in fact he was the Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool to win Four elections and though it looked no where near certain that the Labour Party would win a fifth term one thing was undeniable that Tony Blair was Brtiain's most successful prime minister in electoral terms and interns of achievements he is in the top three. But also he finished his premiership with a 74% approval rating.
Labour Leadership Election- 7/10/13
Deputy Leadership Election
As John Prescott declares his resignation once Tony left, the field was wide open for some very interesting candidates, David Miliband, Alan Johnson, Harriet Harman, Bob Marshall Andrews and Charles Clarke and Tessa Jowell. The field was interesting there was a clear distinction between the centrists such as Milliband and Johnson but then there were those on the left well Bob Marshall Andrews who had ran a significant campaign talking about him being 'the conscientious of the leader'. Harriet Harman was an interesting candidate because of her personal freindship with Gordon Brown it had allowed to be the only candidate to have a genuine influence over the potential next Prime Minister. Charles Clarke interesting candidate as well having been the clear education reformer working with Gordon on the Graduate tax which had gauranteed a long term funding plan for the Education. Tessa Jowell the sassy articulate and plain speaking culture secretary. Who was universally liked amongst all MPs in the commons.Deputy Leadership Election
Poltical Spectrum
(0- Pure Blarite, 10- Pure Old Labour)
David Milliband - 0.9
Tessa Jowel- 1.8
Alan Johnson - 2.9
Harriet Harman - 4.1
Charles Clarke - 6.1
Bob Marshall Andrews 8.9
| Candidates | First Ballot | Second Ballot | Third Ballot | Fourth Ballot | Fifth Ballot | Final Result |
| Harriet Harman | 26.51% | 27.02% | 31.01% | 37.43% | 53.18% | 53.18% |
| Bob Marshall Andrews | 23.38% | 24.11% | 28.56% | 33.53% | 46.82% | 46.82% |
| Tessa Jowell | 15.32% | 16.13% | 21.11% | 29.04% | ||
| David Milliband | 17.09% | 17.81% | 18.09% | |||
| Alan Johnson | 10.35% | 15.06% | ||||
| Charles Clarke | 7.85% |
So Harriet Harman was to be the new Deputy Leader, the vote was close and winning 46.8% of the vote was very respectable for Bob Marshall Andrews and It was near certain that Tessa Jowell would get a good job in ht government in fact everyone would. But the election of Harriet Harman was significant because it was known that should Gordon Brown become the PM as many think he could be then it would be an effective relationship between the PM and DPM.Leadership Election
As the conference re-convened for it's third day there was the announcement of the leadership election, it had just been a straight fight between. Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown. Milburn who was the extremely successful foreign secretary who had co-oridanted the British troops from leaving Iraq and had very good relations with the British Alies and had Brough the British foreign policy to thinking to the Middle East. and the health secretary who invested the greatest amount of cash for the NHS and the deep reform which had helped the NHS have a 75% approval rating. versus the chancellor who had presided over the strongest economy that this country had ever seen, the chancellor who presided over the National plan, the 10% rate of tax and the elimination of the National debt, Elevating Britain's economic standing to make it the fastest growing economy in the Western world and second only to China. The Same Gordon Brown who had been chancellor for 16 years who had been the articulate of the whole New Labour concept. Though Milburn was well regarded mainly due to his clear understanding of public services and foreign policy and polling did show he could take Labour to a fifth term. There was only going to be one genuine winner.
Politcal Spectrum
(0-Pure Blairite, 10-Pure Old Labour)
Gordon Brown- 4.2
Alan Milburn - 0.5
| Candidates | PLP | CLP | Affiliated Members | Total |
| Gordon Brown | 55.32% | 61.25% | 68.31% | 61.81% |
| Alan Milburn | 44.68% | 38.75% | 31.69% | 38.19% |
This result did look inevtiable, though Alan Milburn was a strong opponent many knew that Gordon Brown was going to be the Prime Minister and therefore as Brown got up to his podium he gave a speech in which he tried to heal and unite.
Victory Speech
'Well thank you, before I talk about the new Leadership let me just praise the old leadership, Tony Blair has led this country with extreme distinction wether it's achieving peace in Northern Ireland, rebuilding the inner cities, transforming the NHS and Education and winning four general elections, his leadership has made this country more secure, prosperous and fairer. Tony you have led this country with immense brilliance and I will follow in your footsteps. I know that this country is so brilliant and we have made some outstanding changes and it's true that the tories have some prominence but never forget this it is the Labour Party which is the natural party of government. But let me just explain how I envisage this country a nation where anyone who can get on will get on a society that continues to say to our elderly rest easy and to our young let's thrive together. Running this country in changing the health service and education in investing more into our public services but also keeping the economy strong.So when people ask me what is our priority is say this, Building on the successes of this country and let's keep moving thank you'
As Gordon Brown took control over the country it looked clear that the Labour Party were rebuilt and reformed and that whilst the tories were strong and were getting stronger they were going to have to have a helluva fight in order to win the next election because of Gordon Brown.
Up nEXT
The New Cabinet
First 100 Days
Local Elections 2014
European Elections 2014
A Crisis of Confidence.
Tory Conference
Labour Conference
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2014
A New Government
As Gordon Brown convened for the new government there was an element of change within the Air, Brown had been the longest serving chancellor that the country has ever had, the reason that this was an effective start is that Brown's speech to the Labour Party conference was designed to unify the public and it had been successful. As Brown moved into No.10 his cabinet was done in under 95 minutes.
Prime Minister-Gordon Brown
Deputy Prime Minister- Harriet Harman
Chancellor of the Exchequer - Ed Balls
Foreign Secretary - Alan Milburn
Home Secretary - David Blunkett
Education Secretary -Tessa Jowell
Health Secretary - Andy Burnham
Work and Pensions Secretary - Bob Marshall Andrews
Secretary of State for Industry- Jack Straw
Chief Secretary of the Treasury - Geoffrey Robinson
Employment Secretary - Rodney Bickerstaffe
International Development Secretary - Ed Milliband
Environment Secretary- Alan Johnson
Minister for Women and Equalities- Harriet Harman
Welsh Secretary - Alun Micheal
Scottish Secretary- Douglas Alexander
As the Cabinet convened for their first meeting the cabinet were interesting it was a mixture with traditional blairites like Alan Milburn and Jacqui Smith with some of Browite thinkers like Ed Balls and Ed Milliband and Geoffrey Robinson but also Bob Marshall Andrews on the core left of the party, Brown had formed his cabinet as a means of bridging the divides within the party to make people feel that their voices will be heard across the party. It was an interesting selection that was in away trying to emulate what Ken Clarke had tried to do with the Conservative party in broadening his cabinet except Clarke had kept all his in the centre.
First 100 Days
To say those days were turbulent was an understatement, In the very first 48 hours there were two terrorist attacks one in Leeds and the other in London. The way Brown felt with that was u iversally praised even by some of his fiercest critics as a man who was able to heal the nation. But also with the floods that had occurred in the cumbria region along with the Devon region, Brown was filmed to be helping out the victims having stayed in both locations for four days each. He was able to convey an image of genuine sincerity as a leader who was genuinely with the people and therefore was able to portray a sense of compassion within his leadership.. Though Equally Ken Clarke was there with the flood victims and therefore it showed that he as well had the compassion within him as well. But Brown came across very well.
There was another major crisis within Northern Rock Building society which was on the verge of collapse, Brown then decided to be bold in his actions immediately nationalising it and therefore decided to safeguard the pensions of the employees of Northern Rock by promising £4.5 billions but the bank was nationalised. So with crisis after crisis and with society developing even more and Brown seeming to have super powers to solve them. The question was what next?, Brown had explicitly ruled out a General Election in 2015 but here is how the polls looked.
| Party | Percentage |
| Labour | 43% |
| Conservatives | 37% |
| Lib Dems | 18% |
| Labour 363 (+27) | Conservatives 228 (+37) | Lib Dems 23 (-48) |
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Gordon Brown | 81% | 15% |
| Ken Clarke | 68% | 30% |
| David Laws | 29% | 70% |
Labour were back but with the clear ruling out of a General Election it just seemed that Brown was having a honey moon that after years of being behind in the polls suddenly they were back but this was mainly due to a personal vote of Gordon Brown and therefore the popularity of the Prime Minister was strong
Budget 2014
It was Ed Balls first budget speech as Chancellor having worked under Brown for the first thirteen years until he became an MP in 2010. As Balls stood up for his speech he had several things going away mainly this the strongest economy that the country had ever seen with the lowest rates of unemployment. As Balls started going through the dispatch box he announced rates of economic growth of 5.6% in 2014, 5.8% in 2015 , 5.7% in 2016 , 5.8% in 2017, 6.1% in 2018 and 6.3% in 2019. It did look like things could only get better with the economy growing year on year. These were some of the strong economic figures that allowed the UK to potentially have the highest economic growth rates on the earth by 2023. But also the rates of budget surplus were also extremely high £168 billions in 2014, £177 billions in 2015 , £190 billions in 2016 , £199 billions in 2017 , £210 billions in 2018 , £219 billions in 2019. The Inflation rates were also very low in 0.6% in 2014, 0.4% in 2015 , 0.6% in 2016 , 0.4% in 2017, 0.3% in 2018 and 0.1% in 2019. The trade surplus was £57 billions in 2014, £69 billions in 2015 , £80 billions in 2016 , £89 billions in 2017 , £100 billions in 2018 and £108 billions in 2019. These were some of the strongest trade figures that this country has ever had. Though Labour had been running the country for 17 years it was known that they had given Britain the strongest economy in Europe and the western world.
As For Public services the high levels of investment was extremely predictable, the NHS had received some huge investments since 1997 from £42 billions to £179 billions and then Balls announced an increase in expenditure on the NHS by £10 billions every single year. This was going to lead to the hiring of 27,000 nurses , 21,000 doctors and 22 new hospitals, this was all for just year, the rise of standards within the NHS had been more than hoped plus the fact that the constant levels of investment in the health service had been effective due to the constant investment but also there had serious levels of fundemental reforms within the system of waiting lists had been reduced dramatically from the 4.7 million to 2.1 million and the new 10 week guarantee had ensured that nobody had to wait longer than 2 and a half months for treatment. The average booking times for an appointment was 48 hours. The radical reforms to front line services primarily on the NHS had been effective and therefore had been a core achievement.
The reforms that were made to Education were also substantial expenditure increases within his education policy, the Labour Party had made a focus on the drive on standards the reason the issue of standards was because there was an issue with the regional disparity of standards and therefore it was felt that the repairing of the north of England would be the key element the Northern Schools programs which in effect used those who had become graduates and then asked them to become teachers in the worst schools and in return they would be paid £45,000 a year. This focus on education had not only been focused on standards but also the building schools for the future programs and which had led to the building of 3,159 new or refurbished schools. So therefore the emphasis that was p-laced on education had led to an increase in funding of £7 billions.
The increasing in the funding for the front line services had been the key part of New Labour's agenda in that they have a fundamental support of not just the public services but also having an emphasis on radically refroming public services. The necessity they had placed on increasing funding for the public services had changed both parties way of thinking in that all three major parties now supported radical increases in public spending and that the era of austerity was over.
As Ken Clarke stood up for his 8th budget speech he knew that this would be hard for him to do, an economy growing rapidly and therefore he decided to respond with pure pragmatism that had common to define the Clarke leadership 'So here we are 17 budgets later and where is the change, buildings that are now run down communities that are left behind people feeling that the government are no longer on their side, that is the issue with the Labour Party whilst they have had a strong economy created by me they have invested more in the public services and that's good but they have not done the reform. I see the people on the Labour benches saying cuts, let me just read them the tory policy document which I have written along with the deputy leader and the shadow chancellor, 'We intend to raise public spending on the NHS and Education by 4% every year' now what part of that makes the muttering idiots think that means cuts, we need to have a radical reform agenda that invests heavily in public services but reforms them for the better and that's what we will do'.
Local Elections 2014
As for the Labour Party these would be difficult elections as though they would be fighting this of the 2009 Local Elections, the party hand been running the country for 17 years and whilst Gordon Brown was very popular the Labour Party were polling on average 35% respectable as that is for a government it looked unlikely that there would be any serious gains ,made by the Labour Party. The campaign on the Labour Party's behalf was an interesting as they were going around the country talking about the values of social justice and fairness and the radical increases of expenditure on the front line service. Indeed it was known that these issue always polled well for the Labour Party. SO the campaign was centred around the issue of public service services Ed Balls, Alan Milburn and Gordon Brown were the people at the head of the campaign. Peter Mandelson had been brought back into the government as the Minister for the Cabinet office and this was mainly so he could be Gordon Brown's right hand man.
The tories were in a state of euphoria, the Clarke leadership of the conservatives had been a key factor in helping the tories not just be the party of opposition but now a party that looked ready for government. Over 9 years the conservatives had gone from being in third to first place in the opinion polls. Regularly polling on average 43% this was attributed to three things the leadership of Ken Clarke and the bloke image along with the centrism had helped. The two Micheal's , Micheal Heseltine and Micheal Portillo had been a key part of the modernising movement, Heseltine the former prime minister had been appointed as the shadow secretary of state for industry and the deputy leader of the party. Portillo who was the Shadow Chancellor by committing the conservatives to Labour's spending plans had removed the stigma of voting conservative. The fight for the centre had now become a battle between the two major parties.
But as the election result convened it was an interesting result.
| Parties | Councils | Councillors | Percentage |
| Conservatives | 92 (+7) | 8,,757 (+634) | 44.9% (+4.4%) |
| Labour | 67 (+11) | 6,889 (+1,768) | 41.8% (+6.4%) |
| Lib Dems | 12 (-16) | 1,432 (-2,389) | 13.3% (-10.8%) |
| No Overall Control | 10 (-2) |
*The changes in the percentages are based of the 2009 Local Elections
| Conservatives 304 (+113) | Labour 301 (-35) | Lib Dems 15 (-56) |
That is how close the election is, the tories would Gain 113 seats and would be on the verge of entering power but the Labour Party would have a stunning 301 seats and this was the encapsulation. throughout the local elections the tories had done very well to make more gains on an exceptional local election performance 5 years before but for the Labour Party after 17 years of running the country there was a genuine prospect that the Labour Party would win the next general election. This is what the common theme was that far from being a foregone conclusion that whilst the tories were the frontrunners you couldn't write Labour off. As for the Lib Dems, Charles Kennedy had called it an 'atrocious night' they had lost over half their councils and 2/3rds of their councillors. The talks if a split were running through the Lib Dems which were in a state of crisis.
Tory Conference- Power to the People - Manchester- 28.09/14- 01/10/14
As the conference convened for another year and their seventeenth in opposition the conference did feel regenerated knowing that this would be their final one before the general election there was a genuine form of optimism, the re-energising had been the key part of making the conservatives feel that the next election was there's for the taking as the conservative convened for there conservative conference. There were to be a clear line up of speakers, David Cameron, David Davis ,Micheal Portillo, Micheal Heseltine and Ken Clarke these were the key figures within the party along with the likes Eric Pickles, Alan Duncan, George Osbourne, Micheal Fabricant, Theresa May and Oliver Letwin. These were the key figures within the conservative and had been a form of modernisation.
As David Davis took the to the platform to talk about crime it was new to say the least.
'As conservatives we believe in tackling crime and this can be done through many ways the first is through hiring 25,000 new police officers which we are going to do, not just by increasing their pay to £30,000 a year but by throwing out unnecessary paperwork. Do you know in this country a police officer has to fill out an 5 paged form for stoping someone, not for stop and search, not for arresting for stoping someone. What kind of nonsense is this, how can a police officer be allowed to be on the beat if there spending their time filling out paperwork because they had the audacity to stop someone. Paperwork like this will have a special place under a tory government, the bin (Applause). We are going to have a focus to make sure that 70% of the police time is spent on the beat. But whilst we are going to hire new police officers we also need to build more prisons, and of Course we will keep the current rehabilitations schemes because they are effective but I take great hum bridge to those who say Prison is not a detterant, it is. (applause) So we should build 20 new prisons under a conservative government. And we will do this but also we must radically reform the inner cities, I grew up on a council estate and I know and understand the problems a lack of disciple a lack of order within the inner cities. Now there has been genuine gains by the labour party in reforming the inner cities and we support that but where are the community support officers they scrapped them , where is the neighbourhood polciing it doesn't exist, and there centralising agenda on making everything go through Whitehall. A Conservative Government would give power to those who know best, the people power to the people that's our mantra making the government do less so people can do more so let's get out there and do it'
It was an interesting speech as Davis had focused it around issue of crime and disorder in a traditional tory manner but there was a sense of reconciliation in that the clear acknowledgement that the labour party had not failed but the conservatives could do better. As David Cameron took to the podium to adress the conference about the issue of foreign affairs. Cameron who was known to be very pro-europeans and has decided to address the conference on not just Europe but Britain in the World:
'Well here we are on the verge of a form of radical change within this country this party has always been a party that has been focus on giving greater levels of freedom and control to the individual we have always been the party that has been focused on enhancing people power and why do we focus on this issue is because we do believe in giving power to the people but from warrington to washington from Bolton to Berlin. The radical reforms that need to be done must be done as a means of getting government off the backs of the people in order to radically reform the lives of the people, so let's take a few issues first Europe. I passionately believe that Britain has to be at the heart of Europe. We don't want a United States of Europe, we don't want to join the Euro or open up our borders. But the development of trade with other nations the reason that this is important is important there are 3 million people whose jobs depend on our trade with the European Union. We can't ever consider the notion that we simply shut the doors on our neighbours. Now let's make our policy clear there will be no referendum on the EU under a conservative government we must be at the heart of Europe in order to make sure that Europe becomes a have of enterprise thank you'
As David Cameron came off the stage it was an interesting conference so far, Cameron. was definelty a pro-europeans and though he had tailored the message to the soft eurosceptics in making his opposition. to the United States of Europe being clear. And so came along Micheal Heseltine, Heseltine remains the darling of the tory conference as thought he views did clearly differ from the heart of the tory party he was a rousing orator.
'My friends by the time we convene the next conference in 2015 we will have a fate we could become the next government or we will be in opposition, the radical theme of change is something that will come to dominate the next election wether the country is prepared to stick with a tired worn out labour party that have done some good things but need to go, or wether the country votes for a new bright optimistic centrist compassionate Conservative party. Now why do we focus on this divide because there is a clear divide between the Labour Party which wants to reduce aspiration and enterprise and a Conservative party that wants to enhance greater levels of aspiration and why do we need to focus on the great concepts of aspiration and enterprise it's because if we want to have full employment in this country then it can only be done seriously through the private sector with the state assistance. A Conservative Britain would keep the New Deal and the National Plan. We have always said that the country will not want the clock turned back but equally they are not prepared to have five more years of a government that has done some good things but has not focused on revitalising and energising the private sector we want to give power to the people and this is through a job so let's make it clear that when the prime minister fires the starting gun we are going to take the labour party apart like we have never done before, we need to win the next election so let's do it'.
it wasn't his best but undeniably it had the conference ready the fact is Micheal Heseltine had got the conference as always in the palm of his hand, as Micheal Portillo took to the stage he and Eric Pickles along with Alan Duncan had focused on a radical new social democratic agenda for the country in funding the public services and listening to what the country needs. Indeed many had attributed to the change in Portillo to being a factor in the tories being on the verge of power so as she gave the speech for the tory conference here is what he had to say.
'In this country there are people who are anxious over the return of a conservative government and though we are in a much stronger position that we were a decade ago there are issues with people simply not trusting us, if you go into communities like South Wales, London, Scotland or the north east. People are deeply hostile to the election of a conservative government. Change is essential, we are passionate supporters of the free market and therefore we support low taxes and the need to have greater levels of private sector involvement but what we need to do is not to ditch our principles we need to keep our values of aspiration, enterprise and opportunity for all. These are true conservative values,. the core value which says in this country we all have a duty too make sure that we are not dependent on the state and that government does not subsidise our way of life. But what this government does wrong is that it has raised taxes 93 times and whilst we need to fund our public services and have more money for the public services, and that's why should we become the government we will not only match labours spending plans but raise them by 2% more than Labour. we must be the guardians of public services. Our mentality as a party has to not be giving handouts but giving a hand ups, we are the party of change and for those who want a change that is the new conservative party'
Interesting speech by Micheal Portillo who had been the leading bastion for change within the Conservative party and though Clarke and Heseltine had been in effect the originators of the entire movement of change had been effective and therefore it had been one of the key focusing of the issue of the housing crisis and unemployment. The tory Reform Group had Micheal Portillo as the President of the group which was in effect a socially democratic centrist grouping. But as Ken Clarke took to the podium he decided to make a speech that was 70 minutes and he did it without notes. It was an unscripted speech that was to be done for the purpose of showing the country what he believed.
'Well as this conference comes to a close just understand this we are polling very well at the minute but and I can't emphasise this enough we need to stay the course and I have heard a lot of talk about lurching and let me just say this we are not going to be lurching to left and we are not going to be lurching to the right we are just going to provide the leadership that this country needs, hope for our country and modern conservative change is required. the reason I focus on a need for change is because the country will not put up with a Conservative party that seems intent upon simply turning the clock back, we have to face to the hard reality that this is 2014 not 1997 and therefore there are demands that this party have got to acknowledge in that we are the party that of course believes in opportunity or all. but also if we can continue to focus on the change in that whilst we are the focus on the issues of social justice and the issues that we as conservatives should be talking about. Because when we don't talk about it we then allow Labour to completely change and lie about us, because we do care for those who need help and do require the state. People have to trust us. Because my friends if people do not feel safe with the choice of voting conservative they will vote Labour. If we do not continue to change this party then we will not be Able to win the next election , so when the election comes be in no doubt we can win it but we need to keep assuring and work with the public.
A very effective speech from the leader of the oppisiton the entire tory conference had been a success in not just re-assuring the public but also keeping people thinking in the right place that with the total collapse of the Liberal Democrats and therefore the conservatives would benefit some but so would Labour as well because a lot of the social democrats were leaving the Lib Dems for the Labour Party. But it was known that should there be a new party that would be formed in the centre ground that would very well be ripping apart all three parties there was a case needed for the centre ground.
| Party | Percent |
| Conservatives | 43% |
| Labour | 39% |
| Lib Dems | 15% |
| Conservatives 313 (+122) | Labour 289 (-47) | Lib Dems 13 (-58) |
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 74% | 25% |
| Gordon Brown | 63% | 35% |
| David Laws | 24% | 72% |
These were extremely strong approval ratings for Ken Clarke throughout his leadership one of the the interesting parts was that Clarke never saw his approvals went below 60% and he was undeniably a popular leader and though he was popular so was the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown had been an effective Prime Minister who had been ahead in the opinion polls for the first 10 months and though he was behind polling between 36%-41% was hardly a shambles.
Labour Conference- Leeds- The Next Step Forward - 03/10/14-08/10/14
As the Labour Party convened for their 17th conference as a government it had been one of their core triumphs because the Labour Party had been focused on the quality of life issues such as the health service and education and the remodenisaiton of the public services indeed the feel good factor which had come to dominate the core thinking of the Labour Party which is that whilst we need to level up the country and therefore provide greater levels of employment, increasing the GDP, the lowest inflation rate that this country has ever had, the longest period of economic growth that the uK ever had, the minimum wage, winter fuel allowance, tax credits, the NHS Funding increases by £120 billion extra, the huge increase in education standards, the falling in crime and many other achievements is what had helped the Labour Party proclaim that they are the natural party of government along with the fact they had won four general elections. There were many speeches from Andy Burnham, Alan Milburn and Ed Balls and the Prime Minister himself. Andy's speech was mainly focused on having a pure defence of the NHS.
'Conference, this is a turning point as we are on the verge of a general election now when we start knocking on those doors just remember our record, 78,000 more nurses, 147 new hospitals, the lowest waiting times on records, 2.5 million people of the NHS Waiting lists, the sustained investment deal gaunrateeing an extra £7 billion extra for the NHS every year, the radical reforms on A&E services that makes sure 95% of patients are seen within 2 hours, 90% of people not paying for social care, Prescriptions charges are now only £3 and the next labour government will abolish them. Hospital waiting times for operations down from 18 months to 10 weeks. So when people tell us that we can't do anything just remind them of this record. We have done so much with our public services and the reforms we have enacted to the NHS have paid off. 93% satisfaction rating with the NHS last year that is something that has never been done before. The reforms we have done along with the huge investment in the NHS has allowed the Labour Party to become the party of the NHS and don't let anyone to take that away from us. But above all out greatest reform to the NHS is the walk in centres, this allows people who need help to receive treatment from a specialist within 30 minutes we have so many crowning achievements and on health never forget what we do when we are running this country'
It was a rousing speech from Andy Burnham it was known that Labour were in a spot of bother about public services because whilst the reforms had been undeniably successful and had recieved public approval, the main issue was that Micheal Portillo was promising to spend more than Labour and that would take a huge feather out of their cap. But as Alan Milburn came to the platform he was seen by many as the flagship of the Blairites and should Brown lose in 2015, it was probable that Alan Milburn would be the next leader of the Labour Party.
'Friends, this is our seventh year of government and be in no doubt we have many achievements to our name wether its the minimum wage, devolution, tax credits, the focus on driving up standards within our education system or the winter fuel allowance. Or of course the NHS funding and reforms and as Andy said in that great speech of his we are the party of the NHS and no one will take that away from us. But it's not just domestic services where we have achievements, we are the party that gave peace to Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is Britain that has got 2 climate change accords signed that will now make sure that by 2033 we will be net zero. It is Britain that got 100% debt forgiveness for Africa. It is the Labour Government of Britain that is breaking down barriers of trade so that this can be a truly global nation. It is this great country which is not only advocating for the causes of peace but is developing peace. Britain is at the heart of Europe and never forget that because of our prime minister we have the fastest growing economy in the western world. So don't let people tell us that our best days are behind us and we must simply settle for what we have, my friends our best days lie ahead and we must walk to them'
Another great speech from Alan Milburn and even his worst critics would accept that he has been an effective voice for Britain and though Brown was liked immensely for his financial expertise it was known that leaders did find it easier to talk to Milburn due to his amiability which most felt the prime minister lacked. Ed Balls was next, Balls was an interesting. chancellor it was known that had Tony left in 2008 as he did initially promise then Balls would be on his 8th conference speech. But the benefit of Ed Balls as chancellor is that he had known Brown and worked with him. It was rumoured that Ed Balls got more consultation over Brown's budgets than Blair ever did. As he stood for his speech eh stuck to the theme of lauding the successes of Labour
'Well this is it friends, we are here for our seventeenth year in government and this is emphasised because no Labour government has ever done this and it is a stunning achievement. But we have not used this time for waste we have given Britain the strongest economy and the fastest growing economy in the western world and by 2019 we will have the fastest growing economy in the world. We have the lowest inflation rates in the western world, we are officially a debt free country and that is a crowning achievement. This party because we have focused on comapsisoante prudence in our first term and getting the public finances in order we have spent 17 years getting the benefits of our strong economic management.But this has also allowed to put in huge amounts in our public services in 1995 £29 billion was given to the NHS, by 2015 that figure will be £187 billion, in 1995 £21 billion was given to education that will be £113 billion by 2015. In 1995 5.1 million children were below the poverty line and now that figure will be 1.1 million. It has been a long effort and through the policies of change and reform. For example we introduced the child trust funds which has allowed any child when they turn 18 to have £1,500 in a savings account so that they have a stake in their future how is it that not a great policy. Or the fact that we have reduce Inner city poverty from 76% in 1995 to 24% in 2015. These essential reforms we have made have radically changed this country that have been extremely beneficial for this country. Most of these reforms would never have been done had it not been for bold pragmatic Labour Governments. We are the party of change so let's keep making these changes.
The speech did Hamer through the message which is that a labour government would introduce and keep introducing bold and substantial changes such as the New Deal and the National Plan. But the speech was not the best conference ever heard and that Balls who was not exactly a natural orator was more of a good debater. And as the prime minsiter took the stage he knew that he would be able to keep the Labour Party in power and that this would, be his final chance this year to fully connect with the electorate.
'Freinds this is it we are on the verge of something that is quite special we could win a fifth general election, never been done before by any party this would be mesmeric and why is this because the public look our record of the longest period of economic growth that this country has ever had, the lowest rate of inflation, the longest decline in the rate of unemployment, properly funding our NHS and Education, the winter fuel allowance , minimum wage, sure start , devolution, free museum entry , the ban on handguns, tax credits, income allowances, the pension credit, the trebling of aid, the cancelling of debt, the ban on cluster bombs that's the Britain we have been building together and that's the change we choose. So when we fight the next election in 9 months time when we fight the election we need to got out and remind the people of what the choice ism a Labour Party that will continue to radcally invest in these front line services, that will continue to the policy of peace a party that believes in an energising society where there is nothing that is impossible where anything can be done. Or do we choose a Conservative party who have not changed their minds. This is a truly great country and I'm convinced that there is nothing wrong with our country that can not be cured by what is right with our country. As a nation we have everything going for us so please let's no go back to square one let's keep going and make the next step together thank you.
The conference had been a success for the Labour Party, the party had effectively reminded the British people of what it's use was to the country in that they had radically changed the country. one of labour's biggest issues was how do you beat a tory party who were led by the most popular politician in the country and with the likes of Micheal Heseltine and David Cameron. The detoxification agenda for the tories which had started since the day Ken Clarke had become the leader off the conservative party was effective and here is how the polls looked.
| Party | Percent |
| Labour | 44% |
| Conservatives | 38% |
| Lib Dems | 14% |
| Labour 366 (+30) | Conservatives 239 (+15) | Lib Dems 13 (-58) |
| Leader | Approve | Disaprove |
| Ken Clarke | 77% | 20% |
| Gordon Brown | 71% | 23% |
| David Laws | 19% | 77% |
Labour were in a good place though the polls did regularly fluctuate the conference had provided them with susbtantial momentum going into the general election campaign. But if these figures were right Labour's majority would rise from 22 to 82 seats. It would guarantee them a decade in power. So that's why these figures were providing the party with genuine confidence. The collapse of the Lib Dems had been a huge benefit to Labour as the huge gains made by Ken Clarke were somewhat offset by the socially democratic Lib Dems going to Gordon Brown's Labour.
UP NextBudget 2015
Labour Manifesto
Tory Manifesto
Lib Dem Manifesto
BBC Election Debate
Paxman Interviews
Question Time
Final Day of Campaign
Election Night
Attachments
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This TL would be quite good if it wasn't for the fact that it is a total unreasonable left wing wank. Even in the US in TTL he had the democrats win in both 2000 and 2004, and then somehow win the White House for a FIFTH TIME in a row with John Edwards of all people in 2008. He didn't cover the 2012 US elections I don't believe, but I feel pretty safe in saying that it would've been made a John Edwards landslide as part of the never-ending left wing dominance and completely unbalanced political situation that is this TL.
I know that pretty harsh, but the writing and style of this TL is really quite good which makes it frustrating to be so unrealistic.
I agree, the author is always very detailed and researched when it comes to his TLs, but I do feel that parts of are incredibly implausible.
Although the Republicans are only competitive really because of the Electoral College. IOTL. They keep losing the popular vote, so maybe its not totally impossible. But gosh it lacks drama.......