[A-List] UK state: political realignment

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Phil Ferguson has been charting events in New Zealand very well over on
Marxmail. His analysis of the transition of the NZ Labor Party into one to
the right of the Tory National Party (courtesy of persons like Roger
Douglas, Mike Moore and Helen Clark) may just find a mirror image in the UK,
as Blair, having transformed New Labour into the state party, drifts ever
more rightward. The Liberal Democrats are positioning themselves to the left
whilst ensuring that mainstream politics remains grounded in pro-EU/eurozone
membership rhetoric, thus further marginalising the disoriented
Conservatives, who are now reduced to offering policies which, in their more
enlightened moments, are reminiscent of the sort of policies once touted by
the Labour Party. The Conservative Party, however, is incapable of
incorporating such policies. Another vehicle of the kind David Owen has
always touted (Cold War liberalism of a kind Americans for Democratic Action
once symbolised) would fit the bill being formulated by Archie Norman here.
The obvious difference in this post-Berlin wall world would be that, instead
of being tough on the USSR, our Owenites would instead be "tough on Europe",
much to the delight of their US sponsors. They would be tough on Northern
Ireland too, further fitting into the new geopolitical strategy formulated
by Rumsfeld, Perle et al. How Blair must regret having relied so much on
another US president for help in pushing the Good Friday Agreement. It's a
precedent that bodes ill for the foreseeable future.


Tory modernisers call for higher taxes
By Andrew Grice Political Editor
The Independent, 11 November 2002

Tory modernisers have called on Iain Duncan Smith to support tax rises and
convince voters that he is committed to improving public services.

Archie Norman, a prominent moderniser and ally of Michael Portillo, said in
an interview with The Independent that the Tories should go further than
their pledge to put public services before the traditional tax-cutting
agenda.

The former Asda chairman and Tunbridge Wells MP said: "The Conservatives
have to accept that a competitive country is a country with a competitive
transport, education and health infrastructure, that our long-term wealth
creation depends on having a great transport system, very educated people to
join the workforce and a healthy population." He added: "Investment in those
services, if it comes at the expense of temporarily raising taxation, can be
a good deal."

But his call will anger traditionalists, who are worried the decision to
downgrade tax cuts has blunted their attacks on Labour's tax increases.

Mr Duncan Smith, bruised by last week's Tory rebellion over gay adoption,
faces further tension over Labour's plans to repeal Section 28 and give gay
people the same rights as married couples through legally registered civil
partnerships.

Mr Norman said: "We should be adopting the very conservative idea of equal
respect for all people. Just because some may choose to adopt a different
lifestyle that doesn't make them a less worthy person when it comes to
adoption, rights to benefits, or tax breaks."

-----

Archie Norman: 'I have failed in both my political objectives: to make the
Tories electable again and to serve in government'
The Conservative politician and businessman's mantra is not "unite or die"
but "change or die"
By Andrew Grice Political Editor
The Independent, 11 November 2002

It is pretty rare to find an MP prepared to describe himself as a failure in
politics and to admit his party is failing. But Archie Norman, who
successfully turned round the Asda supermarket chain, candidly admits he has
failed to revive the other ailing patient on his list - the Conservative
Party.

Mr Norman became an MP in 1997 with two goals, to make the Tories electable
again and to serve in government. "A lot of my friends would say I have not
succeeded in either mission. I think they are substantially right," he
admits.

A leading moderniser, Mr Norman campaigned for Michael Portillo in last
year's Tory leadership election. When Iain Duncan Smith won, he decided to
leave the Shadow Cabinet. Instead, along with his fellow "Portillista"
Francis Maude, he set up C-Change, a think-tank designed to act as an
"ice-breaker" for modernisation, and Policy Exchange, an independent
research body.

Since July, Mr Norman has been working six days a week at Energis, where he
is chairman, as he tries to turn round the troubled telecoms company. One
survey showed he had voted in only 55 per cent of Commons divisions, putting
him 550th out of 659 MPs. He describes his voting record as "average" for a
Tory MP, denies that he has "opted out", and insists he plans to stay on as
MP for Tunbridge Wells after the next general election. All the same, he
adds: "I am not so smitten with political ambition that there is nothing
else I can contemplate doing."

There are already enough professional politicians, he says. "I am of more
value to the party if I am something of an outsider. I can bring experience
of another world." He is not a "political fanatic". Most MPs, he says, enjoy
the process, the status and measure their success in the strength of their
argument and language. "If you spend most of your career trying to achieve
things and you ask at the end of the day why the world is different in a
small way, then politics is exasperating," he sighs.

After a bizarre week in Tory politics, capped by Iain Duncan Smith's
dramatic "unite or die" challenge to his party, Mr Norman is less critical
of the Conservative leader than one might expect.

No, he should not have made that much-derided personal statement. Instead of
"unite or die", Mr Norman's mantra is "change or die". But he is,
surprisingly, convinced that "IDS" is committed to modernisation. "He is
everything he said he would be, but more progressive and more courageous,"
he says.

He likens the squalls to a "family row" and says Tory MPs should now "chill
out". He adds: "This is a difficult journey. Along the way, there will be
hiccoughs and mistakes. What matters is how fast you get moving again
afterwards."

According to Mr Norman, the task now is to return to the new agenda unveiled
at the Tory conference in Bournemouth last month, which he believed would
prove a "watershed after which the party would never be the same again". He
was wrong. "It is as if it never happened," he says. "We lost that momentum.
When we came back to Westminster, it was as though the party was a different
party to the one that met in Bournemouth. It was back to business as usual -
the same old cabbage-throwing across the floor of the Commons."

He is convinced that Mr Duncan Smith will lead the Tories into the next
general election and denies the leadership's claims that Mr Portillo is
plotting to take over. "I don't know what Michael has to do to convince
people that he is now someone who has left the leadership contest behind
him. He is utterly sincere," he says.

What would Mr Norman say if he had to write a one-page memo for Mr Duncan
Smith on how to rebrand the Conservative Party? "Be true to yourself" is his
first point. Mr Norman believes that, while political magnetism helps,
straight politicians without oodles of charisma can still flourish, citing
John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister.

Secondly, "change must be relentless and must not be allowed to slip back.
We must transform the whole party so it is unrecognisable." He adds: "We
must not be complacent about the party. We should be angry about it."

Thirdly, Mr Norman would tell IDS that the party is longing to be led, and
will rally behind a leader who delivers a little success. "People will do
extraordinary things for him but we need to be brave and tell the army which
way to march."

Fourthly, the rest of the Tory party must adopt the tolerant tone of Oliver
Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary. The public, and young people in
particular, have turned away from political parties because their partisan
approach suggests that they are doing things only for their own benefit, Mr
Norman says. The Tories, for example, oppose measures in Parliament they
would implement in power, such as the closure of inner-city post offices.

"There is no future for the party unless we start attracting today's
generation," he says. He rattles off some depressing figures: the Tories are
in third place behind the Liberal Democrats among women under 35 and among
all under-25s. "That is a very serious problem. It is why some of these
nettles must be grasped."

In Mr Norman's eyes, the irony is that "Britain is a more conservative
country than it has ever been" but the Conservative Party is out of step
with it. "We can no longer be a party which supports economic liberalism but
social authoritarianism. Young people will just not buy it," he says.

In other words, the Tories cannot be in favour of enterprise, deregulation
and opportunity and preach to people "how to live their lives". Mr Norman
abstained in the vote on gay adoption a week ago which sent the Tories into
convulsions. Now, he says, the lessons must be learnt before the Commons
votes on Section 28, and Tory MPs must be given a free vote. The Tories must
accept that people are not less worthy because they pursue a particular
lifestyle. "Some of the things we hold dear and we feel strongly about, we
are going to have to relinquish," he says.

He goes on: "We are competing on a new political landscape. Much as we would
like the clarity of the old ideological divide, it has probably gone
forever. There are big differences [between the parties] but competence and
delivery is more important to the guy in the street than the process and
approach. People are more interested in whether you deliver better health
care than how you deliver it."

If his words have a touch of "mea culpa" in them, Mr Norman sees good reason
for that. After entering Parliament in 1997, he was given the senior role of
chief executive of the Conservative Party by William Hague, who had
previously worked under him at the management consultants McKinsey.

His brief at Tory headquarters was to bring in sweeping reforms. Although
changes were made, mistakes were too, Mr Norman admits. He encountered
"endless brickbats" and claims that he might know about retailing but knew
nothing about politics.

What is the essential difference between business and politics? "In
political parties, there is an aversion to management. In business,
management is not about command and control. It means outstanding
communications, building a team, mutual support, giving people some
ownership of the project - highly relevant to what happened last week."

Mr Norman regrets not moving "further and faster" in ensuring more women
were chosen as parliamentary candidates. "Time is very pressing," he says.
If local Tory associations are upset, so be it. "Having a wider team is more
important than whether you break a few eggshells on the way. We have got to
be brave about it. It will be tough on some very able white male investment
bankers, and management consultants, but it is for the greater good."

Mr Norman admits he should have stayed on at Conservative Central Office to
pursue the reforms instead of advancing his own career by joining the Tory
frontbench in 1999. "The whole reform programme lost momentum. That is a
sadness. I was glad to move on but it was the wrong thing," he says.

As the list of regrets continues, Mr Norman acknowledges that he failed to
persuade Mr Hague to campaign on public services at last year's general
election, when the party leader preached to the Tory converted on Europe,
asylum and crime. "We sailed the ship into an iceberg. It was a tragedy that
should never have happened," he says. When he was shadow Environment
Secretary, Mr Norman became concerned that the Tories were dangerously out
of touch with "the everyday experience" of people in Britain's towns and
cities. They no longer know conservatism and conservatism does not know
them, he says. "Our problem is that we represent the affluent suburbs but
our mission is in the centres of towns in the Midlands and North."

Again, he returns to his theme that the Tories face a long journey. Mr
Duncan Smith says they have already reached base camp, but Mr Norman is not
so sure. "It is no use pretending this is a molehill. It is Everest. But we
can climb it."