By Chow Wei-Cheng
LONDON — As support for the Tory government continues to dwindle, Tony Blair, the new, young leader of the British Labour Party, made his debut at the Labour Party's annual conference in Blackpool.
Blair and his group of "modernisers" have been forcefully revamping the Labour Party's image. "New ideas, new thinking, new Labour", has been their slogan.
In his first speech to the conference as leader, Blair embraced the market economy, underlined his support for the family, reassured the middle class that Labour had abandoned its high tax and spending policies, talked tough on crime and said there would be no wholesale repeal of the Tories' anti-union laws.
The Financial Times compared Blair to the early days of Thatcher's ascendancy. In its editorials, the paper has given him nothing but praise. "Mr Blair has made an impressive start ... one thing is clear: 1992 was the last election the Conservatives will win by default."
The opinion polls put Blair a comfortable 12% ahead of Prime Minister John Major, who is languishing with a 21% approval rating.
At the conference, the Labour Party held its first ever "Corporate Day". Sponsored by the tobacco company Philip Morris, chief executives and directors of companies such as BAA, Tesco and Motorola paid Lstg350 a head to sip chablis and nibble canapes with party leaders. These usually staunch Tory supporters were later ushered into a VIP balcony to hear Blair's speech.
More businesses advertised at this year's conference than ever before. The party's corporate affairs team had been selling exhibition stalls to businesses priced between Lstg2500 and Lstg3000. By the second day, 90% of next year's places had been sold. Railtrack and Nuclear Electric, which both want to be privatised, booked the most expensive stalls.
Clause 4
Blair and the modernisers proposed to remove Clause 4 from the Labour Party's constitution. Clause 4 states the goal: "To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full limits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service." The clause has been stamped on membership cards since 1918.
Blair's bid to remove Labour's socialist objective is to shift perceptions of the party away from the left and ensure that a Blair Labour government would not be faced with the uncomfortable constitutional necessity of having to renationalise enterprises privatised by the Tories. While some saw this move as a diversionary tactic, others, such as miners' union leader Arthur Scargill, saw it as a "declaration of war".
The motion to remove the clause was lost 50.9% to 49.1%. Detailed figures show that Blair's position won 52.3% of the trade union vote in spite of opposition from several big unions, including the Transport and General Workers Union and Unison, the public sector union.
Blair dismissed the vote as "insignificant" and said he will continue working on a new clause confident that it will be in place by next year.
Blair's speech outlined his commitment to a "dynamic market economy based on the partnership between the government and industry, between employer and employee, between the public and private sectors". Gordon Brown, the party's shadow chancellor, has also made it clear that its strategy will be hinged on a "low inflation, high growth" policy, which in Keynesian terms means austerity.
When unionists John Edmonds and Bill Morris argued for a minimum wage, Blair wanted to ensure that it had "flexibility" and "exemptions for youth" and would not have a "damaging effect on employment". The level was set in principle at 50% of the median male wage, with a specific figure to be determined later.
On welfare, Blair also spoke of the need to remove "barriers" which discourage the unemployed from taking part-time or low-paid jobs, creating a "nation on work not a nation on benefit". Far from guaranteeing the right to work, this will only lead to the unemployed being forced to take jobs under whatever wages and conditions are presented to them, thereby also undermining the conditions and wages of the rest of the work force.
Privatisation
While Blair and the "modernisers" have opposed the Tories' plans to privatise the railways and postal services, they still argue for their exposure to commercial forces, with possible corporatisation and sell down of a minority stake.
Brown has also been making noises about creating incentives to increase the participation of the private sector in funding infrastructure. But in order for this to be viable, the infrastructure has to generate enough profits to be able to provide a return to the investors. This usually means imposing a user-pays system where it doesn't exist and increasing charges to consumers where it does.
Arthur Scargill called for the repeal of Conservative union legislation, including restrictions on the right to representation by unions and the legal right to strike. This was swiftly rejected by Blair.
The Labour conference dropped its commitment to campaign for unity between the north and south of Ireland. The policy no longer tries to persuade Unionists to accept unification, but to accept a constitutional settlement. It marks a substantial move in favour of Unionist opinion by stating that "there can be no change in the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the people". In reality, this means Labour will let the Unionists veto any negotiations.