Monday, February 21, 2005

Goodbye Labor?

It doesn't seem likely, but this story muses on the remote possibility that Labour will lose the next election. Now, I have little love left for Tony Blair, whose third way support for George W. Bush's Iraq policies have made both England and America bleed, but this sounds pretty bad:

Such an upset, handing victory to the Conservatives or resulting in a "hung parliament" where no party has an outright majority, would radically change UK policy on various fronts.
The EU constitution could be consigned to history, and Blair's commitment to cut poverty in Africa and tackle climate change would be threatened. Economic and fiscal policy in the world's fourth largest economy would also be unclear.

I'd hate to see England abandon any of those positions--especially since Labour policies have kept the UK's economy so strong. To me, the best solution is to give Labour the victory, but to throw a good scare into the bargain. How you'd engineer exactly that electoral outcome I don't know, but if the UK's left did give Blair enough of a fright, he might find a way to put some distance between himself and Bush in order to better secure his position. His whole ill-considered notion of triangulating Europe and the U.S. died when Bush was re-electe. (Triangulating reality and neo-con fantasy is a terribly tricky business. I doubt even Bill Clinton could do it). He will soon have to make a choice between the two powers. If he refuses, I'm sure Gordon Brown could be tapped to do it for him.