LABOUR PARTY BLUES

by RAY FLEMING
l A LABOUR Party Conference following an unprecedented third election victory should be an occasion for congratulatory back-slapping and confident expectations of future achievement. However the annual Conference which opens at Brighton tomorrow is unlikely to show these characteristics. The mood will be nervous because so many uncertainties hang over the Labour Party at the moment. Will Tony Blair really serve for another three or four years? Is Gordon Brown certain to succeed him? If he does will he shift the government's policies leftwards? Are the unions spoiling for a fight or merely indulging in shadow boxing?
Can one last haul by Mr Blair deliver the improvements in the public services that the huge investment of recent years should have produced already? Or will the alternative of increased private involvement be preferred? Above and beyond all these questions there will also hang the issue of Iraq. However brave a face Mr Blair chooses show the great majority in the hall at Brighton will know that his decision to invade Iraq was based on lies and has proved to be disastrous. Many Labour MPs will be asking themselves how they ever came to be persuaded to back Mr Blair's reckless adventure. The nervousness in and around the Labour Party at the moment is perfectly illustrated by the efforts being made by the conference managers to prevent a resolution honouring the memory of Robin Cook from being included on the agenda. The resolution calls for a restatement of the principles of greater equality, a multilateral foreign policy and restricting the role of the private sector in public services. David Clark, once a special adviser to Mr Cook says, “These principles represent what every Labour party believes so it says something rather odd about the leadership that they regard it as some kind of a threat.” The most important speech of the Conference will be made by Gordon Brown. For the first time since Labour came to office he will speak against the background of an unfavourable economic climate and will need to acknowledge that tougher times may be ahead. If he is wise he will abandon his usual statistical bulldozing act and let the Conference see something of the man he will be when he comes to occupy No 10 Downing Street.