Liberalism to New Labour

From Liberalism to New Labour:
The party evolution of Great Britain
Robert Buccellato



It has become a very common sight in Great Britain, the image of a tired and beaten Prime Minister saying farewell. (Seldon, 1999). Handing over the keys to government to a rival at the polar end of the political spectrum. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the head of the Labour party and the appointed leader of the parliamentary democracy of Great Britain had been defeated. It was a troubled term of office, being in the summer of 2007 after Tony Blair resigned the post after ten years and three general election victories. (Parties and Elections in Europe). It is a pattern for the newly elected prime minister to choice a retirement date that is far off from the following general election. This way the party may pick it's own leader and thus have a better chance of collectively supporting an electable new prime minister for the future. This was not the case, and it became very clear that Brown proved to be a very polarizing figure. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011).
  The Labour party could have been the majority party for a generation, had it not been for their support of the Iraq War. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011). It had suffered reduced majority in the election of the early 2000's and now with Brown's premiership, it seemed very likely that 2010 would be a conservative year. Indeed it was, only not enough. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011). When the election results came in it seemed that the people were bitterly divided over who should govern. Labour had won a majority of seats, but it was not big enough majority to request the forming of a government. The conservatives had robbed Labour of it's status, while not proving itself as the people's clear choice.  After some brief failed talks, it  came time for the Brown to step down and make way for a possible coalition government. Labour leaders tried to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, but it proved too difficult. The conservatives were desperate to take control and were offering the liberals much more than Labour was willing to match. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011).
  The Conservative leader David Cameron would form a new government with Liberal Democrat Leader Crigg as the deputy Prime Minister. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011). Brown made the usual speech outside Number 10 Downing Street that all defeated Prime Ministers make as the offer the victor there support and best wishes. Only unlike the US President who has 80 days to continue to lead the nation into the new year and work with his successor during a long transition process. The English Prime Minister is not allowed to live at 10 Downing Street (the official home of the Prime Minister) in the weeks leading up to the General Election and is ordered to live both the home and the office that very day. So a sad Brown left that office and the place he had trained his mind, body, and spirit for, was now part of his past.
  This paper is about both the party system in Great Britain and it's evolution from the days of Tories and the Liberals, to New Labour and Coalition governments. The purpose of beginning our story with the departure of Brown and the birth of the Conservative Coalition is to prove a major political point. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011) The difference between politics and policy and the fact that politics does not exist in a vacuum. The whole reason way Brown was not named Party leader in 1994, was because he was not a reform minded Labour Leader. He was more of a socialist in his thinking than Tony Blair. Blair was able to modernize the party and lead it to victory in much the same way as President Clinton had done before him. But like both Blair and Clinton, they were able to move the people toward a central view of government but not their respective parties. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011) Brown was prime minister of a party and a nation left exhausted by their former leader's short comings but hopeful due to his grand designs and achievements. But, Brown was still the man he was in 1994. He had not reformed, he was not part of a new Labour mentality, and it showed. He did not realize that his own views were left in a vacuum, while the world continued to move without him. He had become a failed double treaded, a leader far past his "use by" date. (Gallagner,Lavar,Mair, 2011).