Labour Lengthens Tory Troubles

This Thursday marks a milestone in both British and world politics. For the first time in British political history, the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Tony Blair will win a third consecutive term in office. Additionally, for the first time ever, the Republicans have more in common with the afore-mentioned Labour Party in their foreign policy agenda than the Conservatives. Indeed, it is not just foreign policy that Labour and the Republicans have in common but recent electoral success. Labour beat the Conservatives last night for the same basic reason why the Republicans beat the Democrats in 2004: lack of a functional opposition party.

One would think a party with serious aspirations of power would have learned a thing or two from the 2004 American elections in how the opposition should not behave. Instead, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has apparently taken entire sections out of the Democrats’ 2004 playbook. Imagine a candidate for head of government criticizing the incumbent for going to war in Iraq on false pretences and faulty intelligence, lying to the people, and plunging the armed forces in to a quagmire. All this while having voted for the war himself. Sound familiar? Now imagine a candidate for the nation’s highest office described by focus groups as old and creepy. Detecting a pattern? Now imagine that candidate tailor making his party for election season so it is out of touch with the electorate on practically every single issue, and represents nothing more than the opposition to a single person. That’s right folks, Michael Howard is fast becoming the John Kerry of Great Britain without the three purple hearts and million dollar trophy wife.

On the other side of the pond, one has to wonder what Democratic Party chair Howard Dean must be thinking. Eight years ago, his party, led by Bill Clinton, was where Labour is now. A strong economy and the advantage of experience and incumbency led the Democrats to an easy victory in 1996. A new, improved, and moderate Bill Clinton was able to outmaneuver the, um, “old and creepy” Bob Dole on practically every issue. A champion of the political center, Clinton and the New Democrats presided over eight years of power and came very close to extending that mandate in 2000. Contrast that with today’s democrats, who have apparently decided that pandering to a particular extremist ideological faction is more important than winning elections. Coincidentally, this is what kept “Loony Labour” out of power throughout the 1980’s.

The Conservatives do face an adversary not present in America, a prominent third party. Charles Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats may very well capture their best result in over eighty years by running hard on a single issue, the Iraq War. By remaining opposed to all aspects of the war, the Lib Dems are hoping to capitalize on a sizable enough portion of the electorate that itself is anti-war and anti-Blair but not about to vote for the Tories. While their chances of taking over the opposition are slim, they may grow within shouting distance, enough to scare an otherwise comatose Conservative Party back to life. Perhaps a stunning and historic defeat is just what the Tories need to put themselves back in competition with Labour.

The Republicans and Labour, both once minority parties in their respective countries, have now both seized power and shown they can hang on to it thanks to a powerful combination of their own ideological and political strengths as well as their opposition’s baffling weakness and incompetence. Both parties won sweeping victories within this past year because of it, and will continue to do so, barring sweeping changes in the opposition or a colossal failure of their own leadership. Both parties were out of power for a generation prior, and both have so far proven themselves worthy and capable of carrying their standards well in to the new century.