Fabian Society adds to Brown's worries
Thursday, 1 May 2008 12:00 AM
The Fabian Society has declared that the Labour party is "badly stuck" and called for stronger leadership from Gordon Brown.
The Labour thinktank accused the prime minister of "neurotic under-confidence".
Its general secretary Sunder Katwala said Mr Brown was currently worrying too much about presentation and should "get the Downing Street machine in place, but cancel No 10's subscription to PR Week".
Mr Katwala used an editorial in the latest edition of the Fabian review to claim the Labour party's internal debate had become "badly stuck".
"The left worries that countering 'southern discomfort' would cost Labour's soul; the Blairite right flank that appeasing Guardian-reading liberals would lose the election. Labour won't recover by debating which voters it doesn't want," Mr Katwala said.
He claimed that Mr Brown's government "risks being written off before its first anniversary".
The "challenge is not just one of communication but of political strategy", Mr Katwala added, calling for strong leadership and a return to the prime minister's "core vision".
"Above all, let Gordon be Gordon and have the prime minister articulate the argument which brought him into politics, and with which he shifted the centre-ground on public spending and taxation," the editorial said.
Mr Brown has suffered a rough time of it recently with ratings falling dramatically in polls and faces a fresh challenge over the next few days with local elections and London mayoral elections taking place today.
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