Cruddas despairs at ‘defeatist’ Labour
By Alex Stevenson
Former Labour leadership challenger Jon Cruddas has said the party is “paralysed” by “defeatism”.
The Dagenham MP, an influential figure on the left of the Labour party, heightened speculation there may be another attempt to oust Gordon Brown before the general election with his summer lecture to pressure group Compass.
In his speech Mr Cruddas said Labour suffered from a “lack of story” and said the party appeared “paralysed by a form of defeatism – of meekly accepting imminent Tory victory”.
“For me the question is why can we not lay a glove on them; we are mute,” he continued.
“I would suggest it is because we have lost our language, our empathy, our generosity; because we have retreated into a philosophical framework of the right.”
Mr Cruddas’ policy agenda focused on what he called “tax justice”. He favours scrapping tuition fees, a high pay commission and closing tax havens among a range of other measures.
“This is not an internal debate. This is about protecting the most vulnerable through proudly defending a notion of a modern social democracy,” he added.
His frustration appeared as much about New Labour adopting Conservative methods as it was about a failure to stick to progressive values.
It comes as a Mori poll for politicalbetting gives the Conservatives a 20-point lead over Labour – a worryingly strong advantage likely to aid Mr Cruddas’ cause as the party conference in Brighton approaches.
The poll, which covers England only, puts the Tories on 45 per cent, Labour on 25 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 18 per cent.
