New Labour, New Militant

GNU LABOUR

A splendid piece in the Guardian by faithful old Tribunite Mark Seddon, in which he trumpets the imminence of Gordon Brown to the Second Most Powerful Job in the Country (the first being head of News International or host of Big Brother, depending on your perspective).

Other bloggers will comment on the piece at greater length, no doubt, but I was struck by one paragraph in Seddon's piece:

Labour won a historic third term in spite of, not because of, Blair - a reality that still hasn't percolated through to some of the braying New Labour loyalists. Last week some of them shouted down colleagues at the first meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. "It was reminiscent of the worst days of the Militant Tendency," reported one chastened MP. "You could call it the Blairite Tendency. They are simply out of touch with reality."

Did we need any more evidence, after the Queen's Speech, that Blair and his chums are just carrying on as if nothing had happened? The electorate may have bloodied his nose (or slipped his disc), but he rebounded to his feet and continued with barely a "what was that?".

Is there anyone left to vote for?

(Incidentally, on that slipped disc: I'm sceptical. I suffered from back spasms a few months ago, and I could barely walk for a week. If Blair had really slipped a disc, he'd have gone to the Lords on a stretcher.)

Oh, one more thing: who ARE these Blairites who shouted down the rebels? Can anyone give me names? Are any of them, by any chance, in junior ministerial positions?