300 Club urde Majorism of John Smith's keynote speech in Bournemouth last Sunday was more important for what it signalled than what it actually said.
No concrete new policies were annonced, and there was no word on the main issues of debate inside the party representation, orkfare, d universal benefits.
Most of the stale ideas it weakly passed off as radical and renovatory are merely the commonplaces of the party mainstream for at least the last decade.
The front page splashes were, as -The Independent admitted, more the result of "behind-the-scenes briefings" han anything else. But wh id Labour's hype merchant go into overdrive? Smith has signposted a sharp lurch right in the coming period, as attempts to break Labour's organic links with the working class move up another gear.
While tacit, Smith's endorsement of the moderniser faction, remains no less real. Tony Benn is wrong to argue that the pech "seems not just to aban fon socialism, but to repudiate social democracy". In truth, Labour has not abandoned socialism; it has never been a socialist party and it is in capable of becoming one Frontbenchers by SOUCE rush to embrace the New Right agenda. Labour local authorities get ready to axe jobs, environment spokesman lack Straw last nounced thata Labour govemment would retain compultendering. Labour now accepts the council tax in principle, he added just before last year's election, Straw, then education spokesman, dropped Labour's commitment even to review the charitable status which gives schools massive tax breaks. David Blunkett, the party's health spokes has backpedalled on Labour's commitment to reverse the Tory hospital opt-outs and issued conflicting statements on the Tomlinson report recommendations to axe ten London hospitals, defusing widespread anger which could have built the Blunkett told The Sun: "Labour has been linked with freeloaders for too long. Joht. Major has giving people a hand up out of poverty, nota hand out. Tagree with him. But he has stolen our philosophy."
The méssage for socialists could not be clearer.