WHO IS writing Tony Blair's speeches?
Commentators scrutinising the politics on offer have seized on numerous possible answers in the last few weeks, ranging from unsavoury Tory politicians to Bank of England governor Eddie George.
On law and order. Michuel Howard seems to supply a first draft for Blair to toughen up; on Bosnia Blair simply cribstrom John Major's notes.
But on the question of Europe the possible ring of authors is widened: according to the Times, Blair's most recent policy statement was "The speech that Douglas Hurd would like to have been able to deliver".
But the author could have been one of many: the Times estimates that Tory cabinet Europhiles "probably agree with 90 percent of the Labour leader's lecture".
Possible suspects also include the leadership of the German Social Democratic Party - and even the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl: "His six-point programme could easily have been formulated by Herr Kohl's European speech-writers".
There is no doubt that Blair's brand of politics is even more popular among the European bourgeoisie than it is among British bosses.
Blair was speaking on May 30 to an audience of several hundred people in Bonn. Appropriately for its building, named after the noright wing content, the torious right wing German speech was delivered in the SDP leader, who with Friederich Ebert Foundation Scheidemann and Noske presided over the repression of the post WW1 German revolution and the murder of socialists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
The burden of Blair's speech was Labour's total commitment to closer links with the bosses' European Union, and in particular with its dominant driving force, the German bourgeoisie.
He promised that a Labour government would immediately sign up to the EU's social chapter, implying a complete acceptance of the remainder of the Maastricht Treaty, which imposes drastic restrictions on public spending and borrowing. Blair is also committed -with reservations - to support for a single European currency: all this is music to the ears of European bosses irritated by John Major's vacillation.
Small wonder that, as Socialist Outlook and now the Times have pointed out, Blair is now the first choice of many EU leaders as the next Prime Minister, and they are planning to postpone the end of the 'Maastricht Il' Inter Governmental Conference until after the next election.
How much lower can he get? With the Europhile Tories envying his stance on one side and Thatcher praising him as the greatest thing for Labour since the disastrous Hugh Gaitskell, it seems the only people not happy with Tony are the working class. ted to maintaining this system is committed to conflict with those exploited by it.
Many of those union bureaucrats whose block votes against Clause Four set up the coming confrontation will have to contend with the anger of members forced to fight a government they are being told will solve their problems.
As Blair toughens up his fight for Tory policies, the challenge is for the left to organise throughout the labour movement to fight back.
That's why the June 17 conference 'Socialist Policies for a Labour government', supported by the Clause Four campaign, the Socialist Campaign Group and Tribune is especially important.
Socialists have no choice but to step up the fight. They'll get no change out of Tony Blair.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 85, June 10 1995, Page 4.