Thread by @SoozUK

MINI THREAD: When Blair's Labour brought in the minimum wage in 1999 (after it was a big part of his 1997 manifesto) the debate surrounding it was: it will destroy small businesses and how will the public pay for it?

Spoiler alert: it worked out just fine, small businesses survived the dastardly minimum wage and it has had no negative impact on jobs. But living costs have gone up significantly so the minimum wage needs to rise accordingly.

A minimum wage now doesn't seem very radical, it seems like common sense even if you don't agree it should rise to meet the higher cost of living. But in 1997 the same arguments against it now being £15 were being yeeted about.

I am not a Blair supporter, I am sick of hearing from him and I think power and defensiveness turned him in to a Mad King. But his landslide wins, particularly in '97 and '01, are held up as why we need to return to Blairism. It's why Mandelson is still inexplicably listened to.

SO! Let's look at: returning to Blairism in order to win elections. A prominent part of the '97 manifesto that led to that incredible first landslide was the then-radical notion of: a minimum wage. And now Starmer's Labour is arguing keeping that wage below the cost of living.

The only time Labour's seat share has increased SINCE '97 was 2017 where the manifesto included such radical ideas as: giving the NHS more money, raising corporation tax, guarantee triple lock for pensioner incomes...ALL popular throughout the electorate, not just Labour voters.

And Theresa May was very unpopular and Nick Timothy ran a HORRIBLE campaign but that doesn't take away from the popularity and even grudging media approval for Labour's campaign in 2017 (which also doesn't take away from the AWFUL 2019 results which I promise I remember).

My point is (I always had one shut UP), it's fine to chant "BLAIR WON THO" but Labour didn't win in '97 by being Diet Tory no matter history is rewritten. There was plenty about New Labour I hate but much of it felt revolutionary then. And Labour ISN'T doing any of that now.

You don't win over Tories by being a more-to-the-centre-conservative-with-a-small-c party. Given the choice between that and an actual Conservative Party Tory voters will vote Tory every single time.

I'm sure this thread will make me unpopular with EVERYONE and I'm sorry.

Sorry about the typos btw I wrote the whole thing while learning a song. Which is even more impressive now that you think about it.

I'm gonna turn off replies but I want you to know it's ONLY because I want to stifle debate and not because cyclical arguments about the Labour Party for the past 5+ years make my ovaries dry up til they're little raisins and they make a noise like Enya as they do it.

Also, back in 1997 we didn’t go “CRRRIIIIINGGGGE!!!” about fucking everything and that’s why Labour got away with playing that D:Ream song as an actual vote winner for a whole campaign. They wouldn’t get away with that now.