'I Am Not Spartacus'
The Times ran an excellent editorial yesterday on a small but significant event at the Labour party conference - the booing of Tony Blair.
The delegates responsible for this foolish and bullying behaviour - could only be what they turned out to be - a) Mainly men and b) Mainly union delegates - 'led' by Unite's general secretary, Len McCluskey.
Now Len McCluskey and his chums would never have dared to be so bold with Tony Blair at the rostrum - because Blair would have responded to their boorish behaviour by telling them all - a few home truths.
Now dealing with hecklers is a godsend for most platform speakers - an opportunity to shoot from the hip - and speak with real passion..
Remember Neil Kinnock's famous put-down of - 'a Labour council - a Labour council - scuttling around Liverpool serving redundancy notices on its own workers.'
Ah yes - them were the days.
But sadly Ed Miliband missed his chance - and all we got to know is that the new Labour leader - is definitely not Spartacus.
The Booing of Blair
"To those unaccustomed to the idiosyncracies of political parties, it would be reasonable to assume that they seek to attrarct the largest possible vote in their favour at a general election. Indeed, when a party is hungry for victory, that is precisely what it will do. It will postpone its arrival into New Jerusalem and settle for the prospect of pwoer in the here and now.
Nothing illustarted more clearly that this is not the mood of the Labour party that the applause that accompanied Ed Miliband's unecessary claim that he was not Tony Blair. It is extraordinary that a section of the audience, from the Unite union, should cheer the new leader's difference from the only Labour politician who has manged to secure two let alone three, successive electoral victories. It was a moment in which an influential part of the official Opposition revealed itself to be fundamentally not serious.
It was a bad moment for Mr Miliband too. It is probable that the moment was the result of very poor speech drafting rather than a deliberate attempt to conjure dissent. It was inept to leave such a pause after the name of Mr Blair when he must know that his party conference is home to some malcontents all too willing to make fools of themselves, and of the party they share, live on national television.
But having got himself into a tangle with some third-rate craftsmanship, Mr Miliband failed to seize the opportunity that appeared. A more instinctive politician would have rounded on the applause. Had Mr Miliband addressed the contingent directly and issued them with a withering put-down, to the effect that a party conference that cannot stomach its own greatest winner is a party conference not worth attending, he would have electrified the other delegates, the overwhelming majority of whom take priode in what they see as Labour's achievements in power.
Instead Mr Miliband grinned in gauche fashion and carried on. While he has made it clear in interviews since that he does not agree with the hecklling, it was obvious that the idiotic rudeness did not anger him."
The delegates responsible for this foolish and bullying behaviour - could only be what they turned out to be - a) Mainly men and b) Mainly union delegates - 'led' by Unite's general secretary, Len McCluskey.
Now Len McCluskey and his chums would never have dared to be so bold with Tony Blair at the rostrum - because Blair would have responded to their boorish behaviour by telling them all - a few home truths.
Now dealing with hecklers is a godsend for most platform speakers - an opportunity to shoot from the hip - and speak with real passion..
Remember Neil Kinnock's famous put-down of - 'a Labour council - a Labour council - scuttling around Liverpool serving redundancy notices on its own workers.'
Ah yes - them were the days.
But sadly Ed Miliband missed his chance - and all we got to know is that the new Labour leader - is definitely not Spartacus.
The Booing of Blair
"To those unaccustomed to the idiosyncracies of political parties, it would be reasonable to assume that they seek to attrarct the largest possible vote in their favour at a general election. Indeed, when a party is hungry for victory, that is precisely what it will do. It will postpone its arrival into New Jerusalem and settle for the prospect of pwoer in the here and now.
Nothing illustarted more clearly that this is not the mood of the Labour party that the applause that accompanied Ed Miliband's unecessary claim that he was not Tony Blair. It is extraordinary that a section of the audience, from the Unite union, should cheer the new leader's difference from the only Labour politician who has manged to secure two let alone three, successive electoral victories. It was a moment in which an influential part of the official Opposition revealed itself to be fundamentally not serious.
It was a bad moment for Mr Miliband too. It is probable that the moment was the result of very poor speech drafting rather than a deliberate attempt to conjure dissent. It was inept to leave such a pause after the name of Mr Blair when he must know that his party conference is home to some malcontents all too willing to make fools of themselves, and of the party they share, live on national television.
But having got himself into a tangle with some third-rate craftsmanship, Mr Miliband failed to seize the opportunity that appeared. A more instinctive politician would have rounded on the applause. Had Mr Miliband addressed the contingent directly and issued them with a withering put-down, to the effect that a party conference that cannot stomach its own greatest winner is a party conference not worth attending, he would have electrified the other delegates, the overwhelming majority of whom take priode in what they see as Labour's achievements in power.
Instead Mr Miliband grinned in gauche fashion and carried on. While he has made it clear in interviews since that he does not agree with the hecklling, it was obvious that the idiotic rudeness did not anger him."
