A New Beginning

A leadership fight is imminent. Some think they already know the outcome, but whether the fight is short or drawn out it will be a fight all the same. How it got to this stage is now irrelevant. The great debate over Tony Blair's decision to stand down will never come to reason. His 'abdication' was never for the good of the party or the good of the British people. In fact it has divided the party at a crucial time, and the fact he has drawn the process out so long has tainted the party in the eyes of the public. All the public has seen for the past year is a divided party: a party without a clearly defined agenda or a vision of future Britain. The majority of the good we have done in the past year has been overshadowed in the media by the Blair - Brown conflict and Blair's refusal to give a date of his resignation.

But we as a party must pull through this difficult time and - although we would like to quickly move on - we should remember the principles of New Labour that Blair and the party of 1997 brought about. Let us remember the 'old New Labour' as it was and strive to continue its course for the better of the British people.