Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem
It's long been time for a clear out of the loony left so let's hope a) that a credible new opposition party emerges and b) it endures rather longer and more productively than the SDP did.
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From what I've heard a lot of what the SDP stood for was subsequently adopted by both Tories and Labour politicians alike. The party itself didn't work out but it may have helped change politics.
We might see something similar where the old left/right fight gives way to another dividing line. UKIP are interesting in that they appeal to many traditional Labour voters and some traditional Tory voters. It's also frequently commented upon that Cameron and Blair were probably closer to each other than some of their own backbenchers. Certainly Cameron would have been a more acceptable leader of the Labour party than Corbyn is for many of them.
Brexit I think showed a dividing line between those who benefited from global trade, services and immigration or think they will vs those who haven't done so well or at least fear they won't do as well that's far more potent that the traditional left/right fight we've seen traditionally.
I mean what existing fights are left in the old way? New Labour probably did so well for so long because these questions were largely settled.
---------- Post added at 14:13 ---------- Previous post was at 14:10 ----------
What is ironic IMO is that Miliband seemed to identify these issues are better than anyone else had and much of his platform has been seized on by May.