What Is The Alternative To Blair?

Blair Not Wanted: cartoon by Alan HardmanWILL
TONY Blair become a casualty of the war in Iraq?

"It’s like an elephant in Tony’s sitting room" said
one cabinet minister, "It doesn’t matter which way he looks it’s always
there"

(Financial Times 7 May);

"an ice splinter in the Prime Minister’s heart"

wrote the Daily Mirror in its editorial (17 May).

Support for New Labour has plummeted to its lowest level
for 17 years.

There’s burning anger at privatisation, low pay,
crumbling public services, tuition fees and all the other New Labour
policies that hit working-class people where it hurts.

But it’s Blair’s lies over Iraq – the violence and chaos
and all the atrocities being carried out against ordinary Iraqis that is
increasing the haemorrhaging of voters away from New Labour.

Every reason Blair gave for waging this bloody war and
occupation – weapons of mass destruction, democracy, peace, freedom,
humanitarian concerns, have turned into a sick joke for the Iraqi people.

Desperate

Desperate to find a way out of this morass, Blair’s
latest plan is to "speed up" the transfer of ‘sovereignty’ to the
Iraqi people. However, even his own spokesperson had to admit that "It
will lead eventually to an exit, but it is not an exit strategy".

Blair says he is determined to see through what he
started in Iraq. But the media is full of reports of rumour and intrigue
concerning if and when he will go. This week the bookies shortened the odds
on his being Prime Minister at the next election. According to a Yougov
poll, 46% of people think he should go before then.

Worried Labour MPs have one eye on the opinion polls and
the other on their majorities. Blair could stagger on beyond the next
election. But if New Labour suffer a rout in the local, European and London
elections, it might be felt that he had become such damaged goods; such an
electoral liability, that he had to go.

What is the alternative?

But what is the alternative? If Brown became Prime
Minister he would carry on full steam ahead with privatising public services
and forcing through the sacking of 40,000 public-sector workers. His stance
on the war and occupation has been so far no different to Blair’s.

The Tories would mean more of the same – with knobs on.
The Liberal Democrats opportunistically make a play for the anti-war vote.
But they supported the troops when they went into Iraq and don’t call for
them to come out now!

The Socialist Party is standing candidates in the local
elections and in the Greenwich and Lewisham constituency seat for the
Greater London Authority (GLA) to provide a real alternative for
working-class people.

We also support other socialist, anti-privatisation,
anti-cuts and genuine anti-war candidates in areas where we are not
standing.

At the same time, we campaign for the founding of a new
party that can unite socialists, trade unionists and all those opposed to
the war and occupation, and could begin to build a mass alternative to the
anti-working-class policies of the main establishment parties.

If this is what you want to see too, then don’t just
vote socialist, join us and fight for a better future.