An observation I’ve made over the past few days is that the media appears to remain obsessed with politicians who are no longer relevant to our society. A tremendous amount of focus has been placed on the relationship between Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. As a Labour Party, it is imperative that we stop arguing about the internal conflicts of the past, lest they will simply continue to divide us. It is not exactly a matter of surprise to most of us that there were tensions between the Prime Minister and Alistair Darling during the last administration and continuing to play the blame game achieves little. Of course, Darling himself has done little to put out these particular fires and his latest publication is, to say the least, unhelpful.
Further, the media has devoted a considerable amount of energy to even older political history, focussing on the relationship Tony Blair had with the Gaddafi regime and continues to have to the Murdoch family. It is easy to understand why the public are interested in this sort of story, but we need the Labour leadership to take the initiative and refocus attention on what really matters today. This week has seen leaks which confirm the virtual privatisation of the National Health Service and, thus far, we seem to have barely lifted a finger in protest. If Ed Miliband is to be successful at the next election, he needs to develop a far more active presence and to act as a true leader for the movement. Miliband and the rest of the Shadow Cabinet should be on every TV channel, in every newspaper, categorically condemning the damage this Tory-led government is doing to our country.
If we are to regain the trust of the British public, we must stop living in the past, be that 2008 or even 2003, and start talking seriously about the future.
