Have I really agreed with That Man?

THAT MOMENT WHEN....

....You find yourself in agreement with Tony Blair. It doesn't happen very often, but it did today, and I suppose everyone must get it right some of the time. And, aside from the shock of finding myself in tune with a war criminal, it was good to hear somebody on the BBC saying the right things about bloody UKIP.

I recall the spirit of optimism in May 1997. After the long, disastrous and damaging Thatcher/Major years it felt like anything had to be better, preferably with a healthy dose of socialism to put right the many mistakes that had been inflicted upon us. We'd seen communities destroyed, working people trampled over, minorities vilified, the police used as a political instrument, our wealth as a community sold off to the highest bidder. This was the era of Loadsamoney and those people who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. Caring was less fashionable than greed and a bankrupt ideology set the scene for the disasters to follow. Surely Blair had to be better than that?

And, in some ways, he was. The minimum wage showed what could be done to help those who had been walked on. There was a more inclusive agenda, with progressive measures like Civil Partnerships and the active encouragement of a multicultural society, a sense that people would be made welcome in Britain whatever their background. After having felt too embarrassed to admit to being British when Thatcher's shadow loomed over us it became possible to feel some sense of pride in the opening up of our society.

And yet. There was also disillusionment. For many people that means the Iraq war and the lies which surround it. But to me the real betrayal was the continuation of some of the worst aspects of those appalling Tory governments. The 'greed is good' mantra never really went away, the notion that private could do things better than public was still the accepted doctrine (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and nothing was done to reverse the growing inequality in society which was the underlying disease fueling the symptoms that eventually led to disaster.

When the financial crash came it wasn't socialism that caused it, because there was no socialism. There was just more and more deregulated capitalism with the greed of the financial system spiralling out of control until it collapsed. And the people who ended up suffering weren't those who caused the problem. That is the true disgrace of the so called 'New Labour'.

Blair left office to pursue a life as a self aggrandizing multi millionaire and supposed 'international statesman'. His interventions in Middle East conflicts have had little constructive benefit and his pronouncements on other aspects of global politics often appear out of touch with reality.

But Blair was a successful political operator, winning all his election victories convincingly. Whatever his faults as the leader of a state he was always astute when it came to providing the soundbites of conviction. And he knew how to deal with political opponents. So it should come as no surprise that he has been the first major politician to state clearly how our mainstream political parties, and Labour in particular, should be dealing with the increasing rise of far right extremism reflected in the recent election results.

The first key point is not to overreact. For all that UKIP present some dangers to mainstream democracy the actual threat is nowhere near as great as the media (with the BBC being especially, and disgustingly, guilty) have made out. They only have around 4% or councillors in England, hardly the 'surge' being portrayed, and their share of the vote in the local elections was actually several points lower than last time around (not that you'd think so from the coverage they've been given). Even their triumph in scoring the largest share of the vote in the EU Parliament polls doesn't stand up when looked at in context. With little more than one third of voters bothering to turn out, and UKIP taking little more than a quarter of that total, only around 10% of the electorate were motivated to record an anti-EU vote. And given that the EU elections are largely going to interest those people who have strong views on the EU, either for or against, that figure probably represents UKIP's real level of support. The arithmetic shows they are not the major player they want to paint themselves to be.

Secondly, and this is where I wish there was a Blair-like figure in Parliament who will stand up and tell the truth, the main parties should not be trying to play UKIP at their own game (if only for the reasons set out above). Immigration and the EU are not 'issues', they are positive benefits and that case needs to be made, over and over again if necessary. If you really think these are the most serious issues we face then you haven't understood the situation - and the blame for that has to fall on the politicians who should be providing the leadership, and information, that demonstrates this. Making the wrong diagnosis can only lead to incorrect solutions (the old IT adage is GIGO - 'garbage in, garbage out'). Blair is right when he says that's UKIP's political agenda (most of which they have tried to keep very quiet about, for fear of being found out) does not provide solutions for Britain and would actually make most of our problems worse. Regressive, inward looking, non inclusive views are to be discouraged, not made the basis for an ideology. They would not benefit us economically or geopolitically, and damage our essential humanity.

Tony Blair is far from being my hero. I would never agree with his neoliberal policies for the future. But in telling us how to deal with the proto fascists in our midst he's got it spot on. Now is Ed listening?