Milburn calls for greater purpose from Government
Alan Milburn, former Secretary of State for Health, has called for the Government to be bold and change politics in Britain.
Writing in the Guardian newspaper, he called on Labour to shift British politics in a way that only Margaret Thatcher and Clement Attlee have done before.
The former cabinet Minister suggested that the Government could attempt to restore public support by appealing to hearts and minds through a new sense of purpose and administrative confidence respectively.
Mr Milburn maintained that the Government requires a sense of purpose to reflect the principles of the left. He noted significant successes for the left under this Government, such as the minimum wage and improving services, but said that the political centre could not be shifted by stealth.
Arguing that the values of the left are more relevant than those of the right, he was quick to point out that this was no call for a return to past politics. He labelled old style Labour politics a ‘Ghetto’, and suggested that many critics from the left find the ‘comforts of the past more enticing than the challenges of the future’.
At last year’s Labour party conference, the Prime Minister declared that the Labour were ‘at our best when at our boldest’. Mr Milburn raised this, warning that boldness needs a purpose, and that a vision must be communicated to the public.
Pointing the finger at Tony Blair specifically, the former Minister claimed that much of the appearance of drift may be the fault of the party leader. He spoke of a Tony Blair who had ‘clarity of intent’ and a purpose, and suggested that he could be ‘head and shoulders above the rest’ if he could return to that nature.
