The family spat
- 3 Apr 06, 05:27 PM
The Labour Party is dusting itself down after its latest family bust up. Senior figures are wagging their fingers at the troublemakers and telling them not to be so silly.
They - in words any parent will recognise - insist it's not their fault and, anyway, they didn't start it. The prime minister then dismisses the whole thing as a soap opera unconnected with governing the country or the things that really matter to ordinary voters.
If only it were that simple.
It's true that the subject matter of the latest string of spats between Brownites and Blairites scarcely matters - even to those of us paid to follow them.
But what DOES matter is that they are symptomatic of a battle about both power and policy. These often apparently petty squabbles are a proxy for a battle over whether the prime minister should stand aside for Gordon Brown sooner - early next year - or later, 2008 or 9.
They also represent a struggle over Labour's policy direction - on pensions, the NHS, schools and Lords reform. A poll out today - albeit a far from scientific one - suggested that a third of the public were sick and tired of the Blair/Brown feud.
Anyone who's lived through a family feud would say the same BUT that's a very different thing from saying it doesn't matter.
