Missed chances Regrets? Labour has a few

ALAN JOHNSON, in his article on the opposite page, quotes Tony Blair as remarking that, whereas in opposition you wake up every morning and think "what am I going to say today?" in government you think "what am I going to do today?"

But Mr Johnson, it appears, now thinks he could have done more. The former Home Secretary laments the Labour government's failure to deal with binge-drinking and says that it is high time that the sale of cheap alcohol was tackled. A good point, but a strange remark from the man who, until six weeks ago, had the power to do just that.

Nor is Mr Johnson alone in being hit by sudden pangs of regret. Ed Balls, a man who for so long had direct access to the ear of Gordon Brown, says

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Labour should have clamped down harder on immigration. His fellow leadership contender, Ed Miliband, has joined Mr Balls in ruing Britain's decision to take part in the invasion of Iraq.

Yet all these men, particularly in latter years, were key members of a government that held power for more than a decade. They had ample opportunity to tackle all the issues that now trouble them, yet they failed to do so. Nor do they seem to have any excuse for this.

What is Mr Johnson's reason for having "coasted on anti-social behaviour for a couple of years"? He can hardly claim that it was a matter of little concern to the public, or that it slipped under his radar because it was under-reported by the media.

If these ex-Ministers failed to take action on so many fronts when they had the chance to do so, why are they are now offering this as a reason to put them back in power at the next election?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For a party that misreads the public mood so badly and so frequently, that prefers to coast along rather than confront the big issues, is surely more suited to talking rather than doing, to opposition rather than government.