New Labour took a beating at the polls yesterday with results not seen since the early 1970s. The years of Blair-spin finally caught up to Labour and Gordon Brown is not really the type that can ignite the troops. Much like the US, the UK economy is melting down with debt (personal debt is even higher than in the US) and voters are in a sour mood.
Blair extended Thatcherism and added a smiling face to the greed-is-good policies so it's hard to say just how well the Conservatives will do once they take over. Would the Tories really have avoided war in Iraq? Would their foreign policy look different than the Bush-loving Blair's policies? Doubtful. Would their fiscal policies be that much different? A bit, but doubtful as well. With the Blairite-New Labour goofiness with religion and demands for extended detention in so-called terror cases, it's not the stark difference that would have existed a few years before Blair. The Conservatives will surely push Gordon Brown out soon but how different actual policies will be is another story.
