Fall Out

Suppressing regiments is just one of those things that the Conservative Party does whenever it is given the opportunity. The latest plans are yet another reason why this time Tory Britain will not be giving it that opportunity again.

There is nothing remotely insincere in Ed Miliband's stand against closing all Post Offices outside town centres and ending all door-to-door deliveries outside towns, or against turning the Queen's Highways into toll roads owned and operated by the sovereign wealth funds or far away petrostates, or against turning Sunday into just another shopping day. All of this is firmly in the Labour tradition that, after all, did not die with John Smith.

There is nothing remotely insincere in Ed Miliband's stand for the Union as a first principle, for a specifically English identity, for a referendum on continued membership of the EU, and doubtless for primary legislation significantly repatriating powers to Parliament from the EU. All of this is firmly in the Labour tradition that, after all, did not end with Bryan Gould's bid for the Leadership.

There will be nothing insincere in Ed Miliband's stand against the suppression of historic regiments. Labour has been opposing such Conservative schemes for generations.

And there will be nothing insincere in the consequent shift to Labour, already apparent from the local election results, on the part of voters whom Tony Blair so scorned that he never even bothered to ensure that they had Labour candidates for whom to vote. Labour is sweeping Tory Britain precisely as the anti-Blairite alternative to the hated Heir to Blair.