Up The Wall, Round The Bend

"Labour commentator Dan Hodges [no, me neither] said: ‘Some of these advisers are clever and have something to offer. But their input has to be managed and filtered, and walls need to be built between them and Ed Miliband. At the moment it looks as if every political crank, conjuror and snake-oil salesman in Westminster has a direct line to the leader of the Labour Party’."

He must think that he is still living in the Blair years. Or is he confused as to which Miliband won? This same article describes Lord Glasman as "eccentric". For believing in a socially conservative, patriotic social democracy. Has even the Mail on Sunday accepted the definition of "the centre ground" as the point at which what was once 1970s sectarian Leftism meets what was once 1980s sectarian Rightism?

The monarchy, the organic Constitution, national sovereignty, civil liberties, the Union, the Commonwealth, the countryside, traditional structures and methods of education, traditional moral and social values, economic patriotism, balanced migration, a realist foreign policy, and an unhysterical approach to climate change: these things can only be conserved and restored by means of the Welfare State, workers' rights, trade unionism, the co-operative movement and wider mutualism, consumer protection, strong communities, conservation rather than environmentalism, fair taxation, full employment, public ownership, proper local government, a powerful Parliament, and a base of real property for every household to resist both over-mighty commercial interests and an over-mighty State.

The Welfare State, workers' rights, trade unionism, the co-operative movement and wider mutualism, consumer protection, strong communities, conservation rather than environmentalism, fair taxation, full employment, public ownership, proper local government, a powerful Parliament, and a base of real property for every household to resist both over-mighty commercial interests and an over-mighty State: these things can only be delivered by means, or at the very least in the context, of the monarchy, the organic Constitution, national sovereignty, civil liberties, the Union, the Commonwealth, the countryside, traditional structures and methods of education, traditional moral and social values, economic patriotism, balanced migration, a realist foreign policy, and an unhysterical approach to climate change.

Both social conservatism and patriotism can now come only from the Left; from the historic, totally non-Marxist Labour Movement with its roots in trade unionism, mutualism, Radical Liberalism, Tory populism, Christian Socialism, and Catholic Social Teaching and Distributism. It alone still defends and would extend the things that make one proud to be British, and which, properly presented, would make every part of this country wish to remain British. It was not ever thus. It need not ever be thus. I for one hope that it is not. But it is at the moment. And, frankly, it will remain so for anything like the foreseeable future.