Big Defection

The just-announced defection of Blaiirite adviser Luke Bozier to the Conservatives, just as an ordinary member, is significant indeed, as The Independent reports this morning, and as Luke himself has tweeted during the past hour or so.

Just follow the link and read the story: it is a more powerful way to realise just how big a blow this is to Labour and to Ed[ward] Miliband in particular than if I were to re-iterate the various points raised there.

Perhaps the strongest part is his direct criticism of the Miliband leadership and also of the Shadow Cabinet that is, frankly, unequivocal. Milo Yiannopoulos at The Kernel has more to say on this news and also has the full text of Bozier's resignation letter. It's heavy stuff! UPDATE: The letter is now on the front (and only) page of what was Luke Bozier's 'blogsite.

Now it is perhaps not all that surprising that someone from the Blairite faction of the Labour party would be less than delirious about the current style and direction the party has and is taking. However that doesn't account for this almost vitriolic attack and the direction of the defection.

Of course, I've seen the latter happen before, and for similar reasons, when Rehman Chishti made the same move from Red to Blue a few years ago, while both he and I were on Medway Council. In fact, this latest defection is I think a corrective to those who have had a go at Rehman ever since, accusing him of all sorts, often behind his back.

The question that inevitably arises now is: will others follow, now that the way has, in a sense, been cleared? It is never easy to hold a strongly factioned party together, but even Gordon Brown managed to do it, and all Ed needed to do was to carry on in the same vein. It looks like he's botched that as well as just about everything else he has touched, and it could all be on the brink of falling apart.

I still believe there is scope for creating a new party from the Blairite side of Labour, if they had the courage to leave behind the old, tired and ineffective dying embers of their traditional party. It would also be a way to escape the stranglehold of the big Trades Unions. They could re-start cleanly, and that might be better than defections en masse to existing parties. It's just a thought!