MLP Leadership Contest - Spring follows Winter

Talk is cheap of course. When I read Joseph's vision for the MLP with its's focus on bringing people with innovative and progressive ideas but who haven't felt comfortable with the party, the need to attract younger people to Labour, and the focus on the environemnt I do find myself nodding with approval. Spring following winter?

The positioning of the message is set very much within the narrative of European social democracy over the past 10 to 15 years following the lead of Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroder. The Blairite vision of social democracy is a damaged brand these days - criticised for realying on too much PR and perhaps fatally undone by the decsion to go to war in Iraq.

But was the vision so bad? I lived in the UK for most of the 1990s and though it's difficult to remember things clearly the country has for the most part been transformed for the better by Labour. At it's heart the new Labour message was a strong and powerful one. We must reward people who work hard, who innovate, who generate wealth. But we must also have a heart. The Government's role must be to protect the vulnerable - and that doesn't just mean people, it means the environemnt as well, and yes - to use a good old socilaist phrase - redistribute wealth to create a fairer society. Not through increasing taxation but through increasing wealth and targeting Government spending where it is most needed.

In Malta I have always felt that Labour has failed to fully take this message on board and to articulate it in a way people, particularly the young can embrace it. Joseph will need to be careful going forward in the way he puts his message across. It's easy to be attacked for being all nice words but no substance. I've always felt the opposite to be true - that if you can deliver a clear and compelling vision it's because you've really thought about it and believe it.

When those attacks come from those who don't believe you can be idealistic about the future of our society, at least Joseph will have some substantive work back up his talk. After all, he's the only MEP whose bothered to do any work for us Maltese over the past few years.