Little ideology, more labels

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 4. The expression ``Left Conservatives'' much in vogue here these days in relation to dissident Tories sums up some of the confusion and contradictions in the contemporary British politics in which while those who have had their ideological baptism on the Left are being accused of turning away from the cause, the chronic Right is engaged in vaguely left-ish posturing.

For weeks, the Labour which still has Left pretensions - though it calls itself ``New'' Labour - has been at loggerheads with its traditional supporters - trade unions, pensioners, lorry drivers, hard-working families - who say that the party is betraying their interests in its bid to attract the expanding Middle England electorate.

The Tories, on the other hand, are talking of ``reaching out'' to precisely these groups - in the words of the former Tory Prime Minister, Mr. John Major the ``people in slums, the people in need, the people outside the circle of rising prosperity.'' Nobody could have stolen the Emperor's clothes quite so brazenly. Clearly, ideology here is in crisis and few really care. No wonder the

Liberal Democrats who have still not completely lost their innocence are not sure how far it is safe to take an ideological position on matters which have caught both the Labour and the Tories on the hop. So, they are cheerfully ambiguous - making noises that straddle the ideological divide; and it is working. Ironically, it is in their most ```de-ideologised'' phase that the Liberal Democrats' appeal is at its best if the opinion polls are any indication.

It is interesting to note who the ``Left'' Tories are - Mr. Major, Mr Michael Heseltine and Mr. Kenneth Clark. All chips of the Thatcher block, high-profile members of Ms. Margaret Thatcher's Government which was arguably the most right-wing regime Britain has had in recent memory. Their ``Left'' credentials rest solely on their unhappiness with the present top Tory leadership. It has nothing to do with ideology just as differences on whether Britain should go into Europe the whole hog have little to do with the Right-Left debate as the media has sought to make out; it is more a question of how one perceives Britain's prospects as part of Europe.

The fact is that there is not even a debate on ideological lines and it is the media which is putting the Left and Right labels for its own convenience to describe internal disturbances in the two major political parties. If you are Tory and critical of Mr. William Hague you are a ``Left conservative'', and if you are Labour and on the wrong side of Mr. Tony Blair you are either ultra Left or on the Right. How convenient! Ideology may be down and out but ideological labels still have their uses.

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Section  : International
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