“I want to carry on doing the job until the job’s done”, said the current Prime Minister, Tony Blair, recently – alluding to the fact that he has no plans to stand aside for anyone. It doesn’t take a scholar to figure out that the job of running a country is never ‘done’, and since the job is a constant, it’s more a matter of whether it’s done well or not done well. Whatever the outcome of Tony’s attempts to enjoy a third term, his philosophy, indeed the New Labour culture of bullying their way past anyone that disagrees with them, has left many feeling ‘done in’. A colleague once pointed out that there is little difference between this and previous governments. No matter what the party, he suggested, they will bully their policies through. New Labour simply does it blatantly, whereas others have been a little more subtle – ‘underhand’ was actually the word he used. Tony Blair, who at times has looked like a frightened rabbit in the glare of car headlights whilst on the international stage, is having to take closer heed of the domestic agenda in the run up to the Labour Party Conference. Many rural voters will be simply stunned if he survives another term but what is the alternative? And what legacy and influence is he stamping onto a generation’s thinking? I chatted to a 13-year old schoolboy recently who had aspirations toward a political career. I asked him who he admired and whose philosophy he felt would influence his policies if he did get ‘the big job’. His answer? Enoch Powell.
