The left (by which I mean socialists, social democrats and social liberals) chalked up three failures, which has left British politics with two authoritarian and market fundamentalist political parties: New Labour and the Conservative Party. What were the key moments of failure for the left?
First, they were unable to prevent Blair’s New Labour project taking hold of the Labour Party after 1994, which resulted in the abandonment of social democracy in favour of market fundamentalism
Second, when the failings of New Labour in office after 1997 became obvious (growing social inequality, the Iraq War, etc.), they were unable to remove Blair – or even mount a challenge to his leadership.
Third, having lost the Labour Party to progressive politics, the left were unable to form a serious electoral challenge to New Labour from the Left (Cf. Die Linke in Germany).
Today in Britain there is no agency for progressive politics.
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