Unsurprisingly, my 30-day book challenge is not going as well as I had hoped. However, it has forced me to make more time for reading – something I should have done months ago!
I’m halfway through Tony Blair’s tome A Journey. The tone of this autobiography is a little too sanctimonious for my liking but it is nonetheless a fascinating insight into New Labour at its zenith. What is striking about Tony Blair is his absolute faith in the New Labour project and in himself as leader of that project.
And yet it is a project with so many unanswered questions, unexplored avenues and unfinished reforms. In many areas New Labour opened the door for some of the coalition policies that Labour members love to hate. In a chapter aptly named ‘Forces of Conservatism’, Blair outlines the impact of his NHS reforms:
The door was edged open for the private sector. The concept which, in time, was to result in foundation hospitals was introduced. And the whole terminology – booked appointments, minimum guarantees of service, freedoms to innovate – spoke of a coming culture of change, oriented to treating the NHS like a business with customers, as well as a service with patients.
Extract from Tony Blair, A Journey (2010)
Now I’m a great supporter of any public institution that aims to provide as good a service as a private company. But, under New Labour, the NHS didn’t just let in business practice and ethos – it opened the door to private health providers. I’m starting to understand why there is so much Blair-bashing within the Labour Party.
The Red Rose of York 
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