Jaded...maybe I am.

I remember my mother when Foot was elected top man in the Labour Party. She was so excited. She was dying of cancer at the time, but she thought that she was about to see a world where Britain was going to abandon its H-bombs. She had grandchildren and she thought they were the hope of the future.

God forgive me, I said to her - No Mum, all this means is that the tories are going to win at least the next two elections - at least eight more years of the tories - pushing me an my disabled wife further to the bottom of society and ladling out the share options and tax breaks to their rich friends. One time the Labour party will lose; probably the next time as well - if they don't have policies which are perceived by the general population as moderate.

Blair was a visionary. He saw that the only rich bastards he had to propitiate were Rupert Murdoch and the Americans. After that, he could do pretty much what he wanted. And he was better for the poorer classes.

I see the left wing of the Labour Party as cynical users of idealists. Uninterested in the acquisition of power.