Blair and Brown: the New Labour Revolution

[PermanentTemporary]

Really enjoying this. Can't say there's huge revelations we didn't all know but it's still gripping. Just got to Princess Diana's death.

@Cassimin: I remember family income supplement (or whatever it was called) being bought in in the early 70s and if I'm correct that would have been by Heath's government. I remember my mother moaning about our family not being eligible for it.

TCS were brought in during the Brown chancellorship as I recall and the brainchild of Brownite Ed Balls. (Happy to be challenged on that).

@Tealightsandd

May 1997 was a dark day for the country. Not only but particularly for the disabled.

What was the war on the disabled? I missed that and I appreciate that’s because I’m not disabled.

I see the Tories now and I am scared for those who are vulnerable to be honest.

absolutelynotfabulous
I think they are kind of the same thing aren’t they?
I remember FIS, then it changed to something else then became tax credits.
I think the lack of housing came from the ‘right to buy’ scheme brought in by Maggie. Council houses being sold but not replaced.
My nans council house was bought by my brother many years ago who now lives in it with his family. He also has another house that he rents out.
The old council stock was never replaced. Private landlords ( I am one, but a nice one!) can make lots of money now.

The councils were legally prevented from spending the money from RTB on housing. Given the housing corruption of the 70s (see Our Friends in the North) that wasn't a hard deal to sell, but it also was about the stuff that became the poll tax - the 'burden' on the 'hard working ratepayer'.

Wrt Blair's war on the disabled (and Brown's, as Blair's chancellor and later as PM).

Remember too, actions speak volumes. Such as (spending taxpayer money on) changing Department names. Social Security, unlike Work and Pensions, is inclusive of disability.

From the article below:

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, they argue, there was a widespread belief in Britain that out-of-work benefits were set at derisory levels, causing significant hardship for those who relied upon them. But by 1999 people had started to feel they were set too high – ushering in an era of benefit "scroungers" rhetoric which has continued to this day.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-stopped-believing-benefits-due-tony-blair-researchers-claim-9753824.html

@PermanentTemporary

The councils were legally prevented from spending the money from RTB on housing. Given the housing corruption of the 70s (see Our Friends in the North) that wasn't a hard deal to sell, but it also was about the stuff that became the poll tax - the 'burden' on the 'hard working ratepayer'.

There are still massive restrictions on councils spending RTB receipts.

To be honest, all central government had to do was insist on any RTB receipts being spent locally on physical houses. That is enough to prevent any money being moved about. Instead you’ve ended up with councils trying to find ways around the restrictions just to spend the receipts and then you get fuck ups like Croydon council.

[quote Tealightsandd]Wrt Blair's war on the disabled (and Brown's, as Blair's chancellor and later as PM).

Remember too, actions speak volumes. Such as (spending taxpayer money on) changing Department names. Social Security, unlike Work and Pensions, is inclusive of disability.

From the article below:

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, they argue, there was a widespread belief in Britain that out-of-work benefits were set at derisory levels, causing significant hardship for those who relied upon them. But by 1999 people had started to feel they were set too high – ushering in an era of benefit "scroungers" rhetoric which has continued to this day.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-stopped-believing-benefits-due-tony-blair-researchers-claim-9753824.html[/quote]
That’s interesting. My mum’s entitlement to benefits massively improved under New Labour (she’s ruled as unfit to work) and it all got incredibly nasty when the Tories came in and she had to get her MP to help.

We’ve been hooked on the series in our house. I wish we could go back in time.

Oh that's interesting @Iggly what happened in Croydon?

The corruption back in the day was frank payola between housebuilders and local councillors - T Dan Smith et al. That's been replaced by a national stranglehold by the big housebuilders who control big land banks and won't build until they've squeezed the market as high as it will go.

@Tealightsandd

May 1997 was a dark day for the country. Not only but particularly for the disabled.

Why was this? Tell me more ..... thanks

@ItsReallyOnlyMe. That's brilliant. Even Milliband was laughing away. I miss Wiiliam Hague's wit.

@Tealightsandd

May 1997 was a dark day for the country. Not only but particularly for the disabled.

I haven't watched it but voted in the 1997 election and actually got an MP I had voted for for the first time. It absolutely was not a dark time. After 17 years of Conservative Government it was time for a change in a democracy. However the death of Princess Diana soon took the shine off that wonderful summer. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I must admit several things such as devolution and the Iraq war etc have proved much more problematic than envisaged at the time. Can I see myself voting Labour again, the party having repeated the same mistakes of extremist infiltration (Militant, Momentum)....no I cannot. My younger self would not believe I could switch sides but FPTP is a 'best of 2 evils' system and despite everything wrong with the Tories the current Labour Party is unelectable.

[quote Tealightsandd]Wrt Blair's war on the disabled (and Brown's, as Blair's chancellor and later as PM).

Remember too, actions speak volumes. Such as (spending taxpayer money on) changing Department names. Social Security, unlike Work and Pensions, is inclusive of disability.

From the article below:

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, they argue, there was a widespread belief in Britain that out-of-work benefits were set at derisory levels, causing significant hardship for those who relied upon them. But by 1999 people had started to feel they were set too high – ushering in an era of benefit "scroungers" rhetoric which has continued to this day.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-people-stopped-believing-benefits-due-tony-blair-researchers-claim-9753824.html[/quote]
That article is absolute nonsense. The real change happened after the banking crisis. The disabled were seen as a drain on scant resources and were treated accordingly when the Coalition Government came to power because they were easy target - and unlikely to be Conservative voters. This treatment was justified in the many articles that mysteriously started appearing in the right wing press and on television about 'scroungers' and 'benefit cheats' at the same time.

The idea that Labour started a war on the disabled is totally disingenuous. The Conservative party treated the disabled so poorly that in 2016 the he UN said that austerity had created a ‘human catastrophe’ for Britain’s disabled.

I’m just watching the bit with the WI audience. Looking at the massed ranks of the membership with their identical hairdos and identical glasses and not one single black or brown face among them It’s hard to believe that was only 20 years ago. It looks like it was filmed in the 1950s, not this century.

I remember that in 1997 the Conservatives had been in power a long time and looked jaded. New Labour seemed fresh and energised in comparison. I remember the Bernie Eccleston affair and people starting to question whether New Labour was the same as Old Conservative. And, which they didn't show, the big celebrity cool britannia bash at Downing Street on the same night they were cutting housing benefit in HoC. Shocking PR.

And really it was a slow but inevitable decline. Not bad enough to vote them out, but tarnished enough to bring about disillusionment and the thought that all politicians are just the same.

@Libertaire

I’m just watching the bit with the WI audience. Looking at the massed ranks of the membership with their identical hairdos and identical glasses and not one single black or brown face among them It’s hard to believe that was only 20 years ago. It looks like it was filmed in the 1950s, not this century.

Yes! Dh and I said the same! What a bunch they looked

RE the WI, I'm not sure the make up would have changed that much even now. It is mainly in rural areas and attracts more retired people than people busy working.

@madisonbridges

I remember that in 1997 the Conservatives had been in power a long time and looked jaded. New Labour seemed fresh and energised in comparison. I remember the Bernie Eccleston affair and people starting to question whether New Labour was the same as Old Conservative. And, which they didn't show, the big celebrity cool britannia bash at Downing Street on the same night they were cutting housing benefit in HoC. Shocking PR.

And really it was a slow but inevitable decline. Not bad enough to vote them out, but tarnished enough to bring about disillusionment and the thought that all politicians are just the same.

Omg yes! I was really looking forward to some "cool brittania" cringe and they skipped this. VERY interesting edit. Anyone else think of any other interesting omissions? I also thought the "bigoted woman" would get mentioned but no...

@Wondering1000. To be honest, by the end of the last episode Gordon Brown looked so bloody depressed, it would have been downright cruel to dump on him any further. 😂😂😂

Haven't seen all of it yet but wondering if they'll cover the sexed - up dossier and the death of Dr David Kelly.

They do cover it both the sexed up dossier and the death of Dr David Kelly think maybe episode 4 or 5?

Thanks @applecatchers36. Really enjoying this and eking it out week by week.

Just finished watching it all.
How sad for our country that Gordon wasn't handed the reigns earlier.

Might have been saved from Tony's ego
(Hindsight obviously plays it's part)