Thursday, June 05, 2008  Will Labour be out of power for a
decade?  Will Labour be out of power for as long as last time if
it loses the next election, asks Mike Smithson on today. I say
no, for the following reasons:  1. The prevailing intellectual
climate is still broadly New Labour. There has been no great
shift in public opinion to the right, instead the main party of
the right has shifted towards the centre ground. New Labour’s
current problems are to do with personality issues and having
been in power too long, rather than to do with losing any great
intellectual argument as Labour in the 70s and 80s did.  2.
There is nothing in David Cameron’s career to date to suggest
that he will be anything more than adequate as Prime Minister.
Comparisons with Blair were always wide of the mark, while
comparisons with Thatcher are simply absurd.  3. The current
ideological proximity of the two main parties would suggest a
period of pendulum swings (similar to the 60s and 70s) rather
than long periods of one-party h