Misfortune and blew it

I feel real dismay at the actions by Hewitt and Hoon today. The appropriate thing for people leaving their job is to all they can for a seamless handover to their successors. If Labour were to narrowly lose in June, it could clearly be their fault.

No Labour leader is without weakness, but the focus now should be on campaigning and getting our message to voters, not on questioning whether the person at the helm is the right one.

Their arrogance is clear. But what this shows - about two former ministers whose achievements seem negligible to me (eg bringing in private provision into health services: NOT a good thing) - is a misunderstanding about what a democratic political party should be. Party comrades like me who have given freely of our time year after year for nothing to get a better deal for ordinary people are treated with utter contempt. We need to change the Labour Party to create more of a bottom-up accountability so members' views, observations and experience are treated more seriously. More like a mutual than a multi-national, in fact. And less of this top-down approach, in which party members have as much say in what policies ministers pursue as Town Hall cleaners have in the policies adopted by the Council. If Patricia Hewitt had got her priorities right, she might have thought more about the contribution made by hospital cleaners to fighting infection and brought them back in-house.

I am left thinking that Hoon and Hewitt must be Cockney rhyming slang for someone who messes up for a large number in a group - like misfortune and blew-it.