George Osborne is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, First Secretary of State and Chief Strategist of the Conservative Party. Today he took the Tory conference by storm with a further shift onto New Labour’s turf which included poaching one of their ex-ministers. He declared the Conservatives not only the party of the centre but also the party of labour. Just back from China, where he re-wrote the UK’s economic prospects and foreign policy, he today set out the whole game plan to sweep back to power in 2020. David Cameron, who is just the Prime Minister, gets to do the boring stuff like take the flack for the tax credit problems and talk to a Europe too busy to listen.
The most eye-catching of Osborne’s announcements was the repatriation of business rates to the local authorities in whose areas they are paid. This is how it used to be in the old Labour days, but Thatcher did not like the way they spent the money, so she took it from them. The political turnaround is remarkable. The Tories are now to the left of New Labour in most things. Indeed the dishevelled remnants of that once mighty political force, or force which thought it was mighty but wasn’t really, are now the last defenders of the crumbling Thatcher line. As the Lady said on the morning of her exit, it is a funny old world.
Where does this leave Corbyn? Actually in a rather good place. There is no general election until 2020, but there are local elections each year before then. Now they are getting their money back, local authorities get back their power. That is where Labour’s roots lie and they will be able to sink them deep and wide all across the country if they get their act together. That should not be difficult. The Left is now more in demand than for forty years.
Because for all the talk about being there for the many, the Tory party is still the party of capital, of debt,of the establishment and for those who put themselves first. And in spite of what everybody thinks, they are still the minority who came to power on their lowest winning total for several generations and for whom big dark clouds gather in the months and years ahead. Europe, debt, house price inflation, falling exports, the NHS; the list goes on and on. Ideal for Corbyn.