In the last few days an extraordinary thing has happened. Gordon Brown has remembered why he is campaigning. The press have remembered that he (and he alone out of the three main candidates) is a conviction politician – even the right-leaning papers said that this speech on Monday to Citizens UK was one of the best political speeches of this generation.
And so I quote our Prime Minister:
“My father taught me that life is about more than self-interest, that work is about more than self-advancement, that service is about more than self-service. That happiness is about more than what you earn and own.
“Our shared belief is that wealth must serve more than the wealthy, inequality should not be woven into the fabric of our lives, people of compassion and goodwill should never journey without hope, and no injustice should endure forever”.
This is the man I want to represent me. These are the beliefs which I look for in an enlightened democracy. This is the only way forward for this country.
If you look back through my blog from the last three weeks you will see that the Tories have shown scant regard for the most vulnerable, for the marginalised and helpless in society. But look at Labour’s record:
38,000 more doctors, 80,000 more nurses, 35,000 more teachers, 14,000 more police, minimum wage, paternity/maternity leave, surestart, regional development agencies, child tax credits, quadrupled investment in education, record ALevel/GCSE results, record university students, lowest NHS waiting times in history, free cancer subscriptions, cancer specialist within 2 weeks of diagnosis, reductions of 65million tonnes in carbon emmisions…
Is it really that easy for people to forget all this?
Self-interest has no place in politics – for a country to be healthy, all of its people have to be considered, and there is only one party which promises with any credibility to do so.
Reason #21. A vote for Labour is a vote for the party which will help the most people.