The revelation that Tony Blair wrote a pseudo-Marxist letter to Michael Foot should come as little surprise to anyone. Blair has always been what Tony Benn would describe as a weathercock rather than a signpost - a blank canvass on which to paint. I was trying to think of other examples of things people have written which later came back to haunt them, but it's obviously too early in the morning. Over to you!
My personal example would a one page essay I wrote in 1974 at the age of eleven. I decided to pen a piece for my parents advising them how to vote in the February election. Even at that age I had seen right through Ted Heath and I was none too enamoured with the EEC after my father was forced to sell his herd of beef cattle. So early one morning I wandered into my parents' bedroom and solemnly advised them to vote Labour. My bleary eyed mother briefly awoke from her slumbers and told me not to be so stupid and to go back to bed and that she would be voting for that rather 'dishy' Mr Thorpe. My career as a political pundit had not got off to a promising start. Let's hope that when I get to the GMTV studios this morning I am a little more perceptive in my political analysis... Some hope!
Didn't The Reverend Blair's 1986 Beaconsfield election leaflet famously endorse unilateral withdrawal from the EEC?
ReplyDeleteI am sure I was very much on message when at school. I remember some of the questions in my A level exam.. one of which was if Labour cant win in 92 can they ever win again (I think we know the answer to that) but one which asked why did Labour lose in 92 got a rather sarcastic response that a fact people seem to forget is that they got considerably less votes. No wonder I got a B!
ReplyDeleteNot sure who's judgment was most off-line that day - yours, or your Mums!
ReplyDelete“Socialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period of power. The phrases that rouse us, or should rouse us, are bound to seem stale in the mouth of anyone who has been too closely entwined with the Establishment.”
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that particular comment might come back to haunt grinning Bliar?
After reading this I decided I wanted in on the act too, so I've written something that may come back to haunt me. A short polemic on the state of England's world cup ambition. I've also taken the plunge with a prediction of Sweden 1 - England 0 for the next game. Although I hope to be proven wrong!
ReplyDeletelol
ReplyDeleteAs for Beaconsfield it was in 1982, not 1986.
I have something more shameful. I was eleven when the 1987 general election took place and I wanted the Liberal/SDP Alliance to win, with David Owen as Prime Minister! :(
What can I say! I was young and foolish
The otherwise excellent Anthony King (one of the few pundits, alongside David Sanders, to predict a Tory victory in 92) wrote in the Economist 'The World In 1993' that Britain had become a one-party state like Japan.
ReplyDeleteDavid Carlton has written many silly pieces, particularly in the Spectator in the 92 parliament, in which, no matter how badly the Tories did (and despite every piece of evidence showing that they'd have a much harder job recovering than they did at the 92 GE) that the Tories would win. His final prediction for the 97 election was that the Tories would emerge as the largest party in a hung parliament (completely overlooking what was then the bias towards Labour in the electoral system, which meant that Labour would have been one seat in a hung parliament even if the Tories had won 3% more of the popular vote).
Why the Spectator wasted good money on such one-eyed punditry is beyond me. Maybe it was the then Frank Johnson's desire to go against the grain of opinion by insisting that John Major could win.