A Labour and Tory comparison

By Rajasingham Jayadevan

“In 1997 Labour ended 18 years in the political wilderness in spectacular style’

(May 02, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Tory Rule until 1997 - major issues
1. Sleaze (note 1) was a major issue.

2. Disunity within the party was self destructive.

3. Interest rate (note 2) was politically managed and sky rocketed to 15% leading to sterling crisis.

4. Two recessions during Tory rule (see attached- snep-04949pdf). The government intervention to tackle the recession was not there. Do not forget the time when home owners were handing over the keys to the lenders and also the high rate of unemployment during the Tory rule.

5. NHS was bashed by the Tories. Pioneering hospitals were closed down. Some leading ones were facing closures. If Labour was not elected in 1997, many more leading hospitals like St Bartholomew’s and Edgware hospitals would have been closed down.

6. Scandals after scandals were plaguing the Tory leadership and some leading figures even faced jail sentences.

7. Privatising state managed institutions lead to some of them becoming full fledged sharks, ripping off the people even during Labour rule.

8. VAT increased from 15% to 17.5% when Nigel Lawson was the Chancellor.

9. Immigration too was an issue then (Note 3)


Labour Rule since 1997- Major issues


1. Sleeze was not an issue. Though expense claims involving parliamentarians was a serous issue, it was a system that was in operation even during previous governments. The revelation of the scandal was restricted to the present government. The investigations did not go back to Tory rule.

2. Compared to Tory’s disunity, the Labour has shown unity except for discontent by few members now and then.

3. Interest rate was independently managed by the Bank of England and remained very low for the past 13 years.

4. The current recession was the only recession during Labour time. It is the product of global events and the greedy banks. The government adequately intervened to deal with the situation. The banks must come under further scrutiny and greedy bakers must be weaned out of the system.

5. NHS was safe with the Labour. The hospitals earmarked for closure by the Tory’s were salvaged by the Labour and are providing pioneering service.

6. Scandals experienced by the Tories were not prevalent with the Labour.

7. Privatisation was not the policy of the Labour. But Labour could have done more to bring check and balance on the public utility service providers made private by the Conservatives (the companies like BP privatised by the Tory’s).

8. Higher taxation was focussed on the rich. But Labour blundered when they removed the 10% band rate.

9. Freedom of Information Act- This is a good piece of legislation brought by the Labour government. Unfortunately, it has not seen the full effect.

10. Also see the letter (note 4) by David.

Note 1. Tory "sleaze"

A number of political scandals in the 1990s (building on previous examples in the 1980s) created the impression of what is described in the British press as "sleaze": a perception, peaking towards the end of the Major era, that the Conservatives were associated with political corruption and hypocrisy. In particular the successful entrapment of Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick in the "cash for questions" scandal, the contemporaneous misconduct as a minister by Neil Hamilton (who lost a consequent libel action against The Guardian), and the convictions of former Cabinet member Jonathan Aitken and former party deputy chairman Jeffrey Archer for perjury in two separate cases leading to custodial sentences damaged the Conservatives' public reputation. Persistent unsubstantiated rumours about the activities of the party treasurer Michael Ashcroft did not help this impression.

At the same time a series of revelations about the private lives of various Conservative politicians also grabbed the headlines and both the media and the party's opponents made little attempt to clarify the distinction between financial conduct and private lives.

John Major's "Back to Basics" morality campaign back-fired on him by providing an excuse for the British media to expose "sleaze" within the Conservative Party and, most damagingly, within the Cabinet itself. A number of ministers were then revealed to have committed sexual indiscretions, and Major was forced by media pressure to dismiss them. In September 2002 it was revealed that, prior to his promotion to the cabinet, Major had himself had a longstanding extramarital affair with a fellow MP, Edwina Currie.