Every member of the Labour party carries with them a simple guiding mission on the membership card: to put power, wealth and opportunity in the hands of the many, not the few. When debating public service reform, tax policies or constitutional changes, we apply those values to the latest challenges.
What is on Cameron's party card? What is his vision for Britain? He doesn't have one. His project is "decontaminating the Tory party", not changing the country. He is stuck, reconciling himself to New Labour Mark I at just the time when the times demand a radical new phase.
David Miliband's article in today's Guardian is the clearest signal to Labour members that he is available to be drafted as a new leader if a vacancy were to arise. It reads like a rallying-cry for New Labour Mark II: the "radical new phase" he thinks is needed for the country, and to defeat the Conservatives. It's a brilliant concise summary of the government's case at the next general election, or at least what the government's case should be. It's an assertive defence of the Labour record on crime, on employment, on the health service and on social policy; and it's a powerful critique of David Cameron's conservatism, as nothing but oppontunism allied to opposition to change. He provides a new narrative for New Labour Mark II: the Blair years were a rescue mission, bringing the NHS "back from the brink". The implication is that Labour can now get second wind and move forward, if it dares.
I've tended to dismiss Miliband's prospects as Labour leader until now. I've been unclear what he stood for, apart from a vague feeling of being "the heir to Blair", not something likely to endear him to most Labout members - who after all will decide who leads Labour next. But after this, I'm not so dismissive. The article shows that Miliband can articulate what Labour government is for, much better than his boss can, justifying the past - while accepting mistakes have been made - and summoning something of the spirit of 1997. It shows that he may have - may have - the kind of policy vision that would make Labour worth voting for again. If I feel this, then so will many people in the Labour Party. What's gone wrong since this time last year is that Gordon Brown has not provided the renewal he seemed to offer, and that Labour desperately needs. Here, clearly, is a potential leader who might be able to offer just that.
Iain Dale isn't sure Miliband intended this as any sort of leadership bid, but if he's right then I think Milband must be remarkably naive to have written this: surely it's obvious how this article will be interpreted. And anyway, regardless of his intentions, this article effectively stakes Miliband's claim in any event. I don't think Gordon Brown is likely to be toppled this autumn, or that he's going to throw in the towel. But I also politics is unpredictable; and I'm sure David Miliband thinks so too.
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