|
New Labour refers to a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, under leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994 which was later seen in a draft manifesto published in 1996, called ''New Labour, New Life For Britain''. It was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. The branding was extensively used while the party was in government, between 1997 and 2010. New Labour won landslide election victories in 1997 and 2001, and won again in 2005. In 2007, Blair resigned as the party's leader and was succeeded by Gordon Brown. Labour did not win the 2010 general election, which resulted in a hung parliament and led to the creation of a Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government; Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister, and as Labour leader shortly thereafter. He was succeeded by Ed Miliband after that year's leadership election. The "New Labour" brand was developed to regain trust from the electorate and to portray a departure from "Old Labour", which was criticised for its breaking of election promises and its links between trade unions and the state. The "New Labour" brand was used to communicate the party's modernisation to the public. It was coordinated by Alastair Campbell, who centralised the party's communications and used his experience in journalism to achieve positive media relations. In 2002, following criticism from Philip Gould, Blair announced the need to reinvent the brand based on a unified domestic policy and greater assertion in foreign affairs. Following the leadership of Neil Kinnock and John Smith, the party under the New Labour brand attempted to widen its electoral appeal and, by the 1997 general election, had made significant gains in the upper and middle classes. Labour maintained this wider support in the 2001 and 2005 elections. The brand was retired in 2010. New Labour has been influenced by the political thinking of Anthony Crosland, the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and Peter Mandelson's and Alastair Campbell's media campaigning. The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of Anthony Giddens' "Third Way", which attempted to provide a synthesis between capitalism and socialism. The party emphasised the importance of social justice, rather than equality, emphasising the need for equality of opportunity, and believed in the use of free markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice. In 2002, Giddens named spin as New Labour's biggest failure, but commended the party's success in certain policy areas and at marginalising the Conservative Party. ==History== First elected to parliament as Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, County Durham, at the 1983 general election, Tony Blair became the leader of the Labour Party in 1994,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1994: Labour chooses Blair )〕 after winning 57% of the vote in that year's leadership election, defeating John Prescott and Margaret Beckett.〔Floey 2002, p. 108〕 His first shadow cabinet role came in November 1988, when Neil Kinnock appointed him as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy, and in July 1992 he was promoted to the role of Shadow Home Secretary on the election of John Smith as Labour Party leader. Gordon Brown, who went on to hold senior positions in Blair's Labour government before succeeding him as Prime Minister in June 2007, was not a candidate in the 1994 leadership election because of an agreement between the two made in 1994, in which Brown promised not to run for election. The media has since speculated that Blair agreed to stand down and allow Brown the premiership in the future, though Blair's supporters have contended that such a deal never took place. The term 'New Labour' was coined by Blair in his October 1994 Labour Party Conference speech, as part of the slogan "New Labour, New Britain".〔Driver & Martell 2006, p. 13〕 During this speech, Blair announced the modification of Clause IV of the party's constitution, which abandoned Labour's attachment to nationalisation and embraced market economics. The new version of the clause committed Labour to a balance of market and public ownership, and to balance creation of wealth with social justice.〔Driver & Martell 2006, pp. 13–14〕 In 1997, after 18 years of a Conservative government, New Labour won a landslide victory at the general election, winning a total of 418 seats in the House of Commons—the largest victory in the party's history.〔Barlow & Mortimer 2008, p. 226〕 The party was also victorious in 2001 and 2005, making Blair Labour's longest-serving Prime Minister, and the first to win three consecutive general elections. Indeed, he was the first Labour leader to win a general election since Harold Wilson in 1974.〔Else 2009, p. 48〕 In the months following Labour's 1997 election victory, referendums were held in Scotland and Wales regarding devolution. There was a clear majority supporting devolution in Scotland and a narrower majority in Wales; Scotland received a stronger degree of devolution than Wales. The Labour government passed laws in 1998 to establish a Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, the first elections for these were held in 1999.〔Elliot, Faucher-King & Le Galès 2010, p. 65〕 Blair attempted to continue peace negotiations in Northern Ireland by offering the creation of a regional parliament and government. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was made, which allowed for a 108-member elected assembly and a power-sharing arrangement between nationalists and unionists. Blair was personally involved in these negotiations.〔Elliot, Faucher-King & Le Galès 2010, p. 69〕 After the US strikes on Afghanistan in 1998, Blair released a statement supporting the actions;〔Coats & Lawler 2000, p. 296〕 he lent military support to America's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.〔Bérubé 2009, p. 206〕 In March 2003, the Labour government, fearing Saddam Hussein's supposed access to weapons of mass destruction, participated in the American-led invasion of Iraq.〔Lavelle 2008, p. 85〕 British intervention in Iraq promoted public protest. Crowds numbering 400,000 and more demonstrated in October 2002, and again the following spring. On 15 February 2003, over 1 million people demonstrated against the war in Iraq, and 60,000 marched in Manchester before the Labour Party Conference, with the demonstrators' issues including British occupation of Afghanistan and the forthcoming invasion of Iraq.〔Elliot, Faucher-King & Le Galès 2010, p. 123〕 In June 2007, Blair resigned as the leader of the Labour Party and Gordon Brown, previously the Chancellor of the Exchequer, succeeded him after the 2007 party conference. Three years earlier, Blair had announced that he would not be contesting a fourth successive general election as Labour Party leader if he won the 2005 general election. Brown initially had strong public support and plans for a quick general election were widely publicised, though never officially announced.〔Else 2008, p. 49〕 On 18 February 2008, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced that the failing bank, Northern Rock, would be nationalised, supporting it with loans and guarantees of £50 billion. The bank had been destabilised by the US subprime mortgage crisis the previous year, and a private buyer of the bank could not be found. The 2010 general election ended in a hung parliament, in which Labour won 258 seats, 91 fewer than in 2005.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Election 2010 National Results )〕 Following failures to achieve a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats, Gordon Brown announced his intention to resign as the leader of the party on 10 May, and resigned as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom the following day. Shortly thereafter, David Cameron and Nick Clegg announced the formation of a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats; David Cameron became the Prime Minister and Nick Clegg the Deputy Prime Minister of a cabinet that contained eighteen Conservative ministers and five Liberal Democrat ministers. In announcing his intention to run for the leadership, David Miliband declared that the New Labour era was over, and following the publication of Tony' Blair's memoirs on 1 September 2010, Ed Miliband said "I think it is time to move on from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson and to move on from the New Labour establishment and that is the candidate that I am at this election who can best turn the page. I think frankly most members of the public will want us to turn the page." The leadership election was won by Ed Miliband, who was able to mobilise support from the trade union electorate.〔Driver 2011, p. 110〕 In a July 2011 speech, Blair stated that New Labour died when he left office and Gordon Brown assumed the party leadership, claiming that from 2007, the party "lost the driving rhythm". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「New Labour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|