Fingers crossed that today's stories of Gordon Brown allowing party supporters more say and involvement in policy development will actually happen. In many ways Tony Blair's approach to the fine men and women who make up the grassroots of the Labour movement was to distance himself as much as he could. I am indebted to this Fawlty Towers analogy from Richard Heller published on Jon Cruddas' web site, which paints the picture splendidly:
"In the last four years we have shed over four million voters and half of our party's membership. It is not hard to figure out why so many of our most loyal supporters have deserted. The government has treated them like Basil Fawlty treats his long-term guests on Gourmet Night. As riff-raff. They have been insulted and sent to their rooms in the hope of attracting a better class of customer. New Labour's Gourmet Night has been as big a disaster as Basil's. The regulars are leaving the hotel and no new customers are coming in to replace them."
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