Feb
10
In defence of Hazel Blears
Filed Under Labour politics | Leave a Comment
George Monbiot has attacked Hazel Blears‘ for voting with the government. His attack was a response to criticisms she made of him for (and I’m quoting from Monbiot rather than Blears):
- “cynical and corrosive commentary”
- “you don’t get very far in politics without guts, and certainly not as far as the cabinet table”
- “wielding great influence without accountability”
- “more people debating, engaging and voting; not more people waving placards on the sidelines.”
In short, she argued that it’s better to compromise some views to get more done than sit on the outside sniping, intellectually and moralyl uncompromised but never achieving anything.
Therefore, for Monbiot to criticise her for voting with the government (of which she is a member) is simplistic, easy and cheap. Simplistic because any minister can be criticised on those grounds. Easy, because he knows nothing of any personal, private compromises she may have had to make and cheap because any honest reply from her would create a media firestorm.
There are many reasons to criticise Hazel Blears, legitimately. I don’t, for example, agree that politics isn’t better off for what Monbiot does and what Hazel Blears does. Certainly a political and private realm without any public realm would be a space for which demagogues could take advantage .
There’s an important debate about the credibility of collective responsibility in a new media age. This, George, wasn’t the way to start it.
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