New Labour “passed into history” as Progress drops use of label

The debate over whether or not New Labour is history has flared up periodically over the past few years, not least on this site – here, here, here and here (and that’s just for starters). Still, despite numerous people proclaiming that New Labour was “dead” or “finished”, there were always those who would argue otherwise – even when the Labour Party dropped the “new” from their email addresses, and the photos of Blair and Brown came down from the walls of then (then) Victoria Street HQ.

Now though it seems that New Labour really has been consigned to party history – and by those who for so long have been its most steadfast proponents. Progress have confirmed that they will no longer be referring to themselves as “New Labour” and instead will be calling themselves “mainstream Labour” instead. Here’s what new Progress Chair John Woodcock MP told the Independent:

“Moving on to call ourselves mainstream Labour shows the success of how New Labour changed the party. What Progress champions now represents the centre of gravity for our movement.”

“The whole point is to move on from a label which has passed into history. The instincts and values which drove us to win in 1997, saw us command the political landscape and win three elections are alive and well in Ed Miliband’s Labour Party. 

“Progress wants to be part of the future, not anchored in an illustrious part of Labour’s history.”

25 years on from Philip Gould first floating the idea, and 20 years on from the Labour Party adopting the slogan, it seems that New Labour has, for good or ill, passed into the realms of Labour history.