Blair's Second Coming

...During World War II, Churchill used to scribble "Action This Day...

...Indeed, if Blair's public service sector initiatives turn out to be as much of a dud as his critics predict, he will again be the subject of ridicule and derision, and will probably not get a third chance to put things right...

...In education, the most hallowed Old Labor principle is to be violated with the establishment of elite specialist schools (strong on science and technology...

...But the revelation that someone was given a high profile government position for which he seemed poorly equipped was an embarrassment to the man who chose him for the job...

...Focusing on Britain's Failing Public Services Blair's Second Coming By Norman Gelb London Britain's new Minister for Sport Richard Caborn was in office only a few days when he made the mistake of giving an interview to the BBC...

...They are loud in their condemnation of the government's abandonment of the Socialist ethic, and more will be heard from them in the months ahead...

...Two dozenjunior ministers deemed not up to snuff were sacked and returned to their seats on the House of Commons backbenches...

...Where health care is concerned, that would mean permitting privately run hospitals to come, at a profit, to the aid of overburdened NHS hospitals...

...Many of them had been made cynical by the Prime Minister's failure to fulfill his first term promise to improve the flagging quality of life here...

...Humiliated by the voters in June because of the Right-wing drift of its policies, it has since been locked in internal discord and ugly backbiting...

...There are no checks and balances as there are in Washington...

...That change is to be made retroactive— proof of Parliament's overriding power...

...Traditionally, that modest looking building on a side street in central London has been the low-keyed center of government...

...Another change, also contrary to current practice, would permit a jury to be informed of a suspect's previous convictions before reaching its verdict...

...Another has described a fellow senior party figure as "dodgy...

...The free National Health Service (NHS) is still desperately short of doctors, nurses, beds, and equipment...

...In practice, even a British Parliament controlled by a single party, as is the case at present, would rebel against such a bid...

...The prime minister, as leaderofthe dominant party in the House of Commons, theoretically could be a figure of unchallengeable political power in the country...

...The rule against double jeopardy, a key feature of British criminal law, is to be modified...

...Crime levels have soared and the use of guns by criminals, once a rare occurrence, is now depressingly common...

...The pressure to do better has had a striking personal effect on Blair...

...Determined to change his image, Blarr has been bombarding Britons with assurances that this time around he intends to "deliver"—until the government has begun to sound like a new pizza emporium on High Street...

...However, his landslide victory—and the fact that it was his second in a row—arguably has given him a mandate from the British people to do his job as he sees fit...

...As Blair goes about trying to turn his plans into reality, he is faced with a conundrum: In many instances the people who would have to execute his reforms are the ones whose current patterns he is challenging, and they don't like it...

...Or so one might think...

...Closely monitoring developments throughout the government and reporting directly to the Prime Minister will be Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell...

...True, he won a second consecutive term of office by a landslide victory for his Labor Party...

...Clearly, the new Tony Blair has turned a formidable array of old allies into adversaries...

...Adding to this array of criticism are rebukes from some prominent Labor Party figures...

...It was through his initiative that Parliament devolved regional authority away from the central government to Scottish and Welsh assemblies and to a Greater London Authority...

...In addition, militant hard Left activists—who were marginalized by Blair's successful transformation of the Labor Party into middle-of-theroad "New Labor"—are starting to re-establish their presence in the leadership of some key unions...

...He'd steal your water bottle...

...Oh, yes, that's Chancellor Gordon Brown, his friend, neighbor and party colleague, a shrewd and ambitious figure with whom Blair rose through Labor's ranks, biding his time and looking over the Prime Minister's shoulder...

...In sum, this has been the greatest government upheaval Britain has experienced since the end of World War II, when the Labor Party was elected to replace Winston Churchill's Conservatives...

...Roy Hattersley, a former deputy leader, is urging Laborites to "rise up" and reclaim the party from those who had scrapped its "legitimate philosophy...

...Norman Gelb reports regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...

...Some London-based American lawyers are appalled, pointing out that the United States drew from British law many of its cherished legal safeguards for individuals...

...Leaving aside the steps against violent crime, police representatives have not found much to cheer in Blair's pronouncements either...

...As for the schoolteachers, most of them have been trained to shun elitism in education...

...Former Education Secretary David Blunkett went to the Home Office...

...The nation's educational system, with its excessively large classes and overworked teachers, is also in need of thorough rehabilitation...

...So they are stunned by Labor's desire to introduce "academies" with selective admission standards...

...Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who has nurtured Britain's currently favorable economic climate, has established a tight little command post of his own at his official residence next door at Number 11 Downing Street...

...not a man you'd like to go into the jungle with...

...At least that's the plan...

...For pecuniary reasons as well as reasons of principle, British lawyers are seething at suggestions that the government may further move to eliminate juries for some categories of crimes, leaving it to panels of judges to speed up what are now often staggeringly long trials...

...He has already made controversial decisions...

...Blair will exercise the same sort of urgency...

...For the ailing National Health Service, for poorly performing schools, and for public transport, he has served notice that private investment, previously scorned by the Labor Party as the first step toward the dreaded privatization of public institutions, will be tapped to establish public-privatepartnerships(PPPs...

...Instead, they say, Blair should provide funding to train more teachers and reduce what they describe as their stupefyingly heavy workloads...

...One prominent Tory, for example, labeled the reign of vanquished party leader William Hague "wasted years," a bitter and gratuitous insult to a man who remains well liked by the Conservative rank and file...

...Neil Kinnock, Blair's predecessor as party leader, has cautioned the Prime Minister not to be too confident that private funding will produce the required results...

...Civil rights activists warn that could unfairly prejudice a jury against a suspect...

...on instructions to his minions...

...The restructuring is nothing less than a revolution in British government procedures, and has deeply upset traditionalists...

...Medical accidents and mistakes occur too often...

...A bureaucratic lethargy and grogginess had set in, clogging the lines of communication...

...The way things look at the moment, there is scant chance of their recovering well enough to prevent the Labor Party from winning a third consecutive term in office when the next election rolls around...

...Caborn was explaining how profoundly Prime Minister Tony Blair's just re-elected government is committed to promoting sports when he found himself in a George W. Bush predicament—he was confronted with questions of fact...

...Thus his first term was a much muddled on-the-job-training affair...

...He is more thoughtful these days...

...They maintain that a cabinet government is more suitable than a presidential style administration here, especially because there is no written British constitution, only long established standards and institutions...

...THE MOST significant innovation is taking place at Number 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence...

...His plan for an independent police com plaints commission to in vestigate grievances against the police is recognized for what it is— criticism of their ability to do that job themselves...

...Now, Number 10 is beginning to resemble a bustling presidential command post...

...The deeply divided Conservative Party is incapable of mounting a credible opposition...

...The dead hand of government bureaucracy will be lopped off as well with a "bonfire of red tape...

...Open golf tournament...

...Blair's most radical proposals are aimed at ending the spiraling levels of violent crime...

...Several ministers were shifted to positions where they are expected to provide fresh ideas...

...Britain's underfunded railroads and the London subway system are constantly plagued by accidents and long stoppages...

...It is keeping watch on the progress of reforms, too, not necessarily with the Prime Minister's approval...

...And a smaller proportion of eligible voters bothered to go to the polls this past June 7 than in any British election since records began to be kept 83 years ago...

...When he initially came to office in 1997, Blair had no experience whatever in managing a big multifaceted organization, nor had any of his Cabinet ministers ever run a government department...

...Alas, the minister could not come up with a single correct answer...

...But lawlessness is one of the public's major anxieties and the Prime Minister believes drastic remedies are necessary...

...His success in countering them —or winning them over—will depend on whether he can actually deliver the public service improvements the country craves and desperately needs...

...his principal private secretary, Jeremy Haywood...

...and intragovernment coordinator Anji Hunter...

...As it drew to an end, sometimes even individuals who had originally been devoted supporters ridiculed him for offering little beyond platitudes...

...Day-to-day responsibilities were left to the ministries, with the broad pictare of their performances gradually filtering up through the bureaucratic mazes...

...his press and strategy adviser, Alistair Campbell...

...Robin Cook, who was not overly impressive as Foreign Secretary, was moved to the much lower profile job of Leader of the House of Commons...

...Today, Blair has made his sweeping changes because he believes his government's earlier shortcomings can be partly attributed to insufficient control of how things were and were not happening in his various ministries...

...The introduction of a differential pay scale that would reward front-line officers over everyone else is another source of unhappiness...

...That remains a vital matter to Blair...

...Should Blair fail, though...

...As a tangible sign of its disapproval, it is threatening to end its financial support of the Labor Party...

...Private companies are to be encouraged to sponsor programs at these schools and perhaps even run them...

...Britain's legal profession is also bristling over aspects of the PM's program...

...But Blair has no wish to be an elected dictator...

...It fears this could lead to the wrong economies by the profit-fixated privates, including firings and pay cuts...

...Other unions with strong Labor links have reacted similarly, and have called on the government to water down its commitment to PPPs...

...Lawyers contend that the proposed drastic changes in the criminal law would cripple key features of British principles of justice...

...Yet the fact is that the Prime Minister wasn't about to be distracted by the incident from his overall effort to convince the British people that he will not betray their trust...

...But it does not guarantee his remaining in office...

...The once-Blairite Institute for Public Policy Research has warned that depending on private partnership in public reforms puts the government in danger of adopting a "public bad, private good" attitude...

...Jack Straw, formerly Home Secretary, has taken over the Foreign Office...

...Replacing him at Education is Estelle Morris, promoted for her superior performance in a comparatively minor post...

...Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, Caborn is a diligent politician and no doubt will soon be better prepared for such ambushes...

...Their impotence saves Blair from having to bother to protect himself from their sniping...

...Labor's attraction then was its promised welfare state to make up for prolonged wartime deprivations...

...It will be possiole for persons accused of murder to be tried a second time if new, compelling evidence of their guilt is uncovered after they have been tried and found innocent...

...He knows, though, that he was greatly assisted by the feebleness of the Conservative Party's challenge...

...Labor's control of the government is unlikely to be in jeopardy in the near future...

...They would provide beds, operating theaters and other facilities when the NHS cannot do so...

...Cabinet ministers are to get on with their tasks but, in effect, will be answerable to the overseeing group...

...The Conservatives are in such disarray that they have been left without a recognizable political program...

...The union representing health care workers has reacted angrily to the idea of using private investment to help improve and finance the NHS...

...At the same time, he seems more confident, more certain of how to go about getting Britain to finally function properly...

...Parliament, representing the will of the people, is supreme...

...A senior doctor in Hereford announced recently that he would not bring his own children for treatment at the General Hospital where he works, a feeling shared by many doctors across the land...

...Gone is the mask-like grin (an enduring gift to political cartoonists) that sometimes made him look like the Joker of Batman Comics fame...

...More substantively, no sooner had he returned from the formality of advising Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace that he will be staying on as her chief minister than he began a major shake-up of his Cabinet...

...There is no doubt it could make a mockery of the presumption of innocence...

...The interviewer asked him to name the coach of England's national cricket team, the captain of the British Lions rugby squad, and the British golfers who would be competing in the U.S...