ABSTRACT

The election of the Labour government on 1 May was the end of a journey. Not just for me, and for those in the Labour Party who had been working so long to get Labour elected - 18 years certainly gives new meaning to the notion of a long campaign - but to many at the special post-election conference also. For four elections Labour electoral failure has been scrutinised, dissected and analysed. For Labour, almost, but never quite, a corpse, this procedure has always been less academic review, more autopsy.