On coming to power, Brown made some effort to distance himself from Blair. This came at the same time as howls of fear from the right that he was a closet socialist. Reading reports of Labour’s Spring conference, I’ve no idea how anyone could give that view a moment’s consideration. The man is New Labour, through and through.

Let us look first at image. Brown gave the speech under a deep blue screen bearing the slogan, “New Labour, Your Britain.” How is that anything but a cheap rehash of Blair’s slogan in 1997 - fused with New Labour’s rhetoric about public choice? Ironically, neither are particularly new for Labour.

And, really, would an barely closetted Old-Labour man consent to anything but a red banner? Not unless he was trying to destroy that image - which, if he was such a committed socialist, he wouldn’t try to.

Now let’s look at what he said. I’ll quote a few, key passages:

“This is the New Labour promise of opportunity and security not just for some but for all.”

“Neighbourhood policing for every family in every community, three million more homes and a safer environment, managed migration with a new points system, an NHS with better access to your GP, clean hospitals and the right to check-ups and screening.”

“Personalised public services tailored to your needs, excellent education for all and economic stability on the road to full employment.”

“When people ask me why they should vote for New Labour, I ask them to think of the dreams they have for their kids and then join us in daring to believe that a better future for them and for us all is ours to make.”

“My pledge to the British people is that we will keep inflation and mortgage rates low, and side by side with our programme for three million more houses, enable thousands more young people to afford to buy a home of their own for the first time.”

So; equality of opportunity, tough on crime, choice in public servives, ending childhod poverty, equality of opportunity, low inflation, change.  Essentially, much of the platform New Labour ran on in 1997, minus details like constitutional reform.

Oh, and he associated himself with New Labour.  That might just indicate something.

He’s New Labour.  He helped create it, and he’s still a part of it.

Unfortunately for Brown, that means large parts of his speech don’t wash.  The speech was littered with references to new - as was Blair’s rhetoric in 1997.  He’s trying to paint himself as a figure of change, when he stands for what’s happened in the last 10 years.

This clearly doesn’t work.  New Labour is no longer new, and it’s no use pretending otherwise.  That only makes it look as if Brown is trying to purge the popular memory of the fact that Blair was the face of New Labour for so many years.  That, in turn, risks making Brown look bitter.

It would be far better for him to admit that he’s New Labour as he has done, stick with that thrust and emphasis, and stop pretending that he’s trying to change it.  Dropping the constant emphasis on newness is part of that.  If he feels it’s a platform worth running on, with policies that people will vote for, it doesn’t need it.

If he feels it’s not worth running on, then he needs a new thrust - and then, he needs to tell people it’s new.

What doesn’t work is taking previously electorally popular policies and dressing them up differently.  That either disguises those policies, and stops people voting for them - or makes Brown look like an overt delusionist.

Of those approaches, only the last is guaranteed to fail.  And it’s the one he’s taking.