Charles Clarke you ungrateful sod

Iain Dale reprints a very interesting letter ex-Home Secretary Charles Clarke has sent out to all and sundry as his new year's contribution to Labour's war effort.

Clarke has helpfully pointed out how dismally Labour has performed under the new broom, Brown, by saying things like;

• "During the last year Labour’s poll ratings have hit historic lows, and the dismal European and local elections translated this into actual votes."
• "Labour’s underlying poll position is disastrous."
  
• "All the evidence suggests that Brown’s leadership reduces Labour support, that alternative leaders would improve our ratings,"
• "Labour currently has no strategy for escaping the deep political trouble it is in."

Now, if I was a Labour Party member who lived in Norwich - and thank God I'm neither - I don't know if I'd really appreciate the guy I'm meant to campaign for pointing out that "In Parliament and elsewhere an overwhelming majority of Labour opinion believes that in this position Labour’s chances would be significantly improved if Gordon Brown were to stand down." when it's far, far too late to change leaders.

All it amounts to is pointing out to the public what a bad position Labour are in and what a useless leader they have - a leader who would remain in place should a general election victory miraculously present itself. Does Clarke actually expect Labour members to campaign for him when he's doing his best to undermine the party's chances?

Then again, if you lived in the south of the city it would also be hard to trudge up to the north where the Labour Party HQ threw what should have been a safe Labour seat straight to the Tories. No matter which way you turned you'd have your own side firing on you, no wonder some members look for greener pastures.

That can't make for a happy camp and I wouldn't be surprised if many Labour activists in Norwich found themselves ill disposed towards the idea of pounding the streets for such an ungrateful bunch over the next few months.