JEREMY CORBYN argues that Labour must do more before it can think of mounting an election campaign.
THERE has always been an air of unreality to the Tory Party conference. This year's is proving as remote from reality and ordinary lives as any other.
It started on Saturday with Blackpool Tower bathed a strange blue light, like a giant emergency warning to draw attention to the activities in the old Winter Gardens nearby.
Not long after, the Conservatives unveiled Boris Johnson as their "new Tory" London mayoral candidate, whose main campaign seems to be to "bring back the Routemaster," an iconic 1950s bus - incidentally, one that was publicly built and designed - which is now generally agreed to be awful for those with disabilities and very slow at loading and unloading, thus increasing journey times.
Challenged on this point, Johnson told a bewildered press conference: "It was not beyond the wit of man to sort it out." Quite.
The rest of his policies for London seem as confused and confusing as his observations on buses.
Meanwhile, in the north, the Tory conference opened with a video link-up with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles. The ex-Hollywood action man has hardly been a friend of public services and he was followed by multimillionaire Michael Bloomberg, whose main concerns seem to be greed and cash.
After the headline acts, the Tories got down to policies. Ex-Thatcher adviser Andrew Lansley, who claimed that the NHS is safe with the Tories - that is, after it has been stripped of core delivery functions, handed over to the private sector and retained only for those who don't want or can't afford private medicine.
Too often, people on the left say that there is no difference between the parties as they express their anger and disappointment at new Labour.
While I can see where that sentiment is coming from, they should look carefully at the sort of policies that a Tory government would bring in.
Cleverly wrapped in vague pledges about house purchase stamp duty and inheritance tax, they really want to carry on where Thatcher and Major left off.
Gordon Brown has deliberately not stopped all the talk of an election in November and is effectively boxing himself into that corner. Should he not call an election, he risks appearing weak and indecisive.
Those who say that this is just a game to rattle the Tories and discomfort the Liberal Democrats should think back a long way, to September 1978. Then, faced with a looming winter of discontent, minority Labour prime minister James Callaghan called a snap election in order to cling on to office. Labour lost and Thatcher started 18 years of Tory rule eight months later.
If we are to have an election in November, then Brown would do well to look at issues of public-sector pay and the poverty gap in Britain.
Labour did introduce the minimum wage, which was a huge and welcome step. But, at less than £6 per hour, it is hardly a living wage. Minimum wage-earners with dependants also have to seek tax credits from the state to survive.
The poorest are not fooled by Cameron and his Tory friends, but they do expect a bit more from Labour and only Labour can deliver.
By delaying public-sector pay rises, the Treasury is effectively asking the very people who are crucial to delivering all government policies to accept a pay cut. It has justified its actions by citing an underlying inflationary threat.
It seems strange to pin responsibility for this looming cloud on the lower-paid public-sector workers while ignoring the obscene and absurd pay and bonuses of City executives. The total amount paid to this greedy group roughly equals the current pay shortfall facing needy public-sector workers.
The inflation in house prices and the buy-to-let market in particular is fuelled by these bonuses.
In writing a manifesto, the party would do well to reflect on the needs of the least well off, who, while undeniably doing better under Labour, are still often living in unnecessary poverty.
The government's housing green paper at least recognises that the disaster of allowing the housing market to run free has rendered housing opportunities more expensive and less available for those in desperate housing need.
Council housing or building for rent by housing associations should not be a developers' add-on but a clear national social objective.
Britain's cash-hungry involvement in bloody foreign adventures is also a key priority.
Apparently, Brown wants to make a statement to the House of Commons on October 8 about further troop withdrawals from Iraq. Half a cheer for that, but how about a serious and reflective statement on the foreign policy that he inherited from Blair and supported as chancellor?
A total withdrawal from Iraq would be a good start to take the troops out of danger, force the US into total isolation and allow the Iraqi internal ceasefire to become a serious internal political process.
While it is clear that deep military thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic want to see a long-drawn-out war continue in Afghanistan, the government needs to think.
George W Bush and the neoconservatives went there, spent billions on it, gained pipelines and bases all round the region and are now dug in for the long haul. The reality is that Afghanistan is the same as Iraq in military terms.
Britain should be talking about withdrawal, rather than attempting military occupation.
Six months ago, Parliament voted to renew the Trident fleet and, while not yet allocating the funding, its decision signalled the development of a new generation of weapons of mass destruction.
The government would be much stronger if it recognised the damage that these three decisions have caused Labour and signalled a new start before an election campaign begins.
Where's our right to demonstrate?
THE Stop the War Coalition has planned a demonstration to mark the return of MPs to Parliament.
This is part of the normal democratic process and is certainly in line with Gordon Brown's view last June that we should be encouraging democratic exchanges outside Parliament.
Yet the police have so far withheld permission. So, a lot of people will come to Westminster to see their MPs and be told that demonstrations are banned.
Almost anywhere else in the world, a ban on demonstrations would be met with a swift and pompous denunciation by the foreign office of the government in question.
People have a right to demonstrate in Rangoon and London.
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North. He can be contacted at corbynj@parliament.uk
