Lewis adds to Labour calls for change
Health minister Ivan Lewis has added his voice to criticisms of the prime minister, telling a newspaper Gordon Brown must return to the tactics of “bold Labour”.
Mr Lewis, who has been a government minister since 2001, made clear his belief that Labour should be “loyal and disciplined” in the face of the current leadership uncertainties.
“The only way forward now is bold Labour,” he told the Independent newspaper.
“What we want to see is the Gordon Brown of Bank of England independence, SureStart and Make Poverty History. I think that his responsibility is to provide the bold and decisive leadership that we now need.”
Mr Lewis appears to be pushing for an acceleration of current incremental policy advances.
He added: “When you’re the underdog, you have a choice – you can either lie down and die, or you can come out fighting with a passion and a purpose, which stirs your friends and shakes the confidence of your opponents.
“We have to recognise that New Labour has a problem now with definition. Old Labour doesn’t have answers, and therefore the only way forward right now is bold Labour.”
The intervention is especially relevant given Mr Lewis’ prized place in the Brown administration. When Mr Brown came to power, Mr Lewis was the only junior minister to survive the subsequent reshuffle.
On 29 June 2007 in Brown’s first reshuffle as Prime Minister he was re-appointed to the post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Health, the only junior minister to survive the reshuffle where he has held on to the brief for social care and added mental health services.
