Politics: Mondeoman turns against 'weak and divided' Labour

THE LABOUR PARTY faces an uphill struggle to hang on to the support of thousands of middle England voters who deserted the Conservatives and voted Tony Blair into power in 1997.

This week we returned to thewest Midlands to see how voters in Redditch, Worcestershire - The Independent's general election panel of "Mondeo men and women" - felt about Mr Blair and his party at the end of three weeks of upheaval, resignation and division in the Government.

And the answer is not much. They are disillusioned, think that the Government is behaving no differently to the Tories and many would not vote Labour again.

Mark Redfern, 31, an engineer, is typical of the panel when he says he would not want to vote for anyone if there was a general election tomorrow because "politicians are just as bad as each other.

"They all have skeletons in their closet. Before the election Labour said we could trust them and they would be open and trustworthy.

"They're not as bad as the Tories but then Labour has only been in Government for a year and a half and not 18 years. It makes them look weak and divided. Tony Blair has let me down," he said.

Mr Redfern, who describes himself as "one of Thatcher's children", is also disappointed with the present Government's record on education.

"My seven-year-old son Matthew's school may get closed down under a Labour government that chose education as one of their key pledges. So far, Tony Blair has not done anything that he promised."

When Mr Blair campaigned during the 1997 general election, his efforts were focused on the likes of Mr Redfern - a relatively small group of middle class, middle England voters, who had abandoned Labour as their natural party of choice.

He told how, in the 1992 general election, he had met a man on a Midlands housing estate washing his Ford Sierra who had become a Tory because he now owned his own house and was self-employed. The man, he said, made Mr Blair realise that his party would never win power without convincing the likes of the Sierra owner that Labour had changed. It was among people like him, who by 1997 were more likely to be driving Ford Mondeos, that The Independent established its general election panel of disaffected Tory voters preparing to switch to Labour.

On 1 May 1997 a 34-year-old former teacher, Jacqui Smith, won Redditch for the Labour party with a majority of 6,125 and a swing from the Tories of more than 3 per cent. The seat had been 44th on Labour's target list. At the time, voters said they had switched to Labour because they "needed a change", but four of our twelve panellists "could not bring themselves to vote for Tony Blair in the end" and stuck with the Conservatives.

Linda Middleton, 42, who works in a supermarket, echoed Mr Redfern's concern about recent splits within the Government. "It is disgusting. Our livelihood is in their hands and they are preoccupied with bickering and arguing. They are hardly the people's party."

She also accuses Mr Blair of having reintroduced class hierarchy into the education system by abolishing student grants. "He really does not care about ordinary folk but has taken all the help we had away from us."

Another switcher, Craig Coates, 30, a clerk of works, added: "I would not vote for anybody at the moment because politicians are in the game for what they can get for themselves. We want to hear more about health and education and are fed up with scandals."

There has been general discontent among the panellists with the decision to give the Bank of England independence, although their criticism was tempered by this week's renewed fall in interest rates.

However, none of those who switched to Labour blame the Government for the looming economic storm clouds. Roger Jones, 44, who was made redundant from his job as a goods invoice manager at Rover's Longbridge plant last October, said the present difficulties had been "inevitable".

"They have inherited a lot of problems from the Tories and it has been inevitable for several years that the British car industry would have the carpet pulled from underneath its feet," Mr Jones, now self- employed said.

But while many of the panellists feel let down by the promises of a fresh start and more open government, none of them had considered going back to the Conservatives at the next election. Andrew Osciak, 45, a supervisor, summed up their view when he said the Tories had disappeared from the political radar. "There is no leadership in the present Tory party and you never hear of them, they seem irrelevant."

Approving of the increased co-operation between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, he added: "There should be more consensus among parties, perhaps even a coalition so that the big problems facing this country can be dealt with properly. We want strong leadership."

Those panellists who voted for the Tories in 1997 feel vindicated by the upheavals in the Government during recent weeks. Lionel Baird, 54, a paramedic, said the "back-biting and knife-stabbing" between Mr Blair and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, was harming the country at a time when the NHS was deteriorating.

Susan Lovett, 41, a housewife, argued that reports about leaks and spin- doctors showed how "power mad" Mr Blair and his colleagues were.

"This is not what those who voted for Tony Blair bargained for and Peter Mandelson's resignation may as well be the end of New Labour. They pretended to be different from the Tories but they are just the same and have not actually delivered on anything they set out to do."

But she added: "The Tories have completely lost their direction, the only party that offers proper opposition is the Liberal Democrats."

While she is more critical than she was of New Labour 18 months ago, Europe is one area where Mrs Lovett agrees with Mr Blair.

"The Government is right in that they want to wait and see on the single currency. The Conservatives still seem too divided over Europe and people don't have extreme views on the matter."

The message of the panel is clear. Mr Blair's New Labour has so far disappointed and another victory in Mondeo-land is anything but guaranteed. The battle for the next general election has begun.

Mark Redfern, 31, engineer.

Voted Labour.

"I would not vote for anybody now. I voted for Blair because he seemed ... decent but now he has let me down. I never expected schools would be shut down under Labour. That is not what was promised during the election campaign."

Andrew Osciak, 45, supervisor.

Voted Labour.

"There is no leadership in the Tory party and you never hear of them. They seem irrelevant. There should be more consensus among parties so that the big problems facing the country can be dealt with properly. We want strong leadership."

Susan Lovett, 41, housewife.

Voted Conservative.

"Blair and his colleagues are ... power-mad and have made a fiasco out of being in government. The only good policy has been on Europe, because I agreed with Major's approach that we should wait and see whether we enter the single currency."

Craig Coates, 40 Clerk of works.

Voted Labour.

"What happened to all their pledges on health and education? I am now very sceptical about politicians and have lost interest. Nothing significant has changed in this country since they have come into office."

Roger Jones, 44, self-employed.

Voted Labour.

"I will wait two, three years before I judge New Labour's record. It will take time to turn around health and education. It is a shame about the resignations ... but perhaps that has been part of British politics for the past 20 years."

Lionel Baird, 54 a paramedic.

Voted Conservative.

Mr Baird said that the "back-biting and knife stabbing" between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, had been the cause of a great deal of harm to the country at a time when the NHS was deteriorating.