25 years ago, Labour won one of the biggest election victories in British political history and took office after four election defeats and 18 unbroken years of Tory Government.
Like any Government there will be fierce controversy over some of its decisions and legacy. For some it is about Iraq and supporting America after 9/11.
For others, it may be about the introduction of University tuition fees, though at a third of the level of today and much more fairly administered.
There were disappointments and failures; times we fell beneath our own standards set high after all those Tory years; things we could have done better.
But as we approach the 13th year of another Tory Government and four election defeats for Labour, it is worth reflecting just for a moment what is on the other side of the ledger of the Government I led.
Before May 1997, there was no minimum wage. We had tried in vain for 100 years to get one.
I recall a job advert which became part of our campaign: ‘Security Guard. £2.50 an hour. Bring your own dog.’
There was no legal right to be a member of a trade union. Unions were banned at the Government’s own centre at GCHQ.
Child poverty was at record post war levels.
Many pensioners were forced each winter to choose between heating and eating.
Gay people faced an avalanche of discrimination.
There had been no black person in any British Cabinet. No Muslim had ever sat in the House of Lords. Women MPs comprised less than 10% of Parliament.
Homeless people were a feature on streets across the country. Crime had risen in every Government’s time since 1945.
NHS waiting lists were at an all time high. People would wait months to see cancer specialists. Fewer than half of all students got 5 good grades at GCSE.
Shortly after we took office, police officers were murdered in broad daylight in Northern Ireland, a reminder that decades of conflict were still with us.
Our relationship with Europe was at its lowest ebb after what were called ‘the beef wars’.
10 years later not one of those things was still the case.
By the time we left office in 2010, NHS satisfaction ratings were the highest since the NHS was created.
Crime had been cut by a third, with measures particularly around Anti-Social Behaviour making a real difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities.
70% of school students were getting good grades. Many of them going on to university, often the first in their family to do so.
Millions of families and pensioners were given relief from poverty through things like Sure Start and Tax Credits.
The minimum wage was in place and now accepted as part of the political consensus. Homelessness was dealt with. All those items of discrimination had seen remarkable progress.
There was a fully functioning peace in Northern Ireland. We were leaders in Europe along with a rock solid relationship with America. And in 2005 won the Olympics bid for the 2012 London Games.
Our 1997 campaign song was ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and for millions of people they did.
Unfortunately, in the time which followed, it became in the interests of the right and part of the left to trash our record.
For the left they disliked New Labour because they thought a more left wing Labour Party could win power and do better.
For the right they hated New Labour because for the first time in British political history the Tories had been defeated three times in a row and were left politically out-manoeuvred.
Even in 2005, Labour won a handsome majority in Parliament and though our share of the vote dropped it basically went to the Lib Dems, who got 22%, not to the Tories, who had barely progressed at all.
So this is what we had. And this is what we threw away. And there are lessons for today.
First, power without principle is power without a purpose and therefore pointless; but principle without power, is just an exercise in self-indulgence, or at best a railing against a system that you may want to change but because of the absence of power, you can’t.
Being in Government is tough. It means decisions every day. For the PM every hour. It means recognising that your plans – no matter how great – must now come face to face with reality.
That events happen and collide with the best of intentions.
After the global shock (which time has softened) of the attack of 9/11, when the world stopped and a contagion of fear was sweeping our land, and others, decisions had to be taken.
You may agree or disagree with them. But this is what Government is about. Always.
But it is so much better than the alternative: perpetual Opposition. As I used to say to the Labour Party being Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition doesn’t mean we should be loyal to being in opposition.
In Government, for all the stresses and strains, you can make change in ways big and small which matter.
That is why, when Keir Starmer puts Labour back on a path to power, as I believe he is doing, it’s not because he lacks principle but because he knows that only with the discipline to win, can we affect the lives of the people we seek to represent.
Second, Labour wins when it builds out from the centre ground of politics and when it aligns with the thinking and hopes of the British people – not as we want them to be but as they are.
They know that without wealth creation, there can be no wealth redistribution to help the poorest.
They’re patriots proud of their country. They know a good economy is the sound foundation for social justice; that a tough line on crime is necessary to protect people; that immigration systems needs controls and not just compassion for those wanting a better life; that to govern is to choose, and that to decide is to divide, and they expect their leaders to be tough enough and strong enough to make those choices and take those decisions.
In the 120 years of Labour’s existence, the truth is we have been in power for less than a third of that time; only won two full terms consecutively once and only three once. All flowing from that 1997 victory.
Now Labour, with a Tory Government also in desperate need of changing, has to prove to the British people that it can and should govern. Under Keir’s leadership, I believe it is getting there.
