Last July I wrote a blogpost ‘Ed Miliband's Third Way to Electoral Disaster’. The question is how did he fail?

New Labour, in the form of Mandelson et al, have come out of the woodwork hoping that Iraq has been forgotten. Their message is quite simple: Miliband was too left-wing, writes Tony Greenstein.

Labour should be ‘aspirational’.

Now I’m all in favour of people having dreams, but the problem is that 1% of society own as much as the bottom 55%. Transferring wealth from those already drowning in it is a recipe for more ponzi schemes, bankers’ gambling sprees, inflation of property prices and the inevitable recession which follows.

Miliband’s problem was that he had no overall theme. He failed to oppose austerity while promising to deal with its symptoms. It feels like the proponents of New Labour are suggesting that a Labour Party that is no different from the Conservatives will be propelled into office. I suspect people would rather vote for the genuine article.

Blair’s victory in 1997 was exceptional. He won, not by being New Labour, but because of the collapse of the Major government. A dead parrot could have won. John Major even had to resign and restand for leader of the Tory Party, such were the depths of the opposition to him. Perhaps that will happen again when the European referendum takes place.

I, however, would like to see a Labour Party that actually stands up for a different kind of society, for the unwaged, the homeless and disabled and those paid poverty wages. Historically a radical and reforming Labour Party has been the most successful electorally.

Tony Greenstein is a political activist.