What are the advantages of the New labor Party's Third Way?

Answer 1

The 'Third Way' ultimately made Labour electable once more. There had been nearly 20 years of Tory rule. Even when Thatcher was forced out, the Tory's won yet again with Major. The reason for this was that, whilst many hated the Tories, more voters saw Labour as too economically restrictive (higher taxes being a key factor) and felt that they couldn't vote Labour. Blair and the Third Way allowed Labour to gain significant support, becoming a 'catch all' party. The changing of clause 4 transformed Labour from a socialist party to a social democratic party, a more centrist party that people felt they could vote for. The main advantage is that Labour has become electable. Compare the current manifesto with the 1984 manifesto (known as the 'Longest Suicide Note in History').

The sacrifice is ideology. Blair once said "Ideology is dead". New Labour and the Tories have both become far more central. Indeed, one could argue that this is merely in response to the increased amount of 'floating voters'. Whilst issue based voting is certainly a good idea, it is essential that people maintain a sense of ideology as opposed to deciding their vote upon reading The Sun headline.