Waiting for Gordo

A Samuel Beckett play, and the Labour Party conference. One is an excruciating exercise in futility and pointlessness. And the other is 'Waiting for Godot'.

With Tony Blair having already decided to stand down before the next General Election, and Gordon Brown clearly the heir apparent, all the pre-conference hype has been about when the succession will take place. Blair looks like a lame duck prime minister looking for one last initiative to secure his legacy. Brown is trying not to screw it up at the last minute by trying to be all things to all people in the party, making a self-consciously Blairite speech to keep any doubters on side.

This could be a recipe for political paralysis were it not for the fact that there's very little in the way of politics. There is no difference of substance, not just between Blair and Brown, but between anyone on the UK's political spectrum. Contemporary policy amounts to petty managerialism, and the battle of ideas has become a rancourous dispute between personalities and cliques. Tony and Gordon's on-going squabble is merely the most visible symptom of this.

Beckett's play was famously summarised as 'nothing happens, twice'. The next few days in Brighton are likely to make 'Waiting for Godot' seem action-packed.