Ghost of a flea

Something very strange happened in British politics a decade ago. Blair's election in 1994 reminds me of one of those 1950s science fiction movies in which a mad boffin throws a lever and the poles are reversed. Political matter suddenly became anti-matter. Negatives became positives. After not just one decade of fratricidal disunity (the 1980s), but six - reaching back to the formation of the National Government in 1931 - Labour belatedly discovered the joys of loyalty.

At the same time, someone switched the bottles and the Tories became reprogrammed with socialist DNA. Endlessly dreaming up implausible schemes, ever ready to denounce one another for a lack of ideological purity, they became, in a word, weird, and in the process managed to make even a Left-wing maverick such as John Prescott look as English as a Toby jug.