Who is your Labour Leader

Last weekend at the Scottish Labour Students conference, a conference where I had the honour of becoming Vice Chair of this great organisation, we had a discussion over some fermented pear juice to discuss who was the greatest Labour leader.

Some believed it was Tony Blair, others Gordon Brown and at least one John Smith (I wonder who that was). What is clear is that you relate to the leader who helped you find your political legs.

Many SLS members joined the party under Tony Blair and to those members he is the man who defined their politics, some have joined in the last year and for them Gordon Brown has helped them find out who they are politically.

In my case I joined the party when Neil Kinnock was leader, at a time when the big fight was not against the tories but for the heart and soul of the party, but it was with the election of John Smith as leader that I can honestly say that I found my Labour Party feet.

His vision of a Britain with social justice at its core, a Britian where co-operation was at its heart and a Britain that would be at the heart of europe leading he fight for a better world.

Now even though lots of what John advocated Tony Blair delivered on and I rejoiced at every one there were times when even I could say that he had taken decisions that I did not agree with and even though John Smith was leader for only 2 years I can honestly say that I agreed with every decision he made.

His death was something that had a profound effect on me as just a few months before he left us I had the pleasure of spending a few hours in his company and realised that this was a guy who actually believed and wanted to achieve everything he was saying, a bit Like Gordon is now.

So the question is: Who do you think your Labour leader was?