Seventy years ago, on 10th May 1940, Labour entered into a coalition with the Conservative and allied parties, despite huge differences in policy and ideology. Today such a coalition would be, in policy terms, the natural place for New Labour to be. New Labour was much closer to the Tories on David Cameron's three non-negotiable stands – immigration, the EU, Trident – than the liberal democrats. On many others issues like Iraq, civil liberties, torture, privatisation of the health service, PFI, and electoral reform, New Labour and the Conservatives are close. The differences on economic policy are minimal. Of course, such a coalition is impossible, though for political not policy reasons. For the Labour Party to be part of a progressive alliance with the Liberal Democrats or anyone else it must first become a progressive party again, as it was in May 1940.
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