'In the long shadow of the SDP'

Worth a read from Steve Richards at the Independent on the legacy of the Social Democratic Party on current UK politics and politicians of all parties.

It states 'More importantly, there was an ideological divide within the SDP. As with Labour and the Liberal Democrats now, the split then was over the relationship between markets and state. On the whole the SDP avoided the issue because, like Europe, it is one that tears parties apart. They got closest to a substantial debate under Owen's leadership when the economist Robert Skidelsky guided them towards advocacy of a social market economy. Even then the SDP was to the left of Blairite new Labour. Some of its key figures still are.

The great Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee was a leading figure in the Owenite SDP. Skidelsky is the biographer of Keynes and recently praised Gordon Brown's book on the financial crisis in a review, not a fashionable act these days. Skidelsky is a strong critic of Osborne's economic policies. Owen is a self- proclaimed social democrat. I saw him at one of Polly Toynbee's book launches towards the end of the Labour Government, in a room surrounded by figures on the centre left. He said to me: "They don't discuss equality enough." In contrast, when Finkelstein joined the Tories he wrote an article for The Independent, arguing that his support for market-based policies meant he had no choice but to join the party on the centre right.

The former SDPers range widely. But so do Labour and the Lib Dems. In their policy disputes with Blair, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls would often sigh in private "It all comes down to a view of the state".

Party boundaries are under more strain than usual in that they do not represent accurately the ideological currents in British politics. Ultra Blairites, Cameroons and Cleggite Liberals could all happily dance together in the same party. While other Tories would join the economic dance, their obsession with Europe and hostility to social liberalism place them as dissenters to even this Coalition of the radical right.

Messrs Miliband and Balls are pragmatic social democrats, closer to Owen, Williams, and Clegg's recent predecessors. Charles Kennedy was also a prominent member of the SDP. To the left of the two Eds are some in Labour who would go much further in terms of their hostility towards capitalism. In the mix are former members of the SDP who by definition have been members of more than one political party. They are less tribal when the tribes are going through identity crises. This is what gives them their lasting and distinct influence on the current state of nervy, shapeless British politics'.Any source