CHÁ DAS CINCO #139

No centro do Mundo:

...

I'm a progressive.
The true believer believes in social justice, in solidarity, in help for those not able to help themselves.
They know the race can't just be to the swift and survival for the strong.
But they also know that these values, gentle and compassionate as they are, have to be applied in a harsh, uncompromising world and what makes the difference is not belief alone, but the raw courage to make it happen.
...
That's why winning matters.
So keep on winning.
Do it with optimism.
With hope in your hearts.
Politics is not a chore.
It's the great adventure of progress

...
(do discurso de Blair)

Peter Mandelson - On the succession
"...The one thing that Tony Blair wants in the person to follow him, and he has always said this to me and others close to him, is he wants to be succeeded by somebody who is, if anything, stronger than him... more of a moderniser, more of a reformer than him.
"He doesn't want to be the great golden era New Labour figure, only to be succeeded by someone who will fail. The greatest legacy would be to see whoever is the next leader of the party leading us to a fourth term victory on a New Labour platform.

"He does see those qualities in Gordon Brown, there's no doubt about that. Should Gordon Brown be the one to succeed him, he will want him to succeed and he will work for that. There's no sense in Tony's mind that 'I was the golden years and now the fallow times must follow'. If he can do anything at all to make sure there's a stable and orderly transition, he will do what he can to achieve it..."

Michael Portillo, This is a Labour Hamlet without the prince
"...For Brown the task is harder. After nine years at the heart of government we feel we scarcely know him, but we do not quite like what we do know. That makes it extraordinary that Labour should want to jettison Blair. Only Labour MPs can understand why. Could they possibly be out of touch?"


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