... its best to compound these trends and became the 'natural party of government.' It became increasingly clear to many people inside the Labour Party that in order to survive, let alone ever form a government, the party would have to modernise and accommodate the preferences of the median voter (Hey, 1995, 704). This required mimicking the Conservatives to a certain extent, who seemed to be the ultimate Downsian machine. The modernisation process was incredibly slow and it was not until Blair's election as leader of the party that the transformation into New Labour, as we know it today, was completed (Heffernan, 2003, 57). The 1980s and 1990s have seen profound changes in the British economy. Some of these changes have been brought about factors out of the control of individual governments, for example demographic change, globalisation and, to some extent, technological change. However, many changes have been the result of ...

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