Vote. Do it now.

So, the talking stops and the voting begins. How each of you votes is your own business but please do make the effort. People died for the cause of universal suffrage and you are letting them down by staying at home. Spoil your paper, vote for the Toga Party, I don’t care just make the effort.

With about 3 hours to go before I vote I can honestly say I still haven’t made up my mind. It’s a choice between Lib Dem and spoiling my paper.

You know what? Despite all my moaning and whinging about Blair, not voting Labour has been a really tough decision. As I wrote on the day the election was called, I’m a natural socialist so it should be a no brainer for me. Since coming to power Labour have nearly doubled NHS spending, they’ve gone some way to correcting the Tory shambles of a privatised railway system, they’ve increased spending on education, cut crime (though the fear of crime continues to rise thanks to the Tories and the tabloid press), they have done many, many good things. Watching some Iraqi election observers on Channel 4 News last night speaking about their excitement at voting in legitimate elections back in January reminded me that despite all the negativity some real good has been done even in Iraq. So why can’t I vote Labour? Easy. It’s because every time I see Tony Blair I want to commit an act of unnatural aggression. And I suppose that does boil down to Iraq.

When a leader takes his country to war he’d better make sure the reasons stand up to scrutiny. Bush always favoured regime change as his justification to the US people but Tony made the decision to sell the invasion of Iraq to us on the basis of Hussein’s WMD. He was wrong. Watching him twist and turn now as he tries to justify the invasion on human rights grounds while refusing to admit to any past mistakes belittles both the man and the position he holds. A brave man dies only once, a coward dies a thousand times and every time Blair is confronted over Iraq he dies a little. He dies a little in himself and dies a little in the eyes of those of us who still care enough about Labour politics to feel personally betrayed.

A pet theory of mine is that the Labour Party too often fights elections with the wrong leader. They have in the past lagged behind the political mood by a few months or a few years and it has cost them. The first election I took any interest in was 1979. In the red corner was Jim Callaghan, an old school socialist, a great labour leader but a man fatally wounded by the winter of discontent when the unions not only bit the hand that fed them they tore it off in a piranha like frenzy of blood and sinew. In the blue corner was Mrs Thatc… you know who. She promised a social revolution and was swept to power. In 1983 she stood against Michael Foot another great socialist and one of the nicest men I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Foot would probably not have won in 1979 but he wasn’t so tainted by the WoD, would have put up more of a fight and been far more credible. By 1983 after the first phase of the Thatcher revolution, Foot just looked like a dinosaur, a relic from a different era. He didn’t stand a chance. Soon Kinnock took over and set about modernising the Labour Party. He sowed the seeds of ‘New’ Labour but was never really trusted by the people who mattered, the electorate. He fought the 1987 election and lost, but such was his ego that he remained leader and fought again in 1992. I don’t think anyone on the left or right really expected him to lose. Thatcher had been ousted a few years earlier and replaced by the only man ever to run away from the circus to become an accountant. John Major was dull, non descript, uncharismatic, grey, he tucked his shirt into his underpants but he beat Kinnock. Because the people didn’t trust Kinnock.

So he got the message and resigned to be replaced by the late John Smith. I loved John. In 1992 and 1993 he was the right man in the right place at the right time. He should have led the party in the 1992 election. Had he done so I have no doubt that Labour would now be fighting for their fourth term. And winning. But of course John died. Part of the Labour party died with him, the part with the integrity. Blair became leader and set about becoming Prime Minister. In 1997 for once and I mean no disrespect to John Smith Labour had the right leader. Think back to 1997 and you will remember the genuine optimism which greeted his victory. The Tory beast was dead. It is still decaying today, unable to come to terms with the modern world where there is no British empire, no guaranteed place at the table for this country still trying to find its role in an increasingly global society. Blair was probably the right man in 2001, but the Labour Party has now reverted back to type and for whatever reason has again failed to drop a tainted leader.

Imagine if Blair has resigned about 18 months ago, say when David Kelly committed suicide. It would have been an honourable thing to do. Blair could have shuffled up to the Lords blaming shoddy intelligence for the failures in Iraq while maintaining that he had done the right thing. His reputation and place in history would be far more assured than now. Gordon Brown would have taken over and could have ducked all the problems which Iraq is now presenting, "Not my fault mate, I was next door looking after the money". It would, to some extent anyway, have drawn a line under the whole sorry affair. The Labour party would today be fighting an election with an untarnished leader, a man who can quite honestly say he has given Britain the longest period of economic growth and stability in its history (it’s the economy, stupid). Brown would be creaming the opposition. Howard would look even more foolish and Dickensian and be pushed even further rightward just to keep his core support, while Kennedy would be forced to put his smug grin back in the box every time the war gets mentioned. The bigots, racists, idiots and imperialists that make up UKIP and the other minority parties would not even have bothered to get out of bed. There would be no opposition, no talk of hung parliaments, no whispers that it may be close, no scare stories that voting for party X will let in party Y. Britain would be a utopia, the envy of the world. OK so I’m getting a bit carried away now but you see the point?

I really do think we will have a Labour government tomorrow. I doubt the Tories will gain more than 20 seats and I’m not predicting a Lib Dem gain of many more than 20 either. TB will become the first Labour leader to win 3 terms, but instead of being remembered for that he will always be stained by Iraq. And he only has himself to blame.