Recently my disgust with the Labour party prompted me to write the letter below to John Prescott. As yet I have had no response, but when I do I will post the letter here.

Rt. Hon. John Prescott MP,
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,
John Smith House,
150 Walworth Road,
London,
SE17 1JT

30 December, 1997

Dear Mr Prescott,

I recently received a letter from you that I assume was sent to all members of Sponsorship 2000. It thanked me for my regular financial support before discussing a number of reasons why the Party still needs to raise funds on a regular basis.

I am, of course, very glad that my contributions were able to help bring down the Conservative government, but I'm sure you must realise that the money from me and thousands of supporters like me was part of a two-way deal. We gave you the money and in return we expected you to build us the society that Britain deserves.

Now, almost eight months after coming to power, it looks like you have no intention of delivering on your side of the deal. Day after day I read disappointing reports of the Labour government. First it was tuition fees for students then the backtracking on tobacco sponsorship for Formula One. Most recently there is the whole business over cutting benefits to single parents and, possibly, disabled people. These are only the most obvious of your mistakes. I am compiling a full list, which I am making available to the public via the World Wide Web.

I believe that the size of your majority in the House of Commons is an indication that you seriously misjudged the feeling of the British public. It seems to me that the electorate was so tired of the previous government that you could have won a sizeable victory without throwing out quite so many of our ideals.

I'm addressing this to you as you are one of the few senior Labour politicians who still seems untainted by Peter Mandelson's influence. I feel sure that no matter what you are forced to say in the interests of Party unity, you can still see that what the government is doing is a direct betrayal of the socialist ideals that so many members have cherished for so long. If there is anything we can do to save the party from the 'New Labour' clones please let me know, as I would love to help.

In the meantime, I will not be following the large numbers of members who seem to leaving the Party in disgust. I have, however, cancelled my regular Sponsorship 2000 payments and will therefore expect to be billed for my membership this year as a regular member. The money that I will save will be sent to Greenpeace.

Yours sincerely,

D. M. Cross

Web rant by dave@cool-stuff.co.uk

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