Bevan's values 'bedrock of Valleys'

The seismic shock that came to New Labour when it lost one of its greatest heartlands to former party member Peter Law has been transformed into a battle for the left of politics.

Eager to prove that it has not abandoned its socialist heritage, personified by former MP Nye Bevan, Labour has worked hard to win back the seat. But Tony Heath is not convinced....

FIRST, a bit of history. Ever since May 30, 1929, Blaenau Gwent has been represented at Westminster by Members of Parliament who understood the concerns of hardworking proud people.

On that day, Aneurin Bevan was elected MP for Ebbw Vale, as Blaenau Gwent was then known. He died on July 6, 1960. Michael Foot picked up the torch, handing over to Llew Smith at the 1992 election.

After Llew stood down, the Labour Party, rebranded as New Labour, shoo'd-in a stranger as candidate for last year's election.

But Maggie Jones, a friend of the Blairs, was routed by Peter Law, a man of the Valleys with more than 30 years of community service behind him. He died on April 25 after a brave battle against a brain tumour.

On Thursday the future of this cradle of democracy and community values rests in the hands of Blaenau Gwent's 50,000-odd electors.

As well as being an MP, Peter was an elected member of the Welsh Assembly and both vacancies are up for grabs this week.

Ffity years ago, after exchanging khaki for a demob suit, I - born and brought up in Tredegar -worked as an unpaid volunteer for Nye. His London office was above a chemist's shop (now long gone) in Victoria Street. It bustled with enthusiasm and optimism. MPs like Fenner Brockway, Richard Acland, Sydney Silverman and Ian Mikado walked tall, spoke their mind and energetically championed the values of democratic socialism.

Those values remain the bedrock of South Wales Valleys communities.

Smartly-suited evangelists of New Labour have for some weeks been wandering the streets of the constituency. They seem to have been persuaded to spend less time with their families in order to take part in a quest for votes.

One hander-out of balloons in Ebbw Vale claimed to have travelled from Portsmouth to help out. Whether he was an elector in the constituency of Portsmouth South where Labour trailed in third place last year, or Portsmouth North, where Labour's majority was a slender 1,139 may not matter that much - but it does illustrate the party's desperation to avenge Peter Law's victory.

Telephone canvassing is now retitled in Lab-speak as "voter identification".

It is a technique that bothers voters to the point of harassment, leaving one wondering if the perpetrators are in line for an anti-social behaviour order.

Having to take multiple calls is as aggravating as having the doorbell rung and rung just when supper is on the table or when the TV is warming up.

Talking of the small screen, New Labour last week called up a really hard man to put the boot in. No. Not John Reid, the latest in a long line of Home Secretaries who has pronounced his department not fit for purpose - in plain language, a bit of a shambles.

Step forward Ross Kemp who plays Grant Mitchell in EastEnders. He's the husband of Sun newspaper editor Rebekah Wade and the couple are friends of the Prime Minister and his wife. Mr Kemp has obliged with an article praising the Government's stand on anti-social behaviour in a magazine called Blaenau Gwent First, being shoved through letter boxes in the constituency.

The magazine also prints a contribution from Liz Dawn who plays the outspoken Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street. She lets rip, "Y'see the Labour Party works together. By 'eck it might not always get it right but at least you know they're trying". And failing perhaps? The magazine also includes a Sudoku puzzle, presumably as an antidote to the publicity it gives the soaps.

Why is the avalanche of New Labour printing (never in the field of electioneering have so many leaflets been showered on so many by so few) contracted to firms outside the constituency? Banging on about boosting the local economy looks suspect when a quick count identifies at least four printers closer to home.

New Labour's geography is suspect. It is claimed that their candidate Owen Smith was born in South Wales. In fact he was born in Morecambe, some 200 miles north. Mr Smith, a senior lobbyist with the drugs giant Pfizer, progressed to Westcott, a leafy Surrey village 100 miles south of the constituency.

Dai Davies, standing for Parliament in the footsteps of Peter Law, was born in Ebbw Vale and has lived there all his life. He was a union official at the town's former steelworks, now just a vacant site in the valley floor. In 1988 down the road Marine Colliery suffered a similar fate, when coal worth £250m was abandoned and 758 jobs were lost.

Peter Law's widow Trish is contesting the Assembly seat. Her courage and that of her three daughters and two sons is awesome. An opinion poll put her sightly ahead of Labour. The word among shoppers in Ebbw Vale's busy Bethcar Street Friday market seemed to agree with that finding.

One of the joys of covering this unique dual by-election is the closeness of the parties' offices in Ebbw Vale. In less than a quarter- of-a-mile the Independents, New Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru have put their wares on show. There's also an Official Monster Raving Looney candidate in the offing.

The choice on Thursday is straightforward. On the one hand the Independents, rooted in the community and close to the community. On the other hand New Labour representatives of a party which is flaking away at the edges nationally and from which a significant number of local members - including the present and recently retired mayors - have resigned or been expelled.

When I was a pupil at Tredegar County School I took the bus every Saturday to Ebbw Vale where a friendly Italian cafe owner taught me the guitar. One day all those years ago I arrived to find the place boarded up. Italy had declared war and my tutor had been interned.

Because I now live in a next-door constituency I haven't got a vote on Thursday. A comment increasingly heard maintains that had Nye Bevan been alive today he would never sign up to the New Labour programme. A growing number seem set to do likewise on Thursday.

Tony Heath is Wales correspondent for Tribune. He was formerly Wales correspondent for The Observer.

Western Mail