Understand Bertie's mistakes so we can do better

Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. As with many things that are true in life, this is even more true in politics. Asked once to name her greatest achievement, Margaret Thatcher answered: “New Labour.” It was a peculiar answer for a Tory prime minister. But there was a deep political wisdom in it. She had so comprehensively won the battle of ideas in British politics that she had shifted the middle ...