This is the script of a Labour Party political broadcast in 1994, a few months after Tony Blair was elected leader of the party.
Script of Labour Party political broadcast.
LABOUR PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST, 21st SEPTEMBER 1994
[Opening shot: Time-lapse photography of the sun rising over the Palace of Westminster]
TONY BLAIR: [voice-over] It is an honour to lead this party. I accept it with excitement ..
[cut to shots of Blair reviewing papers in the back seat of a car]
.. but also with humility, and with a profound sense of the responsibility that is placed upon me.
[cut to someone adjusting the rear-view mirror to show Blair][Cut to Radio Two studio]
VOICE-OVER: [station identifier] Radio Two – Jimmy Young
JIMMY YOUNG: And in the studio with me now, the new Leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair. Good Morning Tony.
TONY BLAIR: Good Morning Jim.[Cut to vox pops]
VOX POP 1: Tony Blair has a sense of vision.
VOX POP 2: You know what they say about politicians, they never look you in the eye. He certainly does.
VOX POP 3: I feel I can trust him.[Cut to Blair talking to camera; caption ³The Rt.Hon. Tony Blair MP Leader of the Labour Party²]
TONY BLAIR: We’ve got to leave the politics of the past behind. We’re not going to create a successful, modern, business economy ..
[cut to Blair visiting the Jaguar car plant]
.. unless we’re going to invest in our industry and our people. That requires stability; it requires a government committed to investment and committed to people. And it also requires the recognition that we are not going to get where we need to be ..
[cut back to Blair speaking to camera]
.. unless the public sector and the private sector actually work together.[cut to another vox pop]
VOX POP 4: I think he’s a very good leader for us. I think he understands the problems, ..
[cut to a Shadow Cabinet meeting, camera showing Blair in the centre surrounded by other Labour figures]
.. he’s from a, another generation which understands the problems both in business and ordinary people.[cut to Blair on the phone and making notes]
TONY BLAIR: [voice-over] Now if we’re going to rebuild our economy, we need to have the right partnership with industry. ..
[cut to Blair checking some papers]
.. But we also need to recognise that you’ve got to rebuild this country as a strong society, ..
[cut to Blair speaking to camera]
.. where people get opportunity, where they get the chance to get on in life, but where we demand responsibility in return.[cut to vox pop 4]
VOX POP 4: The country needs a change, and it needs it absolutely as soon as possible.[cut to Blair speaking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: We have to create an education system, where the majority aren’t failing, ..
[cut to shots of a secondary school and its pupils]
.. and where every school is a decent school. And I want for the parents of this country what I want for my own children. Wouldn’t it be more sensible, instead of spending millions of pounds on unemployment, on crime, on social decay, to be spending money on building for the future, ..
[cut to Blair speaking to camera]
.. on education, on giving our kids the chances they need, without which not merely will they not get the opportunities that they need to get on in life, but the country is poorer?[cut to John Prescott at a desk, speaking to camera. Caption “The Rt.Hon.
John Prescott MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party”]
JOHN PRESCOTT: I think it’s because he’s got commitment – the people feel he’s a decent guy, and not least of all, quite an active family man. These are things that strike a chord.[cut to more vox pops]
VOX POP 5: Somebody that is not just making threats, but offering positive solutions.
VOX POP 6: Given a chance, he will put us back on safer streets.[cut back to Blair talking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: We should be tough on crime, and tough on the causes of crime. ..
[cut to a policeman walking the beat, then a montage of police-related shots]
.. We need to have a criminal justice system, a court system, that deals with those committing crimes, that punishes the criminal properly and sensibly, ..
[cut to an out-of-focus shot inside a police station, that focuses in on a poster reading “Your best weapon against guns. 0800 555 111”]
.. and gets over the situation now where only one in fifty, one in fifty crimes ever even leads to a conviction.[cut to Prescott talking to camera]
JOHN PRESCOTT: I can tell you this: he has a very clear commitment about what he wants to do. He is going to change this society.[cut to Blair talking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: The National Health Service, like any institution, needs reform and change. Of course it does. ..
[cut to a shot of the inside of a hospital, apparently taken from a stretcher being wheeled down a corridor]
.. But it can’t be run like a market enterprise. It’s not, it’s a public service.[cut to vox pop with a nurse]
VOX POP 7: I think the health service is hanging on by its fingernails, in the hope that we will have an administration that really does believe in the founding principles of the NHS.[cut to Blair talking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: I want the bureaucrats out, and I want the money going to frontline public services, that are going to deliver decent patient care.[cut to Prescott talking to camera]
JOHN PRESCOTT: He has vision, he has courage, and above all he offers hope.[cut to Blair talking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: It is middle-income Britain ..
[cut to shots of average-looking Britons]
.. that has been hit hardest by the tax rises of the past few years. And so far from penalising middle-income Britain, I want the Labour Party to be helping those people.[cut to another vox pop]
VOX POP 8: I’m 66 years of age, I’ve been able to work all my life. And I would ask that they can get that back again, for everybody that’s here.[cut to Blair talking to camera]
TONY BLAIR: I’m not going to promise what I can’t deliver, ..
[cut to shots of the Shadow Cabinet]
.. and I will say what I actually think. And no country becomes great through despair, through believing that nothing can be done. There is only one chance ..
[cut to a young child running through a park]
.. for the future for this country. And that is the politics of hope allied to hard-headed practical policy.[cut to archive film of the Labour Leadership Election Results rally, 21st July 1994]
TONY BLAIR: I am ready to serve. We are ready to serve. And together, we will make this a turning point. We can change the course of history, and build a new, confident land of opportunity in a new and changing world. ..
[Music: Jerusalem fades up]
.. That is our pledge to the people of this country.VOICE-OVER: If you would like to join the Labour Party, please call 081 200 0200. Or write to us at:
VOICE-OVER AND CAPTION: The Labour Party, Freepost, London SE17 1BR.Duration: 4 minutes 40 seconds
