This potential absence of a credible opposition has led to a lot of sentimental wailing in non-Labour circles. We are told that Labour’s flight from the mainstream is profoundly damaging to our Parliamentary system, that our democracy depends on a strong opposition to hold the Government “to account.” Proponents of this thesis like to quote the famous lines of Disraeli, taken from his 1844 novel Coningsby, that “no Government can long be secure without a formidable opposition.” But there is no historical evidence to support this idea. The strength of a Government has absolutely nothing to do with the opposition. After all, by far the greatest administration in history, Winston Churchill’s wartime Coalition, had absolutely no opposition whatsoever, while, in the mid-1990s, John Major’s Government was at its weakest when Blairite Labour was at its most confident.