This campaign has been wrongly accused of taking a number of different positions, including being pro-Tory,pro-Respect and pro-War in Iraq. Which is a pretty impressive spread for a campaign that is actually anti-Blair (and anti-New Labour project).

Some of the other tactical voting campaigns are focussed specifically on the Iraq War, aiming to punish MPs who voted in favour of military action. Now that is a laudable object and is one of the factors we are using to revise the voting advice given. However, it isn't the complete picture. When considering the performance of a Labour MP over the lifetime of the current parliament, other issues need to be considered including (in no particular order):

- The Anti-Terrorism legislation
- Trial without jury
- Reform of the House of Lords
- Foundation Hospitals
- ID Cards
- Student top-up fees

Depressingly, when looking at Labour MPs, we find only 17 who voted against the government on at least 75% of the divisions associated with the above issues. Now obviously this list will expand when prioritisation is taken into account e.g. Iraq ranks higher than reform of the House of Lords. Even so, only 17 Labour MPs out of 412 voted consistently against the more right-wing of the governments policies.

Even more depressing is the sheer contempt Tony Blair appears to hold for parliament. Out of 71 votes on these key issues, Blair didn't even vote in 44 of them, illustrating the arrogance of a Prime Minister with such an overwhelming majority that he does not feel the need to vote on his own key legislation.

So, at the end of the day, Backing Blair is about punishing Tony Blair and those Labour MPs who slavishly support his right-of-centre policies. And at the same time rewarding those Labour MPs who appear to have retain at least a reasonable sense of what the party should stand for. A case in point being Mike Wood, Labour MP for Batley and Spen. If we were truly anti-Labour then we'd be throwing our weight behind the Conservative candidate Robert Light, especially given Mike Wood's fragile majority. But we're not. Instead we're urging voters in Batley and Spen to vote for Mike, to ensure that the more principled anti-Blairites survive.