In January 1993 Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute took a meeting with two British politicians eager to learn about how Bill Clinton had revived the American left. One of them was Gordon Brown, earnest and engaged, the other seemed very nice, although afterwards Marshall couldn’t for the life of him remember his name.
Formally, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) was the think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council. Informally, it was the intellectual resource of a group known as the New Democrats, primarily southern governors and politicians who had reset their party after the Republicans had held the White House for more than a decade. Clinton had become their candidate, captured the party nomination and in 1992 won the presidency.
Shortly before Clinton achieved this victory, Labour had lost its fourth election in a row. By the time it got a chance to try again it would have been out of power for 18 years. So naturally its leading figures were keen to learn all they could about Clinton’s campaigning techniques — rapid rebuttal, a war room — but also about the policy and positioning of the New Democrats. It was the latter that had brought Brown and his friend to Marshall’s office.
