Public Policy: Targets and Choice

New Labourʹs political development has been punctuated by the appearance, endless repetition and eventual disappearance of a series of catch-phrases: ʹstakeholdingʹ, ʹthe third wayʹ and ʹsocial exclusionʹ and, more recently, ʹpartnershipʹ, ʹjoined-upʹ governance and the ʹopportunity societyʹ. In 2004 the Prime Minister began to talk about the need to promote choice. This article looks ahead to a possible third term in office for New Labour by looking at the concept of choice. It examines the similarities and important differences between Blairʹs arguments about choice and those offered by the Conservatives. It looks at the ways in which the general principle of promoting choice has so far been spelled out in specific policy terms within health and education and at the ways in which Blairʹs choice agenda clashes with that favoured by Gordon Brown and the Treasury.