"New" Labour

To my immense surprise, I just heard Tony Blair on the radio summing up the primary characteristic of the last 9 years of government: "We spend without asking how effective is the spending." This is precisely "New" Labour's major innovation - they have done truly remarkable work in systematising the waste of fortunes in money and resources, with PFI initiatives leading the way.
I makes one wonder just how brazen Blair and New Labour will become about what they're up to before people stop voting for them. This government was defined in its first 5 years or so by "spin" (or so, at least, the journalists had it). In the last 4, it seems to have been more a realisation that they can do what they like because no one is going to ask serious questions about it.