I am angry with Gordon Brown, as one would be with any politician who had stolen something. He seems to have stolen my favourite word. I certainly don’t mind him using words like ‘equal’, as in ‘equal opportunities’, or as in ‘all humans are equal, but some are more equal than others’. That seems par for the course of progressive policies; we expect the policy to achieve the opposite of what it set out to do, and at the same time for it to be lauded as achieving its objective.

No, what I object to is the appropriation of the word ‘fair’. The new Labour strap line is: ‘A future fair for all’. Fair is a very important word; it is not something to be taken over by a political party. All people everywhere want fairness; fairness is a much nicer word than justice. We may need justice, but certainly nobody much wants it – it’s too painful. Ask the MPs paying back their expenses. Instead, we want fairness.

When one party says it represents fairness, what it is also implying is that the other party does not purvey fairness, that the other party or parties are unfair. Now that really is an unfair thing to say! Surely, we start the political process in a democracy assuming that all parties represent and encourage fairness for the people, but their difference is the means – the strategies (another word the parties like appropriating, as it seems to suggest they have one) – by which they achieve them.

Thus it is we can infer that if the Conservatives and the Lib Dems don’t want fairness, then what kind of people are they running for office? Clearly – unfair, unprincipled, dishonest villains! This is outrageous and unfair: I am prepared to believe that the Conservatives and the Lib Dems are as fair, and fair in intent, as Labour. But Gordon Brown is muddying these waters.

So, I want my word back – I don’t want to hear humbug about ‘fair for all’, especially when the key measure over the last dozen years or so by which a Labour government could be measured on fairness – the economic gap between rich and poor – has actually widened. The question we need to ask the politician who appropriates the word ‘fair’ – in this case Gordon Brown – is, which ‘all’ do you have in mind, Mr Brown? The bankers? Fairness for them and their bonuses? The politicians? Fairness for them and their expenses? Or what about the army? Fairness for them and their equipment?

Fairness is an outcome. To reach an outcome we need a vision of what we may be: what the challenge of the next General Election is about is which party can articulate a vision for this country? A vision – not a set of slogans, short-term measures, populist ideas – a vision that genuinely engages.

Meanwhile, as that struggle to articulate goes on, let’s all own the word ‘fair’.

James Sale is the author of nearly fifty business books, a member of the Society of Authors and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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