Labour's tough love

The New Labour government has plenty of ideas that affect the traditional territory of social work, yet its systems for putting them into practice have bypassed social workers. Bill Jordan and Nigel Parton argue that a constructive, confident and flexible profession could and should play a central role.

New Labour's electoral triumph in 1997 was possible because John Major's administration lost the plot; the Thatcher revolution had foundered in a swamp of sleaze and factional recrimination. But as Tony Blair's poor reception at the Women's Institute conference underlined, Labour's vision of national renewal is becoming blurred. This lack of focus extends to the role of social work in the government's reform of welfare and public services.