Libertarian Labour ?!

It was bad enough when a representative from the BMA claimed to be 'libertarian' during a debate on drink driving with DK on The Big Questions.

Today I learn, via LPUK, that Roy Hattersley of The Guardian has the audacity to claim this label for the Labour Party:

Since the emergence of Vince Cable, there have been more similarities than differences in Lib Dem and Labour economic policies. Labour's social programme was clearly superior. But time after time, the Lib Dems have been right about civil liberties and Labour has been wrong. Making Labour a genuine libertarian party again would do more than cement the partnership, it would remove what has been a blot on Labour's record.

Labour, new or old, has always been the antithesis of libertarianism. In the guise of New Labour, especially under Tony Blair, we saw a contempt for civil liberties unprecedented in peacetime. In the form of Old Labour, and again recently under Gordon Brown, prominence was given to the old socialist mantra: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Whether they emphasise the need for redistribution, for Nanny, or for Big Brother, Labour's policies are diametrically opposed to the libertarian principles of self-ownership, self-sufficiency, and freedom.