In the absence both of alternative sources of power and of any independent-minded critique, the City of London has become the central bastion of an elite whose attitudes are more like that of an off-shore centre.
It does depend on how you define "the New Labour leadership" though.
For example, Brown, for all his myriad faults is hard to see as an off-shore type, isn't he?
What exactly did happen before 1997? Everyone talks about a deal between Blair and Brown, but what was the context (within the party, and without) and what was the deal? guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
