Mind your language

Polly Tonybee today manages to forget her own argument in the space of a sentence. She’s discussing Labour’s use of the word ‘progressive’ and the attempt, by a couple of Tory backbench imps, to claim it as their own. She thinks the word is vacuous:

"progressive" fails the political test: if any party can use it, forget it. Would any party call itself regressive? Labour should now quietly set this word free and find others that stand for something real. "Fairness", for instance, resonates with authentic policies that separate Labour from Conservatives.

Um... would any party call itself unfair?