This has meant that after thirteen years of power they're still pretending that they haven't raised taxes (rather than having the conversation about what they want to do with more tax, and why they need it), and it means that they haven't stood up and said "Here is why we believe immigration is a good thing" and are instead stuck publically appeasing people who talk about immigration negatively, and then calling them bigoted behind their backs.
I know that expecting honesty from politicians is like expecting high quality type O blood from stones, but I really do think that Labour would be having a lot less trouble now if they'd been willing to have a fight with the Daily Mail back in 1998...