Cabinet 'rivals' rally to Brown's defence
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Senior cabinet figures were desperately rallying around Gordon Brown yesterday, with the two men tipped as favourites to succeed Mr Brown moving to quash rumours that he could be replaced before the next election.
Both the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said that Mr Brown was the right man to be leading the party and that they did not want the top job. Their endorsements came after the first tensions from within the Cabinet emerged over Mr Brown's leadership.
Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, had described the Government's performance under Mr Brown as "lamentable", adding that it needed to be more "human". Mr Brown's decision to block the right of thousands of former Gurkhas to settle in Britain had put the Government "on the wrong side of the British sense of fair play, and no party can stay there for long without dire consequences," she said. A Commons defeat over the plan was swiftly followed by the embarrassing abandonment of Mr Brown's reforms to MPs' expenses.
Mr Brown now faces pressure to scrap plans to part-privatise Royal Mail. A vote on the reforms had been planned after the local and European elections in June, but with more than 100 Labour MPs opposing the plan, Mr Brown could be defeated. The Government has denied that plans are afoot to abandon the reforms.
Mr Johnson, tipped as a possible unity candidate should Mr Brown be forced out, said he had no aspirations for the leadership, adding that Mr Brown was the right man "for these times". But he was careful not to rule out the possibility. "I am not saying there are no circumstances," he told the BBC. "I am not driven by this ambition. I want to be part of a good Government and I want it to be led by Gordon Brown."
In the past, Mr Johnson has said he believed he did not have the ability to lead his party, stating: "I don't think I would have been good enough, frankly. I don't think I've got the capabilities."
It has prompted suspicions that Mr Johnson may feel obliged to take on the leadership should his party ask him in the future. The former Labour mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, also backed Mr Johnson as the next leader, adding that Labour would perform better at the next election if the Health Secretary took over now.
Mr Straw, seen as one of the few senior figures with the profile to take the party into an election, said Mr Brown was "exactly the right person to be Prime Minister". He told Sky News: "There's not a vacancy and Gordon Brown is clearly the leader. If there were [a vacancy], I would not be standing. I've been pretty clear about that."
Even most in the party who oppose Mr Brown admit it is unlikely he will be deposed before the next election, but believe the question of a change in leader will resurface after the local and European elections, during which Labour looks set for a drubbing.
In her article, Ms Blears also appeared to criticise the Prime Minister's use of YouTube to broadcast his proposed reforms for MPs' expenses. Mr Brown's video has been widely lampooned for his stilted manner and oddly timed smiles. "YouTube if you want to," she said. "But it is no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre."
After speaking to Mr Brown by phone on Saturday, Ms Blears rushed out a statement, saying she wanted "to make it clear that the Prime Minister enjoys my 100 per cent support. Any suggestion that I intended what I wrote as criticism of him or his leadership is completely wrong."
Downing Street was angered by Ms Blears's intervention, but Mr Brown's aides are hoping her "clarification" will end the spat. "It was a good thing she was able to clarify what she meant as quickly as she did and as clearly as she did," said a Downing Street source. "Clearly her words were being misinterpreted. The important thing is she took steps to change that."
But rumblings from backbenchers over Mr Brown continued, with one saying he had been "mortally damaged". Some wild ideas are being punted around, such as the possibility of left-wing backbencher Gordon Prentice running as a stalking horse candidate. "He is thoughtful, popular, and would get support," said one admirer.
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Comments
They should face facts, their PM and tenure in office are coming to an end. Their usefulness is over. They cannot be trusted to govern this country effectively. They have let the British people down and are not worthy of office.
Whilst all this infighting goes on, thousands are losing their jobs; how many more will be lost today???
Brown can stop this misery and call a General Election. Let the British people decide. But his selfishness and greed prevents him from doing so.
Blears comments on Brown are quite bizarre as she is - although unbelievably - actually part of the government. How pathetic she looks with her massive back track, and brown nosing operation subsequent to the article.
The one comedy that we can actually sit back and enjoy is the self destruction of Gordon Brown - and if you believe in what goes around comes around, he deserves all he gets.
So , what do cabinet members do during a bank holiday? Cut the hedge, mow the lawn, visit family?
Laying awake worrying about an epidemic/ the economy/immigration/the jobless/ repossessions/ the world? NO , they scramble over each other to see who can get into pole position to further damage the confidence we all have in politicians.
Harriet Hardbint has thrown her knickers into the fray too , and Hazel Blears and the utterly useless traitor Alan Johnson who has shown no honour and doesnt even know the meaning of the word.
IF labour members are going to destroy each other , please not in front of us children!!
Where is Frank Field? He could be a very steadying pair of hands for them.
For heavens sake NULAB, CALM DOWN, this magnificent country is in melt down, remember whom you serve.
The only thing that can save the seats of dozens of Labour MPs is a new leader. There is still a year for someone else to make an impact with the voters, and there is plenty of talent to choose from. Do those Labour MPs really want to be looking for new jobs in the summer of 2010?
Ever since Gollum Brown brought down the curse of Magna Carta, on his head, Zanulabour have been doomed; scandal follows sleaze follows scandal follows bad news follows dissent; the rats start to fight in the sack; we seen this all before, under John Major's government, and just as his slide disaster could not be stopped. Neither can Brown's
Ans: 53, 52 to check the past year's nonsenses and another to repost them.
So why don't the rest of you find something useful to do?
Any leadership challenge will take a month or so to start, then some time for a new leder to be elected, so the winner gets a few months as PM. They all know Brown is out come next year - electorate will throw him out. Brown is safe until then and if he is on the same planet as the rest of us, he also knows he is out then (but then maybe he is not that aware of what is happening out here in "real world").
Why!! perhaps we will see in the endgame the entire front bench pinching a submarine from Scotland,and sailing for Argentina during the night having looted museums,and art galleries?
What we have had over the last twelve years is a group of individuals promoted way over their abilities.
An ex-postman,a ships steward,provincial little solicitors whom were only really capable of simple conveyancing tasks,and a whole host of disturbed 'minority' group mouthpieces elected as NuLabour MP's with razor sharp axes to grind.
An these people thought they could successfully run a nation
Why! it must have been like winning the lottery.
Enough said for now-I am too sickened by these scum to further comment on their atrocities against the people of this country.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/pl
Perhaps there is a message there.
Ex-postmen, a ship's steward, provincial solicitors and factota ... it all reeks of the underqualified cronyism which characterised the late Bush government.
The difference being that in the US, we had a choice in the elections just passed. Sadly, I think Britain will exchange the above for Hooray Henry upper-class-twit-Tim-nice-but-dim cronyism. George Osbourne Chancellor ... gotta pry him away from the blow and the hos first.
How many leaders in 10 years is it - 4 or 5?
Leaving out people like Redwood, davies & co who think they are Tory Leader . .
Both the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said that Mr Brown was the right man to be leading the party and that they did not want the top job. Their endorsements came after the first tensions from within the Cabinet emerged over Mr Brown's leadership
Blears's ridicule of Gordon Brown is a clear sign that his fate is sealed, says Philip Johnston.
Evitable
PRONUNCIATION:
(EV-i-tuh-buhl)
MEANING:
Adjective: Capable of being avoided or evaded.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin evitare (to avoid).
USAGE:
"Racers insist they do it 'for the glory', which is a shrewd way of saying they do it for no good reason. This is an Entirely Evitable Event."
Don Kahle; Kinetic Challenge Recalls Rickies; The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon); Jul 18, 2008.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) Gordon Chesterman:
Britain's estates are 'social concentration camps'
Did we have this in the time of Margareta Thatcher?
Jails are full houses are nowhere to be seen; the hospitals cannot cope with the Flue, be this swine, duck, chicken or goat and cow mixed. The roads have potholes and no one want to mend these we have no money and Iran is not talking to us, Iraq war is a failures and so is Afghanistan. Tell me where are we going?
Three decades of failed policies have destroyed the life chances of millions living in public
Housing, says a devastating new report. Emily Dugan investigates
Recession blamed as number of banned bosses soars
The number of company directors disqualified for criminal malpractice has soared in the last year as bosses go to desperate lengths to avoid the effects of the recession on their businesses, research released today shows. Is this really UK?
According to a study by the City law firm Wedlake Bell, there was a 72 per cent annual increase in the number of directors of insolvent companies being banned for fraud and theft, as company heads tried to salvage something from their struggling firms.
Bank of America Chief Ousted as Chairman.
What is the point of the stepping down now, many have become bankrupt and with many banks that sank simultaneously, do the never done, throw the globe into a mess of cash shortages. It is same as I steal; give the cash to my brothers and say, ?I am sorry. I am resigning?. It has left all so much short of cash that we are in the miserable state.
We give, we give. In Afghanistan, a police officer?s monthly salary is only $70, which is not enough to live on without taking bribes. This is in most of the countries I men taking the bribes. I am amazed that this Police in Afghanistan do not take bribe. Can you please check this is up, as I doubt this?
The international aid programme is particularly important in Afghanistan because the government has few other sources of revenue. Donations from foreign governments make up 90 per cent of public expenditure. They have the huge crop of Poppy the drug.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
I mean really, blaming Labour for holes in the roads, blaming Labour for the drug trade in Afghanistan, blaming Labour for the global economy, making up this "hospitals cannot cope with the swine flu" crap, blaming a police officers salary in Afghanistan on Labour, blaming Iranian international isolation on Labour.
What is the point of him stepping down now you ask? He is allegedly unstable and is politically and socially out of touch. This Anthony Eden situation in No.10 simply cannot be allowed to continue, it is dangerous.
What is the point of him stepping down now you ask? He is allegedly unstable and is politically and socially out of touch. This Anthony Eden situation in No.10 simply cannot be allowed to continue, it is dangerous.
I am only pointing out the facts as they unfold from the UK papers All know that we have problems we are trying to sort these out in the best posible manner