It's that time of year I guess where people give their predictions for the year to come. My colleague Tom Harris (Mystic Tom?) has stared into the crystal ball and predicted that Labour can and will win a fourth term with a reduced majority.
He's right - we can win but in order to do so we need a change of leader. As Labour MP Barry Sheerman writes cogently in today's Indy, we have a leader who is disastrously more unpopular than our party. Labour has been appallingly ill-served by a cabal surrounding Gordon Brown. First they destabilised Tony Blair's leadership, an act of shocking disloyalty to someone who had won us an unprecedented three election victories in a row; then they ensured that Gordon was crowned leader rather than elected (along with others I spent some time in early 2007 seeing if we could get enough Labour MPs to nominate any serious contender to take on Gordon. We got just about the requisite number of names but we couldn't find a member of the cabinet who dared take on Gordon's people for fear of what they would do - is that the kind of leadership that we really want?); which leads us to the next dirty trick of Gordon's cabal: the smearing of opponents. As one Minister said at the time, the really shocking thing about the McBride fiasco wasn't that they were attempting to trash the personality of an opponent but that it was someone of a different party for a change. We deserve better.
The people that I represent need a Labour Government and I am desperate to see one returned in 2010. I've written before that we need a change of strategy but more than that we need a change of leader. The Tories are still, rightly, mistrusted by a large section of the electorate and the result of the next election is not a foregone conclusion. There is a sizeable section of the electorate which has not decided how to vote yet but they have, sad to say, decided not to vote for us if Gordon is still our leader come polling day. I realise that this may be an uncomfortable truth but it is a truth nonetheless, and one which every Labour MP knows from talking to constituents. I hold no brief to support any alternative leader and, in truth, almost any of the senior figures in our party would seriously narrow the gap with the Tories if they took over in January. Gordon loves the Labour party but the best thing that he could do now to help it stay in office would be to leave its leadership. If not, we look to the de facto Deputy Prime Minister to tell him the harsh truths. Carpe diem, Lord Mandelson.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
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Better make sure you get rid of Ed Balls while you're at it because no sane person would want to risk even the slightest possibility of PM Balls!
ReplyDeleteAll your opponents are so weak that Gordon Brown could still capitalise on their unpopularity if he was prepared to talk politics and explain what he was prepared to do and why. As much as I detest every bone in the mans body, if he came up with some half sensible policies I would give him a second chance. But he can't even do that, all we get is that he's 'doing the right thing, because its the right thing to do' and a few cheesy Youtube videos from his bunker at No.10.
ReplyDeleteI don't care that his personality stinks, I don't care if sometimes spells incorrectly due to his failing eyesight, I don't even care if he lobs the odd telephone around. But what is absolutely inexcusable is his appalling inability to galvanise his party around some well explained and clearly defined goals that set them apart from all the other political organisations out there.
I've never even heard him talk about the importance of the wage in todays society and he's supposed to be he head of the Labour party!
Yes new Labour have problems and they start at the top but what is clear to me is that at all levels there's an ideologocial vacuum that nobody dares fill. Its a horrible mish mash of socialist economic policies which are used to beat the Tories around the head with coupled with the a few ill conceived 'green' ideas and a commitment to the status quo.
New Labour needs to have an internal fight to find out what they stand for. If they don't know then maybe its time to call it a day.
chefdave - well said, apart from the possibility of giving Mr Brown a second chance. Twelve and a half years of his destroying aspiration and the economy mean that even if he promised sensible policies, I wouldn't believe him.
ReplyDeleteFor the last decade, there have been more people declining to vote than casting in favour of the "winning" party.
If those in charge really wanted to hear what the electorate wanted, there would be a "none of the above" option on the ballot paper. Should any party without an absolute majority assume then power, it must be with drastically reduced powers until they have demonstrated that they carry the majority of the Country with them.
Oh I agree Mick and I've argued this before. The turnout in 2005 was only 60%, and I expect a large number of these votes were cast to block out one party or another in the marginals.
ReplyDeleteIf we had an option where those that didn't want anymore laws were listened too then politicians would have to tailor their product to suit the needs of the electorate. No more government by default, no should mean no whether thats abstention or ticking a none of the above option.
Surely with the EU too we've got laws that cover just about everything, we don't need any more.
For God's sake! it is NOT just because of Brown that we are going to lose - think about it!
ReplyDeleteLabour have destroyed the country by selling our future to international creditors, just so you could have a go at getting re-elected.
ReplyDeleteAll of the Labour party agreed and supported that.
Your constituents will probably suffer the most as a result.
The truth is nobody needs a Labour government except for the sad individuals who have no other use in this world except to live in the fantasy world of socialist politics and harm the weakest and most vulnerable in society as a result.
You should all resign and beg our forgiveness for destroying the forth biggest economy in the world. Its no good hoping you can lump all the blame on Brown for your party's crimes.
Whatever the merits of attempting to remove Gordon two years ago, and of mobilising against the cabal and coronation at the time, I really can't see how leadership talk now will help anything.
ReplyDeleteA change of leadership before the election is simply not going to happen.
You lost the internal struggle for a change in leadership and now is not the time to re-start the sniping. The time to put-up or shut-up has passed. It's now just time to shut-up. This kind of talk does our party no favours as we enter the election period, so please - give it a rest.
Greg
ReplyDeleteYour quite right but the messenger is not often thanked.
MPs have to make hard decisions - sadly the PLP are like rabbits caught in headlights.
Of course post May 10 any number of leadership contenders will line up to explain past errors.
As a Lab activist my question to such colleagues will be why didn't you demonstrate leadership when we were in power?
Don't give up and good luck
I doubt that Labour will get rid of Brown now, and if they did would it really do them any good? It would seem like a desperate piece of opportunism from a party expecting to lose. If they had toppled Brown last summer, or earlier, it would have been different, but now it's too late.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. I have been a party member for over a quarter of a century and always been loyal to the party leader, but enough is enough.
ReplyDeleteGreg Pope is a Red-Brown, a Molotov-Ribbentrop, a signatory both to the Euston Manifesto (unrepentant old Stalinists and Trotskyists for never-ending global war) and to the Henry Jackson Society (unrepentant old apartheid and Pinochet supporters for never-ending global war). If you want an argument for Brown, it is that they are against him. And if you want an argument against Cameron, it is that they, three out of the four of whom are sitting Labour MPs, are in favour of him.
ReplyDeleteBrown was and never will be PM material and would never have got the No 10 job if there had been any type of election for it. He was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time...Tony Blair tried to warn Labour and the country by his failure to hand over sooner but sadly everyone has suffered. The damage has been done and changing leaders at the starting gate of a general election is too little too late.
ReplyDeleteGordon Brown is the best PM since Attlee, perhaps since Asquith.
ReplyDeleteTom Harris, who was a critic of the PM's style I believe, has said we can win this time, and suggests a reduced majority.
As the Tory lead has fallen from 17 to 9% in the past 5 months, which suggests that there is still a good chance of a Labour majority of some sort a period of silence on your part would be welcome.
This takes courage. The Labour Party has a history of being loyal to it's Leader. Loyalty to it's Leader is not an accusation you could level at the Conservative Party. Open to that one if anyone fancies that challenge.
ReplyDeleteWell done Greg! This is the right decision and best for Labour and the people of Hyndburn. I commend it to the Electorate.
SO'B
I very much agree with Barry Sheerman, Charles Clarke, John Hutton et al as reflected in your views above on the leadership of the Party. I am currently reading Hugo Youngs' "Supping With the Devils" and he covers the ousting of Margaret Thatcher. He describes the age old reflex: the perception that an election was about to be lost and power surrendered to the other side. That is why the Conservative Party acted against her. I agree with this but am not sure the Labour Party have the courage to oust Gordon Brown. I wonder is it because he is absolutely ruthless in demolishing opponent?. Look at the smearing of senior colleagues since he took office by the machine behind him and even Charles Clarke recently wrote that he has been warned by a senior cabinet minister to watch his back. GB takes us all for fools if he thinks that we do not know what he is about in his ruthlessness to hold unto his job. Of course he wants to do so but it is disgraceful that he permits his machine to smear his colleagues. I will never forgive this behaviour. Further, I think the PM is not in touch with reality as he assumes that somehow he can persuade the country to vote for him as he is the only person fit to save us from the economic mess we are in. I can easily identify his strategy (the recent New Year boring message) for the election and I can honestly say that it is abhorrent to me. I do not want a message that consistently tries to put fear into me that another political party will wreck public services. I do not believe it and neither do others. We are being misled about the level of cuts that are necessary to reduce our debt. In all we have lost our trust in the Government and this is down to GB.
ReplyDeleteI am sure GB has skills that are apparent to those around him. However, all of my reading suggests that he was never fit to be PM and sadly this is apparent. He lacks vision and charisma and I do not even consider him to be a safe pair of hands. I dislike his friends such as Ed Balls who have been in the job for five minutes and who patronise the voter because he is a friend of the PM. I speak as someone who has supported the labour party for 42 years - one of the supposedly core voters that he is now trying to woo with some policies that are alien to me. I also note that those who signed the letter to oust Tony Blair have all been given jobs in government and many of them are not up to the task. I am persuaded that GB was fully cognisant with the plot ( although clever enough to ensure it would not be laid at his door). I hate what he is doing to the country and the party. He is in to short terminism for political gain and his strategy is to undermine the opposition and not to lead the country. It is appalling.
So what do I do? Not vote - this what happened to the conservative vote when they were in a mess. Yes I want a Labour Government but I do not want the leader - this matters. All my non anorak friends who voted for Tony Blair will vote for David Cameron as they believe he is emotionally literate and in touch with their concerns and aspirations. I could never follow them although acknowledge that party loyalty is no longer what it was. I am in absolute despair as well as utterly frustrated........
Thanks to all for taking the trouble to post - much appreciated. The tone of comment here is much nicer than in some bits of the blogosphere where I have been unwise enough to venture!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I agree with a great deal of what you say but I urge you to vote Labour. I absolutely agree that we need a strong forward message to offer people, but I also know that the lives of some of my poorest constituents have been transformed for the better by this government.
Does'nt matter who the leader is.
ReplyDelete13 years...... Never again.
More debt than 300 years worth of previous government combined, a false boom built on credit that's praised, and the worst recession in history with us being the only country in the G20 group that are still in it.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the Labour party have broken the country like they always do, and the systematic destruction of it has taken place for the whole of their time in power, not just Brown's tenure as PM.
As for the people who you represent that "need a Labour government" - they've had one for the last 13 years, and I've seen very little in the way of improvement for the poor. The gap between the haves and the have nots has increased.
The Tories are a joke, but nowhere near as much of a joke as the Labour party, who never fail to bankrupt us - history proves this to be the case.
The poison runs deep and only major surgery will give the required outcome. A new leader is desperately required, but I am not convinced there is a suitable candidate available at present. The Party needs to out the bully boys and become more collaberative and inclusive. I have never seen a Labour party cabinet that is less in touch with working class people.
ReplyDeleteLove it.
ReplyDelete"I want to be Captain of the Titanic when it sinks"
"No, I do"
"Hey, what about me, I do too"
Greg, you seem like a good bloke and someone who is a good constituency MP however the fact remains that the econmony under this Labour Administration is almost bankrupt and Brown is spinning like a top. Its the economy stupid always was always is. There is good reason why there is so much vitriol on the Blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteThis is never going to happen - it is amusing to see "get rid of the leader" paraded as a possibility this close to the election.
ReplyDeleteWhy the heck hasn't Ed Miliband been drafted in ??
ReplyDeleteVoters don't give a stuff about policies, they want someone human, nice and 'tall, dark and handsome'.
Come on, they even voted for that lying warmonger Tony Blair because he could fake that 'Richard and Judy' boy-next-door thing.
Gordon may 'care' but this is politics so start twisting Ed Miliband's arm now. He may not want the job - but if Peter Mandelson threatens him with the horse's head in the bed / appearing under Blackfriars bridge if he says no, he will soon come round to your way of thinking.
As tricky dickie said "If you've got 'em by the Balls their hearts and minds will follow.."
Sorry, but another thing. Gordon was clearly using Christmas to play the 'there may be an election in March' as his last best hope to ensure that his 'get out of jail free' card against defenestration would not be played.
ReplyDeleteAnd he threw that card away live on TV with Andrew Marr !! Unbelievable incompetence !!!
So this is your best chance to fire him while you still have the opportunity. If you don't seize this golden moment, you deserve to be in opposition for the next decade.
I mean, what have you got to fear ? Nick 'BSE' Brown ?? Who in the community has ever heard of him ? What has he ever achieved ? He is even more of a nonentity than Ed 'Chinless Wonder' Balls..
No one wants to take over from Brown now and lead Labour to certain defeat. Better for them to take over after Brown loses the coming election and win the one after that.
ReplyDeleteThe Conservatives in government will have the problem of big tax rises and big public sector cuts (and possibly a hung parliament) so may only last one term anyway.
What's the point of a leadership battle now when the leading contenders comprise Johnson and that awful Harman? If that is the best talent on offer.....well... it's over
ReplyDeleteRather rich - Brown must go - coming from Greg who is known as R101 (the biggest let down in history) by many members of Hyndburn Labour Party.
ReplyDelete@ Greg Pope
ReplyDeleteTone is one thing - content another.
Yes, but the problem is, 'who?'
ReplyDeleteName someone who could do better in the same time frame. That's always been NULabor's problem. The cult of personalities that they used to abhor.
Everybody, apart from Frank Fields is a liability worse than Brown as Leader.
"We deserve better"? You do not! You have exactly what you deserve. Two Labour governments in my lifetime and both ending in massive debt. I am ashamed that I have ever supported Labour.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is, the election campaign has effectively already started.
ReplyDeleteImagine the daily news agenda if there is a plot to remove Brown: The Tories putting their case each day, setting out their policies and vision for the future of this country. Then Labour, riddled by splits, or worse still leaderless if Brown actually goes, a party engaged in internal naval-gazing. It would sink Labour's chances for years to come.
Let the slow car crash commence !!!
ReplyDeleteIf Balls is the answer, then the question is question is surely bollocks.
ReplyDeleteAnd why all the Ministerial photo opportunities (ooops, fact-finding visits) around the country's most interesting constituencies (or rather, marginals) arranged for the first 6 weeks of 2010...mostly arranged by and paid for by local councils (i.e. the council taxpayer).
Me thinks a March general election looms large. Bet its Thursday 18th. You read it here first.
G Brown
Is this guy Greg Pope for real. If so, how come i've never heard of him?
ReplyDeleteG Brown
I nominate Bob A Jobsworth!
ReplyDeleteNa...keep Clown, our Glorious leader
ReplyDeleteGoood Working...Thanks for shairng keep it up!
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