Night of the long knives

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-117673 8/As-Labour-plotters-plan-replace-Brown-Charle s-Clarkes-shock-demand-Ed-Balls-sacked.html

It looks as if Labour is about to launch a 'night of long knives'.When do you think this will take place?

Should Labour first elect another leader and then call a General Election, or should they appoint another unelected leader and go the full period before the next General Election?

It now seems definite that Labour have not got a 'cat in hells chance' of winning an election under Brown, but perhaps they may stand an even chance if they have a new leader and shed the New Labour Blair/Brown policies, and revert back to true Labour.

[rov1200]

Don't take any notice of the rantings of Chas Clarke MP. Remember he was booted out of the Home Office by Tony Blair for letting criminals walk our streets rather than having them deported. These stirrer-uppers would be better in the Liberals or elsewhere as they do not have the Labour Party at heart and may even gloat when they fail to get in next time. All because of personal ambition!

[jno]

Labour will lose even if Jesus offers to lead them. The electorate just gets bored after 12 years. The same thing happened to the Tories. It doesn't matter that Cameron is Blair-lite, he will be the next PM, and presumably Osborne will be chancellor. It doesn't matter that they are no better than their Labour counterparts (I expect them to be considerably worse), they are going to win.

[paraffin]

Vote for Joanna Lumley !!!

[ll_billym]

Call me shallow but I can't take anything that guy says seriously because of his ears.

[ludwig]

What should happen is Brown should continue as leader and give the electorate the opportunity to show whether they want him as Prime Minister or not.
They haven't had that opportunity yet so it seems only fair.

[Oneeyedvic]

I am surprised that they don't call a general election soon (especially with a new leader) - as they may actually get a hung parliament. If they wait until next year, I suspect that it will be a Conservative majority.

[VHG]

>shed the New Labour Blair/Brown policies, and
>revert back to true Labour.

It was being "true labour" in the past that kept them out of power for 20 years.

The only way Blair got them elected was to "pretend" they were no longer "true labour" but a sort of middle of the road tory party.

If they went back to being a true labour "union loving", socialist party they would NEVER get back into power.

[Prudentia]

Brown was never in a million years up to the job, total incompetant.

[Prudentia]

The manic Brown has launched a scorched earth policy, his incompetance beggars belief.

[naomi24]

Reverting to 'Old Labour' would be disastrous. Times have changed, and so have people. I have to agree with Pru - Brown never was fit for office. He's not a statesman, he lacks dignity, and he commands no respect. He's a complete incompetent who is way out his his depth, and is an embarrassment to this country. In my opinion, he's caused irreparable damage not only to the country, but to the Labour Party too - and to its chances of winning an election, even under a new leader.

And watch them all now, before the storm really breaks, attempting to feather their own nests - but then, what's new? No surprise there!

[jno]

what do you mean by 'feather their own nests', naomi?

[naomi24]

Well, it seems to me, JNO, that when the chips are down, we find previously apparently supportive people suddenly putting the boot in - as they are now. One has to question their motives - and I suspect it's to save their seats at the next election.

[jno]

oh, right ... feathering your own nest usually means trying to make money for yourself or otherwise make yourself comfortable - I would have thought the fed-up Labourites were doing just the opposite, making sure (not necessarily deliberately) the party will lose the next election. It won't automatically save their own seats, it usually depends on their majority. But since most of them are saying what I'm thinking, I can only wish them well.

[Kromovaracun]

as they may actually get a hung parliament

What makes you say that, out of interest? All the polls I've seen give the Conservatives pretty decent majorities allready.

Having said that, polls are notoriously unreliable...

[naomi24]

jno, feathering their own nests won't guarantee them a safe seat, but they'll give it a damn good try - otherwise they'll be in even greater danger of joining the ever-growing ranks of the unemployed. For that reason alone, I can't imagine they WANT Labour to lose the next election. I've no doubt that many of them are, indeed, doing their best to ensure their personal future is secure, and if that means sticking the knife in, then they'll do it.

[Oneeyedvic]

Krom - just a gut feeling. Nothing concrete.

[Gromit]

It looks as if Labour is about to launch a 'night of long knives'.When do you think this will take place?

My guess is that this will not happen soon, if at all. The test will be the Local and European election results in June. Labour is bracing itself for very bad results. If the results are as bad as they predict, then a coup to depose Brown might happen. if the results are bad, but not that bad, Brown will survive.

Labour MPs are currently frightened of losing their seats, so they are trying to weigh up whether ditching Brown can save them. While this debate is happening, there will be many ex-Ministers such as Clark who will have made enemies of Brown when he was Chancellor. This is the time for them to stick in the boot and get their revenge. Right wing newspapers will exploit (and try to make worse) any infighting in the Labour party, for obvious reasons.

My personal view is that they will stick with Brown because there isn't an obvious successor. I agree with jno, Labour have already lost the next election no matter who the leader is.

I wonder if Cameron will tell us what the Conservatives policies are any time soon, or whether he will be just happy to win the next election by default.

[anotheoldgit]

VHG
The only way Blair got them elected was to "pretend" they were no longer "true labour" but a sort of middle of the road Tory party.

Well that never worked in the end, Blair finished up just as unpopular as Brown now is.

If they went back to being a true labour "union loving", socialist party they would NEVER get back into power.

So under these circumstances it would appear that Labour will never again get back into power. So what do you think will happen in the future?

[Gromit]

AOG

Don't you think Cameron is falling into the same trap. He is trying to portray the Conservatives as not as right wing as they really are. Tory supporters are not really interested in wind turbines and hugging a hoody. Cameron is trying to steal the centre ground which new Labour claimed, probably with equally dire consequences.

[mike1222]

When will the gullible British electorate wake up and smell the coffee? ALL these so-called politicians are just in it to, as someone has already said, feather their own nests.

They are ALL liars that are put into office by an idiotic, gullible public to act like pigs with their snouts in the trough!