Blears Survives

[Julnar]

Hazel Blears has survived a vote of no confidence by her local constituency party. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8107343 .stm
Have the British public become so apathetic about politics that we get the politicians we deserve?

[sqad617]

Well as she said, do the events of the last few weeks invalidate 30 yrs of constituency devotion?

I can't stand Hazel Blears but the IR will want to talk to her.

[Rollo]

It is up to the electors of Salford to decide if she remains their MP, or not, at the next election.

[ludwig]

That's the party that's backed her, not the public. They may come to regret it at the next election though. Depends what kind of a majority she's got.

[Julnar]

45 people at the meeting were entitled to vote and 33 voted for her to say as their MP. Is that the size of her constituency party or can't the local Labour members even be bothered to vote?

[Gromit]

Her Constituency Labour Party (CLP) will be run by a General Committee. It will have been they who met last night.

Each Labour Party branch in her Constituency, made up of Labour Party members will elect a delegate to represent them.

[Bobbisox]

rollo I'm with you on this, the good people of Salford will vote with their feet about the wee ginger's insincerity, she reminds me of a little Kranky!!!
I digress, they will probably regret giving her a confidence vote in another 10 months, the woman holds no credibility at all

[jake-the-peg]

I'm not surprised she has no confidence with those of you who are died in the wool Tories.

No more surprising than if I said I had no confidence in Cameron.

I'm a little surprised though that she managed to sweet talk her way out with her local constituency, not so much to do with the spending as to do with her disloyalty to the party.

I rather suspect the pitch may have been along the lines of "Look if you ditch me here and now the papers will dwell on it for weeks and have a field day and none of us want that"

I can see how that'd be quite a persuasive argument

[Bobbisox]

Can't see Mr Cameron wearing a badge saying "I rocked the boat" somehow, and I'm not a cameron supporter

[jno]

ah, but Cameron's the captain of the boat. If he tells people he wants to go waterskiing, and therefore they'll have to row harder, all they can do is say yes SIR.

[Bobbisox]

lol@ jno
good one!

[flip_flop]

The Tories are the only viable alternative.

Labour, ahem, socialists have shown that they are far more adept at far oursleazing the Tories (see Blears, Smith, Harmon, Mandelson....the list is endless) and, despite their socialist credentials are only interested in feathering their own nests.

1997 seems an awful long time ago now when Blair promised Labour were going to be "whiter than white" - they have made Major's government seem like vestal virgins.

Anyway, Blears - she will get her just desserts next year. It would take swivel eyed lunatics to return this truly horrible woman to Parliament.

[Bobbisox]

yes flip-flop but what have they said they will do????

[naomi24]

I couldn't agree more, flip flop. The Tories are the only viable alternative. It does indeed seem a long time since that euphoric day when Tony Blair claimed victory. This is truly despicable. The so-called Labour party is now rotten to the core.

[Rollo]

If people want to vote for Blears next year then that's their right, of course.

If she does get elected then here electors will indeed get the MP they deserve - and I hope whoever does vote for this awful woman are happy with their choice.

[Rollo]

In 1997 I remember people singing "Things can only get better".

LOL

[Rollo]

I think the bottom line is that people have now decided it is time for a change.

People in the UK have always done that after they have had a particular government for what they decide is "too long".

[flip_flop]

It doesn't really matter bobbisox.

Labour were victorious in 1997 on the wave of a backlash against Tory sleaze - which, in 2009, seems kind of ironic.

As Rollo said, Labour's anthem in 1997 was D-Ream's Things Can Only Get Better - yet they have got considerably worse.

Somebody will be along in a minute blaming Thatcher......

[Rollo]

"Somebody will be along in a minute blaming Thatcher...... "

Jake, Jake, wherefore art thou Jake? That's your cue!

[paraffin]

Far be it from me to defend Hazel Blears, but she is merely one droplet in the ocean of greed which has enveloped the very seat of democracy which many of us in this country hold dear. A place now tainted for ever by the revelations not only about her but hundreds of her peers also.

Therefore it's not surprising that her constituency apparatchiks have seen fit to back her, they're all puppets dancing from the same strings as is she.

It's only delaying the inevitable until the people of Salford deliver their true opinion of her at the GE. I look forward to the supercilious smirk being wiped off her little smurf-like face!

[Rollo]

Ooooh! Another "Portillo" moment coming up then?

Bring it on please.