Has Gordon Brown been offered a Lordship?

[rov1100]

They seem to offer them to departing Prime Ministers. But would he take it if offered?

[andy-hughes]

Of course he would!

If Prescott can take one, that's the last sorry lingering threads of what passed for dignity in the Labour Party smashed beyond redemption, so the nation is probably past caring!

[VHG]

Perhaps he hopes to get the PM job again (ha ha) so wont tkae a lordship.

Or maybe he has some scruples !

[Katie~77]

VHG - It's very odd that you say that..... my six year old son asked me this morning if Gordon Brown will be PM again.

[alexanderd]

He is heading for the IMF I believe.

[McMouse]

<<They seem to offer them to departing Prime Ministers.>>
Well Wilson, Heath, Major, Blair etc didn't.

[R1Geezer]

and MrsT duly made him a knight of the garter Steve. Personally I think he should have been hanged for treason.

[mike11111]

Peerages are offered to departing PMs, traditionally an earldom, though as that is an hereditary peerage they are now offered a life barony. Prescott retired from the Commons, Brown is still a member. Churchill and Heath refused peerages as they wished to remain members of the Commons. Major also refused a peerage.

[rov1100]

Couple of points about Brown. It was rumoured he is retiring from the Commons in the next couple of weeks.

This may tie in with accepting the post as head of the IMF, as mentioned above, at £285,000 a year.. So I suppose the two would happen in tandem

[Quizmonster]

Andy, if you choose to have a go at Prescott's life peerage and make an anti-Labour point of it, then let me do likewise for Jeffrey Archer.
His life perage, was awarded by Major in 1992 largely for the charity money he supposedly raised for Iraqi Kurds. According to Wikipedia, he claimed a concert he'd organised raised £57,000,000, well worth an honour perhaps. However, it transpired it had made only £3,000,000. Apart from that, he was already mired in all sorts of grime, as a result of which he ended up by being imprisoned.
I have to ask you, therefore, old friend, whether that represented - to paraphrase you own words - "the last sorry lingering threads of what passed for dignity in the Conservative Party." At least old Johnny-boy had a decent right hook...and he never got banged up!

[mike11111]

To be fair QM, I don't think that the question of peerages is really a party political one, although one might have expected the more egalitarian members of the Labour Party to be slightly more reluctant to accept such honours than is the case. It is not something I have ever had strong feelings about, since the effect of the peerage on the governance of the country is negligible. I must, however, confess to having raised my eyebrows at the ennoblement of Peter Mandelson. It reminded me of the great American satirist, Tom Lehrer, who announced his retirement on the day when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, on the grounds that such an appointment had rendered satire totally redundant and there was nothing more for him to do.

[daftgrandad]

< At least Johnboy had a good right hook >
He was,nt bad at croquet either.After all he had enough practice,when he should have been running the country.

[Quizmonster]

Ah, grandad, but did you ever SEE him playing croquet rather than just standing holding a croquet-stick (club, racquet or whatever it's called)? How did he get on? Did he win the game you saw? Have you a shred of evidence that he ever even tried the game on any occasion other than the one the press managed to get pictures of?
By comparison, we KNOW the hook worked!

[Quizmonster]

Mike, we could argue about dodgy politicians of any party until the cows come home; however, it is often forgotten that the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee cleared Mandelson of any wrongdoing in the matter of the Robinson loan, as did the Hammond Inquiry into the matter of the Hinduja passport.
He was such a hate-figure to them that it has simply become a right-wing mantra that he was guilty WHATEVER the investigative processes found...a common flaw in right-wing thinking.
I have no particular axe to grind on behalf of Mandelson, but perhaps we should just leave it there. I think I shall.

[andy-hughes]

As always, a salient point well made QM - how are you?

i would entirely agree that the Tory Party has nothing to point the finger about in terms of sleaze - it just seems so much more hypocrytical that Prescott made more noise than anyone else about 'privieledge' and then took the honour when it was offered.

None of the recent politicans have exactly covered themselves in glory when it comes to behaving in a manner appropriate to their office..

[Quizmonster]

Apologies, Rov, for temporarily hijacking your thread, but I must just say hello to Andy. I'm well and trust you and yours are, too. You're probably right in that we are nearly all past caring anyway! Cheers

[Tuddypat]

// At least old Johnny-boy had a decent right hook //

Actually Quizmonster it was a left jab as this video shows 19 seconds in.
To be fair though he probably had a decent right hook as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU1u4MnQG8c

[Quizmonster]

Absolutely, TP. Thanks for the correction, though it did look as if a right hook was the follow-up punch which the plonker happened to parry with his left arm. Cheers