Is getting the leader out easier than was thought? Writing the piece this morning has really focussed my attention on the chances that Brown could be out this year. The process, as set out in the previous post, is a lot easier than first appeared and crucially does not, in the initial stage, involve the input of Labour MPs. The parliamentary party, as Nick Palmer MP keeps on reminding us, is not of a mind that it wants change. But…
Could a resolution make it to the conference floor? In all the discussion about Labour’s rule-book and how a challenge to Mr. Brown could come about the most clear explanation came in Alan Watkins’s column in this weekend’s Indy on Sunday. For there has been a lot of confusion over the role of Labour MPs who retain the power to nominate. The critical element, however, is how a contest when the leader wants to stay is initiated and it is…
How does Labour attack a party that is no longer hated? Reading Carole Cadwalladr’s enjoyable feature in the Observer Review yesterday “So we are all Tories now? the thought struck me that something very profound has happened to British politics – the Tories are no longer hated. And this simple fact could have a dramatic effect on the next general election because it takes away the core proposition that Labour have deployed so successfully for a decade and a half…
What role does John Hutton have yet to play? It was Michael Heseltine who famously remarked on his own failed bid to become Prime Minister that “He who wields the knife will never wear the crown”. This oft-repeated dictum has since played its part in preventing leadership coups, by tempering the ambition of those who would otherwise seek to overthrown their leader. This week saw fevered speculation, first Jack Straw posing for photos in the Sunday Papers, then Harriet Harman…
Will this mean that the Tories will win even more marginals? While the political world has been focussed on Labour’s by-election defeat in Glasgow and the possibility of a challenge to Brown’s leadership there’s another development this morning that has the potential to have an even bigger impact on the outcome of the next general election. For the body that oversees elections – the Electoral Commission – is, according to the main lead on Guardian On-line overnight, suggesting that the…
Is Miliband beating Brown in the Telegraph’s poll? The big Labour leadership news overnight looks set to be a YouGov poll matching Gordon Brown up against the man who he could be facing in a challenge for his job – David Miliband. We have not, as yet, got any numbers but my guess is that it will show that the Foreign Secretary is ahead by a big margin. If that is the case then it will add a new dimension…
Is this the start of a bid to oust Brown and become leader?? After days of speculation based on unattributable sources there has been a move in Labour’s leadership crisis by one of the main players and favourite to replace Brown – David Miliband. For the main story on the BBC website overnight, is a report of a feature he’s written for the Guardian setting out what can be seen as a vision on how Labour can turn itself round…
Is this just part of the media frenzy? There’s been a lot on the blogsphere this afternoon about a story that the Independent’s veteran political writer, Bruce Anderson, tells in his column today. This could have an impact. The stories are seeping out from No. 10. The other day, Gordon Brown was convinced that Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, had made such a strong attack on 42-day detention as to impugn his commitment to national security. Although Downing Street…