Would it be held at the same time as a referendum on PR? This is a completely wild guess but could the Prime Minister tell us the election date in his statement today on proposed voting reform? My thinking is that coming up with a date now would take away some of the pressure that he’s under within the party and also blunt the edge of all the Tory calls for an immediate general election. Brown will be only too…
Have they given up on having a leader who’s electable? It was perhaps too much to be hoped that Labour MPs would last night ditch the man they they gave the leadership to in June 2007 without him having to be bothered with all that stuff about facing an election. They failed to stand up to the Brown Gang’s strong arm tactics two years ago and they failed again last night. The result, let’s spell it out, is that they…
Is Gord capable of inspiring his party and the nation? This is picture that was first featured here at the end of 2006 several months before Brown became prime minister. There he is, amongst enthusiastic Labour supporters and you would expect him to at least make the effort to show that he is delighted to see them. But look at him – he is rigid and cold as a cucumber. He’s hardly an inspiration to even the most ardent enthusiast….
Even his wife is getting a promotion This was the day, surely, when Ed Balls was supposed to have reinforced his case to be Brown’s successor through being appointed to one of the three main offices of state. A month ago the Home Office was being talked about and he became strong favourite on the betting markets. Then last weekend the big news was that he was going to take over at the Treasury from Alistair Darling. Well neither of…
Can he beat the Tory’s two years and 55 days? With all the talk of the pressure on Gordon Brown just how long can he carry on? Is for instance his tenure as leader of the Labour party going to be shorter than Iain Duncan Smith – the Tory leader from 2001 to 2003. Unlike Brown IDS had to fight an election to get the party’s top job yet within a short time it was clear that the party had…
Will today’s likely drubbing be blamed on the plotters? Later on this evening I’m due to be taking part in BBC Radio 5 live’s election programme when the story is surely going to be Labour’s performance – first in the local results that will come out overnight and then throughout Friday – all this to be followed on Sunday evening, of course, when we get the Euro election figures. This is one of those occasions when, unless the polls have…
Remember the headlines two months ago today? Exactly two months ago this morning I did a similar collage of newspaper front pages to the one here – and how different they all looked. For April 3rd 2009 was the day after the G20 meeting and Mr Brown got some of the best coverage of his premiership. Who would have thought then that only a few weeks later that the big political question politics would be whether Brown can hang on….
Have we now reached the end-game for Mr. Brown? In a long and powerfully argued main leader for the paper tomorrow the Guardian makes a strong call for Mr. Brown to go. In fact it is much more forceful than that – the message is that if Mr. Brown does not agree to step down then he should be, “cut loose”. There’s no need to spell out what that means. The leader concludes: “..Of course many people, who see the…