Hard News: Mr Brown
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Now, Brown has a leadership challenger, which is well and good for internal party democracy (if not outside the party - the voters elected Labour, not a president).
Not sure on your point here. Do you think that (UK) parties should *not* be able to change leader in mid-term? They always have been able to (e.g. with Wilson & Thatcher).
As you say, they elected Labour - surely that means that the PM (who is basically a party leader able to command a majority in the house) can be whoever Labour elect.
There are many problems with the UKs style of "pendulum democracy" but I don't think that letting parties switch leader mid-term is one of them.
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With the polls here showing similar signs of the public getting tired with Labour, perhaps Helen needs to stand-down so Labour can have a fresher less cranky look.
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As you say, they elected Labour - surely that means that the PM (who is basically a party leader able to command a majority in the house) can be whoever Labour elect.
That's actually what I meant. Sorry if it wasn't clear. There have been mutterings about whether there had to be a leadership contest for the good of the nation, but Labour would be quite within its rights to simply appoint a new leader, uncontested.
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"perhaps Helen needs to stand-down so Labour can have a fresher less cranky look"
While I wouldn't be writing any obits for Helen just yet, the biggest problem Labour faces is the genuine lack of an alternative leader - maybe I'm missing someone obvious, but is anyone standing out as a leader-in-waiting?
Slight change of topic, I loved the recent venomous put-down of perennial bridesmaid Peter Costello by ex-PM Paul Keating, 'he's all tip and no ice-berg'. Nice.
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I remember when Brown was deputy to John Smith in the shadow chancellor role. Smith was away, I was working from home and watching a parliamentary debate (sad bastard I know, but it meant I also got to see Geoffrey Howe give Margaret T. a totally unexpected mauling).
Brown tore his opposite number to shreds in a manner that was quite stunning. I fear for Cameron now that Brown has his hands unshackled.
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Man, I thought this post was going to be about Gregory Isaacs!
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I fear for Cameron now that Brown has his hands unshackled.
Didn't Brown take a swing at someone in the last election? Cameron could be in for a very rough time.
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Don - I watched John Smith in action a few times as well, and I was always impressed with him.
I was really looking forward to having Scotsman in charge, as well as a world-leader called 'John Smith'. It would have been a sub-editors dream.
If it wasn't for his dodgy ticker, the Blair era may never have happened.
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You have to wonder just how long those troops will stay in Basra after the end of June, and the level of behind the scenes pressure coming from Washington on that one.
Man, I thought this post was going to be about Gregory Isaacs!
Ha, that melody came to mind when I saw the title too. Killer tune.....
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hamishm - it was John Prescott who did the swinging.
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Yes, it's a dig at Blair
this is smart. After two or three terms most democracies get restless. Signalling a change of style to the electorate so they don't have to vote for one is the smart move. They must be ready for a PM with a low to negative smarm-factor by now.
But the big question is still Iraq. It'll be very interesting to watch Brown handle it. "More of the same" is not going to work. I'd wager the body-language in GB-US summit pressers will look quite different. -
merc,
I saw Voices of Iraq, there will be no pullout.
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I remember when Brown was deputy to John Smith in the shadow chancellor role. Smith was away, I was working from home and watching a parliamentary debate (sad bastard I know, but it meant I also got to see Geoffrey Howe give Margaret T. a totally unexpected mauling).
Me too! I've always been grateful I saw that speech by Howe. It was the beginning of the end for Thatcher and the most amazing moment I've seen in any Parliament - all the more so for being, as you note, completely unexpected.
Brown tore his opposite number to shreds in a manner that was quite stunning. I fear for Cameron now that Brown has his hands unshackled.
I'm afraid the Howe speech has blanked that out of my memory, but it would certainly fit with my memory of Brown.
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Didn't Brown take a swing at someone in the last election? Cameron could be in for a very rough time.
That was John Prescott back in 2001, and somehow I don't think the electors are going to be quite so indulgent of the Deputy PM getting in fistfights with protestors next time out.
Brown is going to have to bring a lot more to the dispatch box than 'I'm not Tony Blair (may his name be ever cursed!) and the Tories eat puppies'. He can give Dubya a Liverpool kiss at the G7, declare an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, but there's still those thorny domestic perennials -- health, education, welfare and policing. I just don't think the spin on the recent local body election -- it was more about Tony Blair and Iraq than any real dissatisfaction about the Government's domestic agenda - rings true.
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I was also a witness to Thatcher's handbagging by Howe (the poodle that roared) and her subsequent demise in the following weeks will always have a special place in my heart. It was cricket metaphor about being sent to the wicket with a a bat broken by your captin that did the trick if I recall. But I also remember the rapid ascent of Major and the feeling of beeng cheated by the fact the new prime minister wasn't being elected through a popular plebisite. Major just squeekd in at the next GE but was never able to command the respect that a large majority in the British parliment affords it PMs. I sincerely hope that the same fate does not befall Brown because he has far more to offer the nation than Blair was able to deliver. Camerons tories are within inches of winning next time so its going to need some serious populism from the Scot in the next year or so to stop the rot. The other big issue for brown will be the obvious english nationalist attacks against a Scottish PM in post devolution Britain.
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"even when Neil Kinnock's successor, John Smith, died suddenly, it was far from evident that Blair would come through and take the leadership contest from Brown."
A minor correction RB, but Gordon Brown didn't actually contest the leadership election after the sudden death of John Smith, it was a three horse race between Blair, Prescott and Margaret Beckett.
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Indeed Brown stepped assideto give Blair a free run at the leadership after the famous Granita accord ironed out at Blairs favourite Islington resteraunt. Its been a bone of contention and a source of much publicised friction between them ever since as Brown understood that Blair had agreed to hand over the reigns long before now.
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I was also a witness to Thatcher's handbagging by Howe (the poodle that roared) and her subsequent demise in the following weeks will always have a special place in my heart.
Sounds interesting, does anyone happen to know if audio or video is available on-line?
On another note, I can't help but wonder whether the recent round of atrocious polls for (NZ) Labour might have Helen adding a quick postscript to the budget about personal taxcuts (despite today's 102-pt font "NO" on the front page of the NZH).
At the very least a significant bracket adjustment might take the pressure off. And surprise National perhaps. Bill English already has his talking points ("only the rich can afford to save") well-rehearsed.
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Craig
there's still those thorny domestic perennials -- health, education, welfare and policing.
Except that those are Brown's strong points. As Chancellor he has been funneling billions into all these areas. The state schools and hospitals in the UK today are a far cry from the crippling dilapidation that had become the norm when I first left for NZ 16 years ago.
Ditto welfare. WFF is a pale imitation of the child poverty reduction programs Brown has been quietly nursing along. Whilst a 2pence tax cut made the headlines at his last budget he shoveled a few more billion towards that program. His success has been a halting of the 80s and 90s surge in child poverty in the UK and lifting 100's of thousands out of poverty. Near full employment helps as well.
Visiting the UK occasionally as I do (just come back in fact) I really notice these changes along with the increase in wealth. Understandably, if you live there everything is incremental and far less noticeable and certainly not reported by most of the media.
Blair and Brown should also be judged on the disaster that is Iraq (UK troops now 6,000 down from peaks of 40,000) but to say he has to contend with local issues is surely playing into his hands.
One thing I will say, is that whilst Brown appeals to many he does not appeal to the Lady Di English heartlands which Blair held in his palm. Those are the areas that essentially chose the UK government, for better or worse.
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Sounds interesting, does anyone happen to know if audio or video is available on-line?
That would be great. I wonder if the BBC has it. What I remember is a stunned House collectively drawing their breath in a sort of long drawn out whistle.
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You've tickled my curiosity - this looks like a somewhat edited version:
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Sorry about the Prescott mistake. *memo to self* shut trap, read book first
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Cheers Joe. Funny how someone had previously described him as "a half-dead sheep".
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Sorry about the Prescott mistake. *memo to self* shut trap, read book first
Nah, Prescott tends to be memorable for all the wrong reasons, if at all. I actually thought he'd been firmly encouraged to resign after a pretty gaffe-filled 2006, but it turned out not to be the case. Hardly one of the glittering jewels in the crown of the Blair regime.
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I remember when Brown was deputy to John Smith in the shadow chancellor role. Smith was away, I was working from home and watching a parliamentary debate (sad bastard I know, but it meant I also got to see Geoffrey Howe give Margaret T. a totally unexpected mauling).
Ooh yes - that brings back memories! I was working for The Independent at the time and we had all gathered around the telly to watch it. Some of the more knowledgeable hacks had suspicions that something was up, but even their jaws dropped to the floor. No one had seen Thatcher on the back foot like that before - especially as Howe had been the last survivor from the 1979 government (the running joke used to be how Thatcher would express her "absolute confidence" in a minister who was in a spot of bother - and within a week he would have "resigned").
With uncanny timing, The House of Cards (starring the late Ian Richardson) was having its first screening on the BBC around this time (on Sunday evenings I think).
I came back to NZ a couple of years afterwards and I remember how dull I found NZ politics to be after becoming used to the cut-and-thrust of British politics.
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