[POLITICS] Why doesn't he call an election!?!?!

I greatly value the ability to have a transparent process, we just disagree on the extent to which she helped that come about.

I wouldn't say the credit I'm given her is sheepish at all, I just dont think she deserves the amount of praise she has been given over the last two weeks. Why does she deserve any more praise than the lawyers who actually fought the court cases? What did she actually risk during her crusade? She got free legal help, had legal insurance and had public opinion on her side.

The data wouldn't have been released. If that was the case then it could have been done months ago. They weren't just stalling for time, they were conspiring to hide the worst of the abuses. All we would have got was a load of slightly less generic summaries and we would have had to wait years for it.

Oh come on, where did I bring her gender into it? You're better than that dude.
Maybe the smart vs hard argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but the fact is the Telegraph beat her to it and yes, money and connections played a part but she only got as far as she did because of her connections.

As for dropping the use of luck. Well thats because the more I think about it I see that she didn't even get lucky, she ultimately got nothing (although I imagine this whole saga will do her book sales no harm at all). Had the leaked documents gone to her, that would have been luck, as it is someone saw a way to make a quick buck instead. Fair play to 'em.

I know you're going to disagree with me, but unless there is any new evidence, I'm not going to move far from my current position. We could always agree to disagree.

 

sigh... there is that. It's anticlimactic though.

 

thats what she said

 

Guys this is going well off topic.

Lets get back to the issue... Council election results are coming in, so far big gains to Conservatives big losses to Labour, there is in fact a strong possibility that by the end of the day Labour will not control a single county council in Great Britain!!!

I think that is, on top of everything else going on, a pretty clear sign that Brown has no chance now! With the results coming in and the high profile resignations that came in last night and today and the potential rebellion on the horizon. What does everyone think the chances are of an early election now, in the light of all this new events??

 

Zero chance of an early election. Even less chance than before.

 

So are you still of the opinion that Brown can turn it around and all we need is a little Tory slip-up and who know Labour may even win the next election.

Mate, I'm not a Tory, but you have got to accept Brown is done! If he doesn't call an election (which I agree he probably wont) then there will be a leadship contest! His party members are not gonna sit back and risk there jobs by having Brown as there leader for another year, they are gonna get rid of him.

 

Yep yep. Apologies. I sent off an mail to the mods to separate out the Brooke posts into a separate thread to keep in on topic.

 

No career politician is going to call an election that they are going to lose unless they have to. You keep on banging on about how he should call an election but you haven't given a single reason why it would be in Brown's, or Labour's best interests to do so.

 

David Milliband (might not do such a bad job either) or Alan Johnson would be my two picks. Alan Johnson has been mentioned a few times as the guy that people will back if Brown does decide to go.

 

To lose with some dignity!! There comes a time when a fight is lost and you have to give up. It's what happens when someone gets you in an arm-bar and you realise, this is it, its over I'll tap-out! And politicians go through the same. It happened to Margret Thatcher, it happened to Tony Blair. My original post was asking why he doesn't call an election when we all know he is through. It was a cynical question aimed to raise discussion (which it has) I wasn't looking for an exact answer.

Out of curiosity, in light of all the resent events do you still think Brown can turn it around?

 

Hate to break it to you, but you can't lose with dignity in British politics. If Brown decides there is absolutey no way he can win the next General Election, he will stand down - you mention Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Perhaps you'd like to educate us on how many General Elections they lost when they were leaders of their respective parties.

The email that is doing the rounds at the moment will decide Brown's fate in the short term. If 100+ MPs sign it, he will have little choice but to go or face the kind of revolt that forced Thatcher to quit. I'm not sure how likely that is. The general consensus is that there would need to be a serious and widely supportrf contender for the leadership before that happened. As I've already said, Alan Johnson has been mentioned in this context, but it is still unclear whether a large section of the party agrees with that choice. What Labour can't afford is a big brutal leadership race a year before a General Election so if they cannot agree on a successor behind closed doors, most MPs will decide that it would be better to ride it out with Brown.

As for whether or not Brown can still win the next General Election - of course he can. You seem to think that the British public are something other than the fickle and incredibly forgetful bunch of reality TV viewers that they have shown themselves to be at every other General Election. All Brown needs is a crisis that he can handle well and all of a sudden things wont be looking nearly as bad. If you factor in a couple of sleaze scandals on the other side of the aisle, you've got yourself a very tight race for the next Election, possibly even a hung parliament. If might turn out to be the Lib Dems who get to decide who runs the next government.

 

What's that I hear? Could it be the sound of the tide starting to turn?

Nobel Prize winning economist praises the UK's economic policies

When the General Election rolls round, expect to hear Paul Krugman get quoted, a lot.

 

Politics are indeed Machiavillian,especialy if you are in the oposition,as you don't have to prove anything,you just have to brake dawn everything the party who has the power has been able to do.
The question is this:would the Conservatieves have done better in thesame sercumstances ???
Would thy have had no scandalls ????
Diden't thy profit from thesame rules ???
Did thy object to this ???
Will you be BETTER of with a conservatieve government ???
These are the questions who are relevant for the ordinary sitysen !!!
The rest is "bull...." !!!!!!
I'm not exactly sympatitic for the Labor years,but i'm absolutely shure that another government would NOT have done better than thisone.
So,it's a bit the story of the "pot and the ketel",thy wher both evenly black !!!

 

This guy? Leader of the country? Please God no.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/alan_johnson/kingston_upon_hull_west_and_hessle

Voted a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament.
Voted moderately against introducing a smoking ban. DOH!
Voted strongly for introducing ID cards.
DOH!
Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals.
Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees.
DOH!
Voted very strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
DOH!
Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
DOH!
Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.
DOH!
Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.
Voted moderately for the hunting ban.
Voted very strongly for equal gay rights.
Voted for laws to stop climate change.

Hardly ever rebels against their party in this parliament.
DOH!

 

He's a cabinet minister - you dont put rebels in the cabinet.

 

He won't call an election because he would lose.
To THINK he could have called one when he could have WON. Idiot deserves to lose, and I think this bloody country and the bloody tories just about deserve each other.