Sunday, December 31, 2006

My Top Ten Predictions for 2007

1. More than one person will face charges in the Cash for Peerages Inquiry
2. Sir Ming Campbell will not be leader of the LibDems by the end of the year
3. Ed Vaizey, Jeremy Hunt and Nick Herbert will be promoted to the Shadow Cabinet
4. The Conservative Party 'A' List will be junked, having served its purpose
5. The SNP become the largest Party in Scotland after the May elections but cannot form a coalition
6. A Labour MP and a LibDem MP defect to the Conservatives
7. John Hutton challenges Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership after John Reid wimps out
8. In one of his first acts as PM Brown announces timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq
9. Depending on the opinion poll bounce from that decision and his honeymoon period, Brown will consider calling a General Election within six months of becoming Prime Minister
10. West Ham will not get relegated

Other bloggers with 2007 predictions include Guido, Dizzy, Jeremy Jacobs.

23 comments:

Stan Bull said...

A Lib Dem defector is very likely on the cards as the Tories reposition themselves. But from the Labour benches-who for example? Any specific names in mind?

Anonymous said...

... and Cheney will resign (or die), McCain will be appointed in his place and will become the 'natural' 2008 candidate .....

...so providing the missing link between your last 2 posts.

Anonymous said...

I wimp out? Not a cat in hell's chance of that happening, reidmylips, not a cat in hell's chance of that happening!

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Mr Reid,

His Grace is not persuaded of the theological presumption that cats, good or bad, do in fact go to hell.

Saddam, however...

Little Black Sambo said...

Kate Hoey?

Wrinkled Weasel said...

All good predictions but all either at evens or odds on.

Couldn't you go out on a limb and go for some exotic 100/1 shot - for example, Dave Cameron being sincere for once, and admitting he's a posh bloke who knows nothing about how 95% of us live?

(I can live with a leader who is posh, but can he?)

Anonymous said...

It would be spooky if all your predictions came true, but it wouldn't be half as spooky as the fact that Guido posted his own predictions on Monday 1st January 2007, which hasn't even happened yet.....

Anonymous said...

1. I should hope so, the more the better. And, I hope that they all become guests at Her Majesty's pleasure!
2. I heard that his Zimmer Frame got stolen from the House of Commons car park! It has to be Nick Clegg.
3. Who,who and who?
4. Oh dear! Where does that leave Iain Dale?
5. It will not stop them raiding across the borders.
6. Only one from each party? I suspect that more rats will leave the sinking ship captained by Tony B. Liar.
7. John Reid will lock up any opposition in the Bloody Tower for being traitors to his cause and for being suspected terrorists in the War on Terror.
8. Make that Prime Minister John Reid, and withdraw the troops out of Iraq and send them on a sortie into Iran.
9. John Reid will ban the general election in favor of his own dictatorship style democracy where only his vote and word count for anything.
10. As West Ham are not a football team, this hardly seems likely!

Anonymous said...

A Lib Dem and Labour MP will defect to the Tories ? You must have inside info and I have a suspicion who the Lib Dem MP might be, baaa.

And contrary to all the evidence and against all reason, I think West Ham will avoid relegation.

Anonymous said...

cranmer: Your Grace, Mr Reid? Trust me, I'm a Dr. Will no-one reid me of this turbulent priest?

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't you add:

11) The inevitable demise of 18 Doughty Street.

?

See: http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/archives/2006/12/18_dohty_street.html

Anonymous said...

Iain, I think that you might be right about the SNP. The have boxed themselves into a corner before they even become the biggest party in Holyrood with their constitution stating that they will not do a deal with the Scottish conservative party. Which seems pretty stupid when you consider that they have at times formed a good working partnership in opposition.
Who's left? either Labour or the Libdems who have not exactly been setting the heather on fire and would surely prevent a real change in direction or even a real sense of change in management at the top.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the Cheney/McCain scenario is that the Democrats now control Congress, and realise what a dangerous opponent he'd make in 08. Unless, of course, they think that the vice presidency would compromise McCain's status as a straight-talking outsider, and would taint him with Bush's failures. A good one there for the game theorists.

Anonymous said...

A nice easy list, but 8 I think is very unlikely - Brown will play it safe on Iraq, holding talks with the Yanks and then claiming he "didn't realise how bad things were" before office and "he now realises Iraq needs a long-term commitment".

Anonymous said...

Was believeing it until I saw number 10!!!!

Anonymous said...

"5. The SNP become the largest Party in Scotland after the May elections but cannot form a coalition."..........

and the Conservative Party at last realises that England would be better off with Scotland outwith the Union.

The same applies, most certainly to Northern Ireland, and even to Wales - DISCUSS

"300 years is long enough"

Anonymous said...

Some good stuff in here, but a can't help thinking 'there's many a slip between cup and lip' for Brown.

A short-priced favourite should be a shoo-in, but I can't help thinking that if Blair can rescue himself from cash-for-honours, the 'Bermuda Triangle' of Mandy, Campbell and Milburn will put the kybosh on him.

Anonymous said...

Given your team's dismal performance against us yesterday I would take the Hammers to be relegation certainties.

Anonymous said...

'I'm from Barrow in Furness, I've met Hutton, and if he becomes leader I'm leaving the country pronto.
Prime Minister Hutton? AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Anonymous said...

John Denham could have been a viable Stop Brown candidate - if he'd not resigned over Iraq, he'd have made the Cabinet in the 03 reshuffle (probably as Health Secretary). Ditto Milburn, if he'd not been in and out of the Cabinet like a repeat offender in and out of the local magistrate's court.

In the charisma stakes, John Hutton makes John Major look like Bill Clinton or James Brown. I'm slightly puzzled as to why Hutton speaks with a very mild Scots burr when he comes from Southend - Scottish parents (or a Scottish parent?)

Anonymous said...

We won't get relegated providing Curbs signs some strikers and starts playing Tevez and Masch.

Anonymous said...

On the strength of the West Ham prediction alone I think the rest should be taken with a very large dose of salt.

Anonymous said...

1. Chelsea win the Premiership by 8 points.

2. I win Big Brother 8 (fingers crossed)