Thursday, February 08, 2007

David Miliband's Question Time Gaffe

"I bet in a year's time people will be calling for Tony Blair to come back and people will be booing Gordon Brown."
David Miliband, Question Time, 11.30pm, 8 February 2007

Mind you, he's probably right.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's just cursing the Corleone clan surrounding the 'Gordfather' who is able to mysteriously 'jinx' careers and 'turkey drummer' up problems for ministers likely to compete with his leadership aspirations.

I think Jack Straw in particular has received a warning shot across the bows and ought to think carefully about just how much publicity he really needs to have in the next few days and weeks.

Who needs '24' and 'Lost' when you have the 'reservoir dogs' in the 'Houses of Parliament' ?

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I always thought that BBC1 Question Time was live , if it is not ,no wonder it was on the web so quickly ,luvly jubly

Anonymous said...

He's underestimating Gordon; give it less than a year!

Anonymous said...

I don't think Gordon Brown will be any good as Prime minster, reminds me of Steve Mclaren and Sven.



kevin
Free £10 Bingo Money

Newmania said...

Ho ho well done Iain I think Mrs . N summed it up
"God he`s so slimy he`s going to slip of that chair in a minute"

MARITAL HARAMONY

.."..Cameron`s just the same..."she continued

Oh dear

Forsyth was very good and I`d forgotten how impressive Ken Clarke still is

Incidentally the millipede "gaff" was a throw away remark the limited meaning of which was entirely clear.It was his ghastly espousal of an enviromental quasi-case he clearly knows little about that was the most well lubricated contribution.


IMHO

Anonymous said...

a fantastic joke....

Anonymous said...

I keep thinking ship ,rats ,sinking
but the BBC web site appears to have already crowned Mcbroon , isn't it time our Dave jumped in and showed there is an opposition.
Am I just dreaming that lots of people in a tv studio are waiting for somebody to give them a bit of hope.

Anonymous said...

First Reid has been thoroughly trashed and now Straw is getting the treatment. Others will follow.

Brown's mob are destroying anyone who may provide competition in his bid to take over from Blair.

He may be cowardly but he and his followers are also totally ruthless and unprincipled. However, he who lives by the sword etc.....

The Hitch said...

The only thing Blair is going to be asked to "come back" for next year is to explain to Yates where all the light bulbs , bog roll and towels went to after he and his delightful wife left Downing St.

Anonymous said...

Iain, forgive me if I missed it: what's the current policy on anonymous posts?

Iain Dale said...

Scotch, as long as they are not terribly offensive they're fine, albeit slightly irritating, if only because it's difficult to follow a thread if there are too many anonymous posts.

Anonymous said...

This is clear proof that the BBC isn't that biased after all. If you were sympathetic to New Labour would you allow that worm on to represent them?

Gavin said...

Yes, I agree, Miliband is probably right. I'm no great fan of Blair, but at least he talks sense on terrorism and on Iraq, if nothing else (the howls of contempt from the rest of his Party on those issues tells me he must be talking a teensy bit of sense). Once Blair goes, New Labour goes, and it doesn't matter who takes over, Brown, Prescott, (it could have been Robin Cook or Claire Short for all the difference it will make). I think that once all the hulabaloo over loans has died down, Blair's legacy will be that of a reformer, who tried against all odds to modernise his party, but to no avail. He learned the hard way that you cannot reform socialism; it stinks no matter what cologne you spray on it.

Anonymous said...

After a year of Gordon Brown I will most likely be demanding a full scale invasion of Britain by the USA.

After 3 years; the election of a European president to at least help save whats left.

and

After 5 years; even a clone of Castro might look like a tempting alternative.

But then that seems to be the whole point of it all. They cant be this incompetent by accident, can they?

Anonymous said...

Miliband's mind is in a right muddle, having already spoken of the risks of losing the next election!

Anonymous said...

Tom Tyler said...
Yes, I agree, Miliband is probably right. I'm no great fan of Blair, but at least he talks sense on terrorism and on Iraq,

Pardon me, but wasn't Bliar guilty of invading sovereign territory on the basis of a pack of lies or have I missed something?

Incidentally, having watched Milibland on Question Time it appears that his left ear is substantially larger than his right. A classic case of auricular keyhole syndrome if ever I saw one.

Anonymous said...

Brown is a bastard.

Anonymous said...

well done Milliband at least you spoke the truth for once - mind you the prosect of Brown really is pretty grim, I would hang on to Blair given the choice, even though his a lying scumbag...

Anonymous said...

the problem is that we have already had enough of Brown!

Anonymous said...

BBC picks up on the story

Miliband 'gaffe' over Brown as PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6344823.stm

Environment minister David Miliband has said that when Gordon Brown - or anyone else - takes over as prime minister voters will want Tony Blair back.

Funny I always thought his name was spelt with 2 Ls - like Millipede

Anonymous said...

"First Reid has been thoroughly trashed and now Straw is getting the treatment. Others will follow.

Brown's mob are destroying anyone who may provide competition in his bid to take over from Blair."

The last person to be destroyed will be the former Dear Leader himself. If cash-for-honours isn't the final nail in the dustbin-lid of the Great Helmsman's "legacy", then the scope will be created for others.

Watch out for further inquiries into Iraq, the prerogative power to declare war, party funding, the expected standards of ministers etc. In the case of Iraq, the Democrats will provide plenty of petrol to pour on the bonfire.

Remember that the last thing Broon needs is Lord Bliar of Basra sniping from the sidelines as he bestrides the world like a money-hungry colossus.

One reason Broon isn't currently undermining Bliar's "legacy" is that he is doing such a good job himself!

Anonymous said...

Iain, did you mean 2007?

Anonymous said...

What about Lib Dim Vince Cable on R4 Today programme at about 3 minutes from the end.

John Humphries: Would you eat Turkey?
Vince Cable: I would have reservations particularly if it had Bernard Mathews on the label.

A lot of people depend upon Bernie for their livelihood.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Did he really say that? Fantastic!

Wonder what cabinet post he is going to get!

Anonymous said...

hf - thanks for picking that up, I got up after the hilarious 4-way interview between Humphrys, chief vet a guy from 'Bernard Matthews' and an another bloke.

Best quote 'It's like putting a jigsaw together'. Hmmmm. Yeeess....

Mind you, if you want a classic British approach to the problem, have a look at the brilliant Boris article in yesterday's Torygraph..

Shades of 'We shall fight them on the beaches..', but you can't fault his sense of patriotic duty..

Anonymous said...

Don't know about anyone ever clamouring for Blair to come back - I find that impossible to imagine - but watching Ken Clarke on QT last night, he is so clearly the best leader the Conservatives never had.

Roger Thornhill said...

tom tyler: He learned the hard way that you cannot reform socialism; it stinks no matter what cologne you spray

I can imagine the scene when Tone steps out of No10 and hands the keys to Gordon:

"I'd give it a few minutes, if I were you..."


p.s. anyone see one of the most scary scenes...Gingerblears licking her lips during PMQs whenever TB was speaking. Anyone who forms a government with that obnoxious creature in it deserves nothing but contempt.

Anonymous said...

I thought Milliband was quite brave actually. The previous two Labour guests Falconer and Jowell were completely humiliated,Milliband at least avoided that. Ken Clarke was as always excellent,if only he disliked the EU as much as I do...

Anonymous said...

Until last night I had Milliband down as the Cabinet minister LEAST likely to drop a clanger... Amazing.

Anonymous said...

I quite liked Dimbleby at the end of the programme -- not verbatim , but .... " next week Richard Littlejohn, newspaper columnist, and Norman Tebbit ..... nobody named yet from Labour....although there will be someone..."

Who's going to be brave/stupid enough to enter that particular den of dragons?

Man in a Shed said...

Wow ... sometimes I almost like Miliband as I think he genuinely trying to square the circle of NuLabour contradictions in his head, but can't quite do it.

Reminds me of that bit from Black Adder II when Edmund is entertaining his puritan relatives and the monk with the false breasts bursts in a shouts "Great booze up". Puritan relative turns to Edmund " Can you explain that !" - Edmund thinks for a bit ( much like Miliband) and say "Yes !... I think I can..." (just like Miliband).

Anonymous said...

There's been more HoC gossip this week that Blair will be staying on - why? because he and ??? have planned a really big dump on Brown very shortly that will flatten him completely. Possibly something to do with the fragrant Sarah.

Marcusian said...
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Anonymous said...

anon 12:11

Wouldn't surprise me in the least, though I'd bet that what (if any) facts/smears are leaked won't quite tell the full story.

I do like all this internecine skullduggery, very entertaining. Mind you Lab are famous for it. Seem to remember that someone once remarked to Ernie Bevin that "Nye Bevan is his own worst enemy."
Came the reply, "Not while I'm alive, he's not."

Third rule of politics: Shafting colleagues has precedence over screwing the opposition.

Anonymous said...

Excellent article revealing Gordon's Heart of Darkness:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/02/05/cmpen05.xml

'I honestly thought MPs were bound to care about decency'

'Pensions campaigner Ros Altmann tells Paul Farrow why she is so disappointed with the Government and why she has become a thorn in Gordon Brown's side'
"I voted for Labour in 1997 and was very excited about the prospects of them coming into power, but perhaps I was naïve. I honestly believed that MPs were bound to care about social justice, decency and morality," she says. "But I have met so many who don't seem to care. There are not enough MPs who are willing to stand up to ministers who they believe have acted wrongly. Behind the scenes a lot of MPs have said 'ah, that's just Gordon, what can we do?'."

Gavin said...

Gary Powell (12:55am): "They cant be this incompetent by accident, can they?"
-I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been very seriously pondering that point.
I posted the following comment elsewhere a few weeks ago:
* * * * * * * * *

The incompetence of this Labour Home Office is so staggering, so total in its ineptness that it beggars belief....At least, I assume it's incompetence. It's a bit of a wild guess, but there just might be another explanation...?

A shadowy meeting behind closed doors, somewhere in Brussels:
Blair: "But how do we convince our electorate? I'm sorry, I mean we do try our best, but the vast majority of them hate you and want to leave completely! Try as we might, we can't make them support the euro, nor full federal integration with you. What should my government do?"
EU Diktatorat: "OK, sit down, Mr Blair, and we'll tell you what you do. You govern badly, very badly. Let crime run out of control. Make severe and dangerous cuts to the defence budget, leaving your soldiers at risk from poor equipment. Let your hospitals become rife with infections. Tax the people to high heavens. Make life a complete bloody misery for your electorate. Meanwhile, we will make our preparations. And when we are ready, let me tell you, they will welcome us with open arms"

uk-events said...

Milliband is nothing but a twat.

I can think of no other way to describe him.

Devoid of wit, intellect and charisma. Perfect for the Labour Party.

Fidothedog said...

Miliband right? Never. Mr global warming is a loon of the first order.

His vision of the world is ever narrower than our Mr Brown's.

Anonymous said...

Personally I think David Miliband and Alan Johnson would make a good labour dream team. What to I know other than both Gordon Brown and John Reid will be disasters.