This is the man who, according to the readers of this blog, has cojones. He is the one you think is the man to wear a grey suit and walk into Gordon Brown's office and utter the words: "Gordon, it's over". Thirty per cent of you reckoned he would be the man for the job. John Hutton came second with 21%, but no one else hit double figures.
You also reckoned that the top five people who might have the balls to do it were...
Jack Straw 53%
John Hutton 45%
Alan Johnson 31%
Geoff Hoon 23%
Alistair Darling 15%
31 comments:
I only voted for Straw because Quentin Davies wasn't among the choices.
Surely Quentin, that man who in such a principled manner jumped ship from the Tories to Labour last year, is the man for the job. Broon was, he opined in 2007, "a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share."
Cameron politely replied that "We will watch your future career with interest."
As a man of principle, surely Quentin must be the one to tell Broon he's a ghastly failed screwup.
You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh.
In all honesty, Straw has never been a strong individual. He is a survivor and has achieved that by being flexible.
Not sure he is the one to take the Brown by the horns and get shot of him.
Not going to happen.
Straw has the cojones - where there is a clear objective in sight. I remember him filleting the French foreign minister at the UN security council pre Iraq 1 with much pleasure.
But what's the objective here? Labour are toast whatever happens. Why would he bother? There's no all-powerful leader to support him - quite the reverse.
The only thing that would prompt a cabinet minister to sink Brown would be to do something good for the sake of the nation.
'Labour cabinet minister' and 'for the sake of the nation' do not sit together in the same sentence do they?
Wot? Harriet's got no balls? Sexist pigs the lot of you.
Why would any minister do something that would force an election and put them out of a job next week?
... when they can ride it out and hope things improve in next 18 months.
Many of these ministers would never get another shot at a cabinet position.
I notice "No Balls" Eddie is not there, though he'd only come under the radar as an also ran...
Utter rubbish, Straw is a political stool for anyone who he thinks will keep him in a job. He lacks courage.
I don't believe it. Brown-Noser Jack Straw got where he is by....well, Brown-nosing. Sorry but these cojones you speak of are not worth diddly squat.
Let's face it, we only think that because the pundits keep telling us he's the one that's going to do it.
What - no Balls!!
I voted for S Woodward.
I think it will be he and Quentin who do the deed.
( as part of a cunning plan to make up for bygones and get back in the Toty party !)
Readers misunderstood what you meant Straw's cojones would be used for.
Straw!!!
The clues in the name guys...
I'll stick to my view that this will all be a Scottish job. The key players there are all likely to lose their seats at the next GE and so may have some propensity to act for the good of the party. They know GB in a way that the English won't, and vice versa. Has to be Darling to tell him. Cairns is an important bellwether.
Well, it's about time he got on with it.
"Will Jack Straw Use His Cojones?" Is Condi visiting Blackburn again?
As for telling Brown it's time to go, no, he won't: he's well named Straw.
(@patrick 5.11: the UN cameo I recall is Straw's craven acknowledgment of Mugabe.)
Sorry, but I don't believe it. Straw is a mate of Brown's, led what passed for his leadership campaign and was rewarded with a serious Cabinet post after Blair's craven humiliation of him when the Septics took against him for not being sufficiently gung-ho about the catastrophic Iraq policy.
Straw would undoubtedly stand in any election, and would probably win, but I don't think he'll be the one to tell Brown that the game is up. In my view, he just doesn't have the balls.
I voted for Hazel Blears, of course! She's "the smiler with the knife beneath the cloak" if ever there was one.
Nick Robinson on the news this evening, Brown tonguing again the PM again! I sometimes wonder whether Robinson is capable of any independent thought at all?
Meanwhile, Nick Clegg believes Pensioners recieve £30 a week in state pension upon retirement. The LD's must really be starting to Worry about Clegg, Charles Kennedy made mistakes because he had a personal problem. The LD's viewed Skeleton (Ming Campbell) as too old. Clegg is said to be a political verile and thrusting leader tet he has had two cock-up's in the last day!
Last night he turned in a dreadful performance on Newsnight and today he has massively underestimated how much pensioners recieve from the state.
Clegg seems to be out of touch and out of his depth this follows on from Ocadogate, the dirty thirty , the EU splilt, the tax split and the LD's number one goal to double their representation (Note the failure to address the Countries problems).
I really do think under Nick Clegg, the LD's are heading for yellow Taxi time! That Neil Kinnock rubber mask needs dusting down and donating to Clegg!
Simon, I agree. Straw is the weathervain of the Labour Party. If you want to know which way its wind is blowing, just look at him.
He's about the least courageous of the lot. He'll be like one of those nameless senators who stabbed Julius Caesar long after the dictator had fallen to the floor.
Is there not a skeleton in the cupboard which would prevent him doing that?
OK who voted for Geoff Hoon? He couldn't even find the "cojones" to question Gordon Brown as to why his department was so underfunded that men were needlessly dying in Iraq and Afghanistan for lack of the right equipment.
Ah, normality resumed under Clegg - A future Conservative Government and all the Liberal MPs fitting into one taxi.
Lib-Dem conference debate on the EU was just craven, they are so naive.
So Clegg said £30 when he meant £90 - how many women HAS he slept with then?!
This is what happens when you tell a LD what will happen to the number of LD MP's at the next election - Wha! Wha! Wha!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/lib_dem_conference/article1694074.ece
Meanwhile Calmighty Clegg has decided to impersonate John Redwood's singing technic! I still think Politically Nick Clegg resembles Neil Kinnock as Clegg is a real figure of fun! Clegg is a joke!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/lib_dem_conference/article1693950.ece
LOOOoooooooooooOOOOOL
While an interesting thought, the question leaves a major consideration unasked. It is not just about who might have the guts to do it, but also about whether it would mmake any difference. Geoff Hoon could spend the next week touring the studios telling the world that Brown is an incompetent cretin who should resign forthwith, he could camp out in number ten telling Brown that it's time to go and would anyone even notice?
Straw, Milliband, and Johnson are the only ones with enough about them to actually make a difference (Hutton might if he actually started running for leader), but they want to keep Brown as the fallguy for the election.
I think Alistair Darling will be the one.
He is probably the only true friend that Gordon has in that list. It will not be easy but Darling seems to be a man of honour and he will tell Gordon that it is time to stand aside, for Gordon's sake.
This is laughable Straw actually ran Browns leadership campaign.
never mind his cojones what does this tell us about his grey cells?
Brown Straw Balls Millipede --- they know less about whats going on than does the chairman (ex chairman) of Lehman Bros.
The point being overlooked here is that Broon despises everyone on that list. So he couldn't give a flying fart if any of them tells him to stand down.
Doing so would amount to conceding that he's been a charlatan for 14 years and a failure for the last 15 months. Never, never, never in a million years will he admit that - not to himself, not to Sarah, not the party, not to the electorate, not to his biographers and no effing way to Jack bleedin' Straw.
"Oh yeah? Make me then," he'll snarl, biting savagely into a bogey. And chances are Straw won't be able to.
MacSporran will stay unless 71 rebels can get their act together to nominate one candidate and thereby trigger a contest. Otherwise the big snot-eating freak will cling on.
And I don't think 71 rebels will get it together to nominate one stooge. They'd be voting themselves out of 20 more months at the trough - a good quarter of a million quid apiece. Where else but the HoP can a Labour MP earn that kind of money?
Straw puts on his grey suit and goes to meet Brown.
And another question: When will Iain (and Guido) stop using the overworked Spanish term cojones and start talking good old English bollocks?
Post a Comment