Tuesday, June 02, 2009

LabourList Accuses No 10 of Leaking Smith's Departure

Only a week after publishing a poll showing 62% of its readers wanting shot of Gordon Brown, its new editor Alex Smith has published another story which will cause much sucking of teeth at Labour HQ. And it's one which would never have seen the light of day under his predecessor.

Smith accuses Number Ten of deliberately leaking Jacqui Smith's resignation. Strong stuff.

Read the story HERE.

Meanwhile, The Guardian has a leader tomorrow calling on Gordon Brown to step down. Although on past form, by this time next week they will be writing that he is a political colossus.

23 comments:

Mark M said...

He's certainly something beginning with c. It's a much shorter word though.

Backbench Warrior said...

Proper stuff from LabourList! Bravo! Fair dues to Alex Smith for having the balls to use the site properly.

kenny murphy said...

Is that now both The Indy and Guardian called for him to go.

As a Labour supporter i want to see him out ASAP. What an absolute disaster he has been as PM.

For the good of the country we need a contest at the next election.

Alan Johnson will give us that. The cabinet need to show some balls and tell him publicly it is all over.

Get Johnson in and set a date in October for the election.

Lime_Smoothie said...

I wondered if you'd see the leader in the Grauniad yet. So they've cut the rope - Broon will never go willingly or quietly though. Even Thatcher knew when to get off the stage but I can't see Gordon giving it up.

Anonymous said...

Labour out.

Anonymous said...

kenny murphy

'What an absolute disaster he has been as PM.'

----

Correction. What an absloute disaster he has been as Chancellor, PM.. In fact he's a disaster. Period.

Unknown said...

Remember this? The most far-sighted analyst in British politics.

The reshuffle must be seized on as the opportunity to force Brown out.

Annabel Herriott said...

Godot will never stand down. What the guardian have failed to realise is that Godot does not see himself as failed anything. He saved the world you see. He is in a state of terminal denial, which the men in white coats call psychosis. We are not waiting for Godot to come, we are waiting for him to go.

Unknown said...

The only thing Brown is is a national embarrassment. Send him back to Scotland the way we did William Wallace, in pieces and without his head and balls.

Unknown said...

Alan Johnson? Don't make me laugh please. He's another tool. Labour is finished. Problem is we will have to live with 20 years (or more) of hard line Tory spending to get the economy back into shape.

When will people learn that Labour can't be trusted? How many times do these twats have to be elected only to wreck the economy?

Jesus, Brown couldn't even get the D-Day celebration right. He can't do ANYTHING right.

I mean he even locked himself in a toilet once.

Thomas Rossetti said...

I know you were only joking, Iain, but I really can't see the Grauniad changing their opinion on this one. I have just read the article now and it is a pretty stunning critique. It is all the more extraordinary considering it comes one day before such a big election.

I think I may have said this somewhere before, but do people really want him to go? I know he's doing the country harm and all that (a country, I'll admit, in which I no longer reside) but isn't it more satisfying to see him cling on while the scenery crashes around him?

I just feel sorry for his staff. Imagine having to go into Brown's office and announce, "There's been an article in The Guardian, Prime Minister..." I hope they wear protection.

(More shameless promotion: http://twitter.com/thomasrossetti )

John M Ward said...

Yes, Mark M — a shorter word indeed: cad, clot, chump…

Lady Mudflaps said...

That picture of Gordo on the front page of the Daily Mail looks like an Asian hand is tweaking his wattles. I bet it's my auntie: "No way you are a dead man walking, betah, you're just too health-thy..."

Anonymous said...

The Guardian have written the last Rites for Brown's career - we are now in the final week of his terrible unelected reign - the worst Prime Minister of all time.
Just go - leave others to save this beautiful country.
Let us all use our energy to save this country - do not waste any more time of this nonentity,there are more important things in "heaven and earth..."

jock said...

what is moral about leaving evey man woman and child with £20,000 of debt?

i think you might find that is the opposite of moral.

the guardian,like the guy that sneaks in the booze for their alcoholic friend,was part of the problem.

street party when the guardian goes bust,because of the quality of blogs?

jock said...

blair and brown remind me of the third generation who inheritied a wealthy family business.

driving it to the wall and bankrupcy with a mixture of:

forgetting what it was like to have nothing,total detatchment from reality,and not having the skill of the founder.

Simon Emmett said...

Blair's election catchphrase was "Education, Education, Education".

Perhaps Brown's should be "Implosion, Implosion, Implosion".

javelin said...

Even red Kev from the Mirror even agreed on GMTV that he had to go. He can't surive a year. HE WILL GO.

Cynic said...

It now appears much more like the Cabinet is reshuffling Brown.

Ministers are deciding for themselves what will happen. They see Balls hovering and manoeuvring towards the top spot and know what's coming.

I now doubt that Brown will be here in September. Only collective fear of the electorate now holds them together as a Cabinet or Party and when the fear of what's happening internally balances that they will explode.

If Balls then gets the leadership it will be through manoeuvring among a small clique at the centre with no mass support. The Party could then easily disintegrate into a rump as many in the country will see it more as a vehicle for the career advancement of a small London-based elite rather than a mass movement representing working people.

The key question then is, where will those people go?

It is easy to get caught up in the moment and read too much into these things but this really does have a sense of one of those re-allignment moments in political history. Over the Blair years the Labour Party's ideological and moral core was really hollowed out - 'modernised' in Tony Speak. Now we are in new territory, where poor leadership, smeargate, economic incompetence, graft and corruption have brought a once great party to its knees.

They keep hoping that they will get through. It will get better they say. But long ago this happened to the Liberals in somewhat similar circumstances and it did for them for almost 100 years. Now it only needs one of the smaller parties (or the Liberals) to gain critical mass and reconnect with voters and it can happen again to Labour.

Their brand is so damaged, they are seen as such failures they really have nowhere to go.

Anonymous said...

Lets not get too cocky.It wasn't JUST the wisteria with Dave was it?

Plato said...

Trevor Kavanaugh thinks that the Home Office leaked it - just said on R5.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Cowardly Anonymous - sorry but it was only 'wisteria'. And in truth expenses could be used for essential maintenance.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1703951/how_to_effectively_prune_and_control.html
"An un-pruned Wisteria Vine can do extensive damage. Their stems can develop a great width and become very strong."
"The actual work itself is time consuming because there is a lot of it, "
"make sure that none of the wisteria is posing a danger to the house foundation"

I heard on I think SKY last night that 'sources' were claiming that Blears had leaked the resignations as a plot to destabilise Brown. Cheeky Chipmunk!

Perhaps they ALL leaked at the same time?

PS some good 'wisteria' advice for the cabinet here ....
"Do not be afraid to cut it back to below where you want it to be."

Anonymous said...

Dear Trev baby,I suppose when your down to your last 30mill., and heaven knows how many houses you do need to claim the very maximum on mortage and keep a close eye on your wisteria.