Jane Kennedy, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, has resigned from the government, as the Prime Minister continues his reshuffle. She was asked for a pledge of loyalty and refused to give it.
The question is, how many more junior ministers will fall on their sword?
49 comments:
No surprise here....its no longer a question of if another minister will resign its when.
All well and good, but there's only one resignation I care about. And it's not that of a junior minister.
By the way, did anyone see Hannan's speech? Quality stuff.
Is this woman a legned in her own houselhold? I have never heard of her.The sad truth is that even a Government which has lowered the bar to unprecedented levels in terms of competence cannot find backbenchers worthy of office. The idea that the numpties on Labour's backbenches could organise anything let alone a coup is a joke. Brown will survive by default. Bad for the country, good for the Conservatives.
It will take a lot of resignations to shift brwon today. he will no doubt play the don't let the evil Tories (and now the BNP too) card.
I really hope I am wrong, but the PLP meeting tonight has form for media over-hype, they just want the newscycle to continue with high ratings/readership.
So, how will Labour react when Gordon ignores more resignations and appoints and couple of Lords to fill the gaps?
People have been screaming at him to resign for weeks and he just ignores the calls.
She has just given an interview to Sky wherein she made it clear that she did not resign, she was fired after refusing to pledge her allegiance.
There'll be a few more, but each will be less and less exciting.
As I say here: Gordon Brown's safe now.
Labour MP’s know that if Gordon stops – for any reason – being Prime Minister, then an election will be called shortly thereafter. An election where NuLab will be wiped out. Every self-centered Labour MP will be thinking the same this morning. Why rebel, why resign dramatically, why go on TV to condemn McDoom when all that’ll do is hasten my own personal trip to the wilderness?
Gordon will be PM for as long as he wants to be.
Do you think maybe the real reason he phoned up to ask about Susan Boyle last weekend was because he was planning on offering her a ministerial position?
She's gone. Funny thing is Sky News report she was sacked. The BBC state "We don't know why she has left"
The BBC just don't give up spinning for Brown do they?
Anyone else noticed the BBC has concentrated on TWO things this morning?
1. The BNP
2. The failure of the Tories
So it was a really good night for Liebour last night then was it BBC?
With the current state of the Labour Party, I think they're going to need to sing a new song at their next Conference.
So I've written one for them.
'The Dead Flag'
Dungeekin
I think further resignations are probable but i don't think it matters now.
The labour cabinet are refusing to act over the abysmal performance in the euro and local elections.
The backbench rebels don't have the numbers without the usual leftwing suspects. GB is looking to buy them off with a slowdown of the PO policy.
I haven't seen purnell blears or flint since they resigned. I think this revolt is over unless another resigination happens.
We will get a better idea once the PLP meeting is over wouldn't it be heaven if all three turned up and spoke to GB about his failures but i doubt that would happen.
As a labour supporter i want blood on the carpet at this meeting but nobody has the guts to do this.
Martin
The BBC are right now reporting she was sacked - perhaps you should be less hasty.
Also you obviously haven't been watching much BBC coverage - they've called it a historic defeat, a terrible evening for Labour and dreadfully poor results.
Asked for a pledge of loyalty!!!
That says it all. Gordon cannot rely on the loyalty of his Ministers and has to beg them to support him. Pathetic.
How can he stand the humiliation. Why doesn't he summon up a bit of dignity and call a General Election.
Bom bom bom
Another one bites the dust
I think he is going to have to go. It has got to the point now that anything is better even an election. If Labour could unite behind a moderate figure and fight to the death they could save themsleves from catastrophe at least.
Brown will pretend he is acting for the good of the Party but in reality Mandy will stick the knife in and he will stand down today.
`David said` is spot on...the labour benches are stacked full of numpties many of whom can barely string two sentences together. To expect morons to organise a coup is a bit much..
They be playing Gloria Gaynor in Downing St today.....I will survive (for those old enough to remember it)
Excellent new Downfall video on my blog.
she may only be a junior minister that no one's heard of, but another woman, refusing to pledge loyalty, that's a big deal, isn't it?
http://fsn.typepad.com/blog/
If Labour have any sense of survival left, Iain, Brown must be gone soon.
If a general election is forced upon a new Labour leader, then so be it.
But Labour will definitely lose a general election with Gordon holding the reins. With a new leader in place, a short honeymoon period could generate at least a few votes to keep a number of Labour MPs in the house.
Otherwise, Jonah will sink the ship without a trace. I hope there are resignations today in protest, for Labours very survival. Gasp, the drama!
@ Constantly Furious
I don't actually agree that there has to be an immediate election.
i think the voters would be willing to accept an october election giving AJ 3 months to set out his stall.
He couldn't go much beyond oct though. One idea would be to announce an election date on the same day as entering Number 10 but that would leave a vacuum in every department until october.
This long lead up to an election would cause the tories problems.
What if any policies do they have ?
If scruntinized mistakes would happen and labour would narrow the gap perhaps even cause a hung parliment. This is labours best hope and things don't always go to plan as GB knows too well.
Kennedy may not be that high profile, but she has been around a while, loads of Ministerial jobs and is respected in the PLP.
Paul your absolutely right she was sacked....goes to show the level of paranoia in No10.
Will he asking his ministers for an oath of allegiance next?
look at this quote by mandy -
“If we were to have a third leader in a single parliament it would mean irresistible pressure to hold a general election.”
I think that is appalling. We live in a fucking democracy, not a dictatorship.
Sinking ship. Rats.
Hannan is a credit to the South East.
Shame on you UKIP fruitcakes.
And here too: Kate Hoey said the problems go deeper than the economy and expenses. She's correct.
Kate, you can stay, but send this message back to the rest of the shower:
There comes a time in the life of any government of longevity when you have simply p*ssed off so many sectors in society that there a just too few friends left to vote for you. Doctors, the Police, the Armed forces, small businesses, the middle classes, taxpayers, car drivers, smokers, drinkers, small shop keepers, pensioners, savers, home owners, the list could go on and on; and now, to cap it all, the white working classes whom you've ignored for a decade.
It's simple. We've called time. Please bring your glasses back to the bar and go home. You're not wanted round here anymore.
An old pal of mine used to work for Jane Kennedy as a SPAD. I got the impression she has some degree of competence, unlike most of them!
It will be David Milliband next.
That will be Gordon's fatal wound!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1191557/Caroline-Flint-foul-mouthed-f-word-rant-sexist-Gordon-Brown.html
Its a funny old World, you can be a member of the British parliament without swearing the oath of allegiance to the Queen (Sinn Fein) but, you can't be in the Labour cabinet unless you swear an oath of loyalty to Gordon.
These people make control freaks seem normal.
Just a thought, but how long to ministers have to serve before they are entitled to the full minsterial payoffs when they lose the next General Election. And will that play on the minds of those asked to join the Gvt today?
Peter.
David Miliband lacks bottle. Little boy lost.
All of them lack any guts.
Like Brown, all spin from the back room, never publically.
Stop Press:
We have a female who has been promoted.
Just been told that former Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron is now number two to Andy Burnham at health.
What did Gillian do to get that I ask?
Ther may be moire resignatiuons but i dont think they will result in Brown having to go. Mandy seems to be controlling this situation very tightly and, more to the point, effectively. Certainly without him at his elbow Brown would have been toast by now.
browns a winner
thats what PLP will say tonight
TORIES cant beleive there luck
I can't understand why anyone would refuse to pledge loyalty to Me. It's their duty to do so. I am the Supreme Leader after all. The people have pledged their undying loyalty to Me in their millions, as my triumphant unanimous Leadership election showed. So why shouldn't Ministers?
It's very frustrating and makes me angry. I just feel like throwing things, and who could blame Me?
Only those with any bottle. The rest will do whatever both Browns and Mandy want to secure their income and perks for a bit longer.
Well would you if you were facing a long period on the sausage roll and had no principles?
Geoffrey C Brooking .....
I agree that Dan Hannan is a credit to the South East.
But unfortunately, Cameron didn't give an unequivocal pledge to hold a Referendum on the LisbonConstiTreaty and has shown he can't be trusted on matters concerning the EU.
I expect, had he been Tory Leader, Dan would have pledged a Referendum and would therefore have got my vote.
As it was, and with sadness, he didn't.
UKIP 'Fruitcake.'
Frank Field has now spoken out on his website aginst brown. Read what he has to say HERE.
Hang on- surely she's just laid the blame for Smeargate directly upon Brown's shoulders?
"I can’t distinguish between those around Gordon Brown smearing and Gordon Brown himself. It’s how politics is driven forward by Gordon and the people around him."
I notice that Sky News has gone back into the studio, while BBC News 24 continues to be anchoring their coverage live from Westminster green. It feels as if Sky has decided any imminent toppling of Brown has passed.
I was quite looking forward to a bit of blood-letting on a Monday from the Labour MPs but it doesn't look like happening now, does it?
At least when the Tories get rid of a leader they're quick and decisive. I've never seen such a bunch of wimps as the Labour lot (scared of Mandelson and his smears, perhaps?).
Service oath for public servants
Diensteid der öffentlichen Beamten
Ich schwöre: Ich werde dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Gordon Braun treu und gehorsam sein, die Gesetze beachten, und meine Amtspflichten gewissenhaft erfüllen, so wahr mir Gott helfe.
(Service oath for public servants
I swear: I will be faithful and obedient to Gordon Brown, Führer of the UK Reich and people, to observe the law, and to conscientiously fulfil my official duties, so help me God).
That'll do I suppose.
wv: blatt
Good to read Mr Field's comments - Brown is still hanging by his bitten finger nails from the cliff.
But unless a BIG Labour person plays his hand before 6pm,it will all be Brown as usual - to the greatest detriment of this great country.
Geoffrey C Brooking:
Having turned against voting Conservative, despite a lifetime's habit and natural Conservative instincts, after the disgraceful way that John Major rammed the Maastricht Treaty through parliament without a referendum, and not being convinced by Cameron's very qualified and vague promise of a referendum "if Lisbon has not already been ratified", I too gave my vote to UKIP. I will happily return to the Tory fold at a general election if, and only if, Cameron convinces me that he will truly offer me a chance to cast a vote on Britain's position within or without the EU, but not before. I suspect that I am far from alone, and if he is to gain a working majority, he NEEDS people like me to vote for him. Up to him.
Another (unappologetic) UKIP nutter
Who was the last European leader to require a personal oath of loyalty?
Leaked Video - Gordon Brown on YouTube again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZCVMnc-Cc
Have just watched a coterie of Labour aparatchiks saying what a wonderful chap Gordon is and how important it is to reconnect with the voters because the voters are relying on Labour to fix all the ills of the world.
What bloody planet are these people on? The Labour vote collapses precisely because Labour are not representing the people. It's Brown's disastrous economic policies which have contributed largely to the disastrous state of our finances.
The last thing voters want is more of the same.
I always thought politicians were a pretty delusional lot. I had the proof tonight.
I still support Gordon. Yet no one in the media is reporting it. Why? :-(
Jane Kennedy met Gordon Brown, face to face, and quat herself.
The remaining Labour MPs and Ministers have decided to retain their seats which are cumfy because of the thick wallets they sit on - cushions of taxpayers money.
When they do go they will be able to fill mattresses with their pay-outs and many of them will be appointed to the Lords.
Post a Comment