News reaches me from New Labour sources that Gordon Brown's worst nightmare is materialising with significant progress for the Scot Nats ahead of May's Scottish Parliament polls.
In recent weeks Broon has tried to micromanage his northern fiefdom, as the Labour campaign has come apart at the seams. This has included his clumsy efforts to rope the CBI in as part of his election efforts against Salmond's insurgents.
All to no avail, with bad news for Brown followed by even worse news. Yesterday's Scottish papers were full of resignation stories of a key Labour campaign figure. This is about to be trumped by a poll out tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Scotsman which shows the Nat lead over Labour growing!
With less than 70 days to go until polling day the SNP are five points ahead in the constituency contest and 4 points in the PR list vote. In terms of Holyrood seats this is seriously bad news for Labour. They wouldn't even have enough to continue their coalition love-in with the LibDems whose support is also down.
My New Labour insider says this mess is the perfect Blair legacy for Brown!
51 comments:
Gordon will preside over the worst defeat in the history of the Labour Party. This is the end of the Labour Partyin England.
We know he's a bookworm - but now he's a book end.
Ha, ha.
Are you sure a lot of the resignations are not to take advantage of the more than generous "redundancy" packages being offered north of the border Iain?
Mind you the phrase "Rats leaving ..."
Browns legacy is already being written.The man who destroyed the labour party.perhaps a statue is in order someplace like the gents at westminster.
Iain - please could you give some publicity to Dr Crippen's blog - 26 February entry - and the comments. I am not a doctor; I am asking this because I am scared of what might happen if/when people dear to me need hospital care. (At the moment, I have private health insurance for myself but not everyone in my family can afford this.) By the time David Cameron is PM, there will be no NHS. It is unbelievable, what the Labour Government has done to the NHS. Everyone needs to hear about how thousands of doctors heard today that they have no job after August.
"The Herald" reports one Labour insider as saying: "This is the worst campaign I have been involved in for over 20 years. It is appalling."
I get the impression Gordo is considered a Benedict Arnold figure up here..making comments about such serious issues as football and the comments showing his allegiance to the England team.
And this, coming from a Nation that is still upset about Glencoe.
Alex Salmond is no longer seen as a bogey man or a loony. For the most part his duetting with the lovely Nicola seems to work very well and only the Tories make snide remarks about him being in London.
Stephen Lawther has departed, then, for "family reasons" - replaced by one Bundred, whose leaked email said:
"I'm no fan of Bush - I hate the f***er in fact."
Can't be all bad then, can he?
For the first time in ages I am beginning to feel really happy. The polls are going the right way, Labour is falling apart at the seams, Blair will be having his collar felt by Yates or go into exile very shortly, and now the great smug Gordo is getting what was coming to him!
Frabjous day.
Evening Iain,
Sorry... very, very off topic...
Come home - we need you over here!
Announced on the TV that they are at last going to consider thinking about forming a committee to counsel people to discuss the political ramifications and decide in ten years time, to rebuild Pembury hopital.
£250,000,000, for the new building, so add the usual bouncer and we can all get better for £500,000,000.
Please weep at the incompetence of all concerned. This an absolute tragedy, and there should be heads rolling all over the A21, sorry, not in an accident, just in a huge pile of resignations from persons who should know better.
I hope I don't get dementia so I can't can remember how badly your and my council have performed all these years.
ps, Sorry, you're also wrong about Blears, if she was your right hand girl, she'd be your downfall - wrong sort of smile.
pps By the way, I hope you didn't leave your car with one of the famous meet and greet mob at Gatwick; you may have a few more mles on the clock when you sell it!
ppps Actually, your blog is always high on the list on this electric mainframe, so we must like you really...
Strangely though, an SNP government in Scotland might help Brown. The SNP are like the Greens in the UK. They are the very worst sort of opportunists, always spitting on from the side, never taking responsibility. They control few councils, so rarely haev to justify their actions, they can always blame Labour, and they cash in on this.
The SNP are so policy "lite" that they make Cameron seem like a policy heavyweight !
With power comes responsibility, and an SNP administration would show them for what they are.
"The seeds of destruction are sown by the flowers of success."
According to google I'm the first person to say that - but it seems obvious - Germany after the first world war, the UK national debt after the second world wat, the USAs world standing after winning the cold war, Tony Blair after winning 3 terms etc, etc.
KEIR Hardie, a Scot, founded the Labour Party - it's also ironic that Gordon Brown, who pretends to be English, has destroyed it.
ha, ha.
This increased lead comes as no surprise to us candidates on the ground. Canvass returns for the last year have consistently shown former Labour voters either not planning to vote or crossing over to vote SNP. I'm standing in heartland seat but if I was a Labour MSP or councillor, I would be planning my retirement project now.
However, the Cameron effect isn't working in Caledonia with even the Lib Dems over-taking them and staying head in these polls.
Javelin - You bounder!
"The seeds of destruction are sown by the flowers of success...in the composted waste of socialism"
Please complete your Google search next time :0)
"By the time David Cameron is PM, there will be no NHS."
Excellent, I will no longer be forced to fund other peoples' healthcare. Ob the downside though I presume there will be no taxcuts to make up for it.
Norfolk Blogger obviously knows buggerall about the SNP, calling them "policy lite".
One or two clicks on their website will reveal the truth.
Please, people in England, stop talking bollocks about a nation you know nothing about.
You won't win the hearts and minds of the Scots by taking the piss.
Now, pardon me while I have an hour of Schadenfreude in the company of Michael Cockerell and his excellent documentary on Tony Bliar.
Alex Salmond has a smug face you want to punch. Mind you, SNP are the only credible alternative for most people...
Can someone remind Norfolkblogger about which political party supported the BNP at local government in search of a nomination to regeneration company.. why it was the Lib Dems in Burnley of course. How very xenophobic!
Serves Brown right for being such a coward.
With power comes responsibility,...
Ah the flamboyant Mr. Norfolk are you really able to write that with a staight face as a Liberal Democrat.
I think the all time favourite must be Simon ( The straight choice ) Hughes in the Bermondsey carve up. A nasty business .
The SNP are of course a disaster for Brown who will wish to have some vague authority in England . A vote SNP is not like a vote for another political Party they have clear intention which carries with it the end of Labour .
What a sad day that will be ...
"How very xenophobic!"
Bunch of authoritarian statist cretins though the BNP are, if the Lib Dems considered the councillors in question qualified for whatever they were doing then they should have been allowed to get on with it. I despise communism but that wouldn't stop me hiring a commie if I thought he was going to be good at his job.
As much as I would love to see Gordon Brown get a boot full in the face I do despair for the Union. But then again, New Labour are reaping the whirlwind of an ill conceived and badly implemented devolution policy. Serves them right!!
doodlefrotbottle said
You beat me to it to tell norfolk blogger he's talking s****
His argument's logical conclusion seems to be that no smaller party should stand against the "Big three"---ever, because they have no previous experience of Gvt. Hardly the mood of the moment in Scotland (from where I type) and probably not in England although I wouldn't presume to comment.
In the Councils where the SNP has had power,or shared it those Councils have performed well, and certainly compared with the crony fiefdoms of Labour.
The PR election system for Councils in May will produce more Councils with outright SNP control or power sharing. The SNP is therefore gathering strength at local and national level--this is democracy in action.
Oh also these elections are falling on my birthday, so I'm hoping to have a little something extra to celebrate LOL!
By the way The Scotsman must be choking and gritting its collective teeth to announce this poll finding.
The sad decline of this once respected paper under Andrew Neil and the Barclay brothers has continued under new owners but with an editor from a tabloid Portsmouth paper.
The unremitting right wing and anti-independence line has resulted in a catastrophic drop in sales. Another classic misjudgement of opinion in Scotland.
OH, YES!
A far croonin' is pullin' me away
As take I wi' my cromack to the road.
The far Coolins are puttin' love on me
As step I wi' the sunlight for my load.
Sure by Tummel and Loch Rannoch and Lochaber I will go
By heather tracks wi' heaven in their wiles.
If it's thinkin' in your inner heart the braggart's in my step
You've never smelled the tangle o' the Isles.
Oh the far Coolins are puttin' love on me
As step I wi' my cromack to the Isles.
It's by Shiel water the track is to the west
By Aillort* and by Morar to the sea
The cool cresses I am thinkin' of for pluck
And bracken for a wink on Mother knee.
The blue islands are pullin' me away
Their laughter puts the leap upon the lame
The blue islands from the Skerries to the Lewis
Wi' heather honey taste upon each name.
Go, you Bravehearts, sack Gordo' and I'll love you forever xxx
Auntie Flo'
Bravehearts, you've made my day.
I feel a jig coming on!
Auntie Flo'
Auntie Flo ...I hear you are an Ace dancer as well.
XXXX
No mention on this blog or ConHome that via The Independent, we learn that the pollsters Communicate Research show the Tories 11% points up on NuLab.
What the fuck's going on? Iain's in America, but what's your agenda Montgomerie?
I'll jig from dawn to dusk, Newmania, the day those SNP heroes give that money grabbing spin bletherer the thrashing he's so richly deserved for so very long.
Go, you Bravehearts! Take no prisoners :)
"No mention on this blog or ConHome that via The Independent, we learn that the pollsters Communicate Research show the Tories 11% points up on NuLab."
It is on ConHome you fool.
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/02/communicaterese.html
Unfortunately it wouldn't let me fit the rest of the link on. It's:
communicaterese.html
It's under the heading BLOGS on the front page and was one of the first articles on there this morning.
This poll is good news. The SNP has been in this position before but perhaps not for such a sustained period in the run up to election time.
I still wouldn't rule out a Lib/Lab/Con grand alliance under the 'courageous' guise of 'saving the Union'. Some people up here would sell their granny to stop the nationalist bandwagon.
Aside from gains in the election the SNP also looks like doubling its council representation and labour are predicted to lose 200 of theirs and probably lose control of all their councils. Election night is going to be a cracker.
Indigo said...
Iain - please could you give some publicity to Dr Crippen's blog - 26 February entry - and the comments. I am not a doctor; I am asking this because I am scared
I would recommend reading this blog, my God what a lot of whining state sector scum they are - these people are trained by us, at our expense and just whinge on about mortgages and pensions not being paid and stuff . I have never read such a litany of self serving garbage in my life and I left them a message to that effect.
Oh dear! Did I do a bad thing?
Norfolk Blogger said:
They are the very worst sort of opportunists, always spitting on from the side, never taking responsibility.
This sounds very much like a description of the Lib Dems. Well done sir - you've summed them up to a tee!
Then I read your blog and realised you are one of them.
Oh dear....oh dear...
sorry if I've caused any offence
Salmond's insurgents. Pray tell Iain why the use of the word insurgents. A tad emotional Old Boy isn't it.
Since when do the local population become insurgents, in their own country Iain.
Please do not use such words. the Insurgents in this case come from outside of Scotland. You will have your own parliment and we will all live much happier if we Respect each other.
doddlefrotbottle said...
Please, people in England, stop talking bollocks about a nation you know nothing about.
You won't win the hearts and minds of the Scots by taking the piss.
8:59 PM
And why would any Englishman care to win the heart or mind of a Scot?
We've lived through ten years of your rule.
So Mark, no significant change in the poll means you agree at least that the SNP is likely to be the largest party in the Scottish Parliament after 3 May.
@mutleythedog - yes, the UK taxpayer is training up doctors and then they have to go abroad to Australia and NZ because hospitals are closing here, and like anyone doctors have to earn their living. Australia and NZ are thrilled to bits - top-quality doctors trained up for them free of charge.
When you find yourself on a two-year waiting list for prostate cancer treatment, please do come back and explain how Labour driving doctors overseas is "self-serving garbage".
David Cameron, if you are reading this. The UK economy and armed forces run on healthy, well-maintained human bodies. We HAVE to have an NHS that employs qualified doctors (not "nurse practitioners") because not everyone earns enough to take out private health insurance. There is nothing clever about creating an underclass of permanently ill or disabled people.
I'll add a note from my own experience of the dental health service in the UK.
All my life (I am now 57) I have been a model dental patient (six-monthly check-ups through the past 40 years) but three years ago, for a couple of months (while deciding whether or not to have root canal treatment), I had to plug a tooth with temporary tooth filler. This was just so that I could eat without unbearable pain, and to try to prevent infection in my jaw, and to stop my face swelling up.
It would appear that there are many people doing this - on a long-term basis (root canal treatment is very expensive) - I remember one day going to Boots to buy temporary tooth filler and finding every single packet on the shelf was empty. Ie the contents had been removed from an entire shelf stock, and the packets replaced on the shelf.
I hate what Labour has done to this country while busy being "cool".
More bad news for Labour in this morning's Scotsman ICM poll:
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=311452007
Not, alas, that the news is much better for the Scottish Conservatives *sigh*. Oh well, the Scottish electorate in the May elections will get what they deserve: one big Government party or another.
Devolution was a hideous mistake as Labour and Tories are now coming to realise. We should have stuck with the Act of Union; a long-standing compromise which had stood the test of time.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
With Blairites trying to brief this poll in as bad for Brown it would seem Scotland is becoming a battleground in a growing Labour civil war.
Blairites must have thought Brownites had set Blair up as the front page of the Scotsman suggests in order to push him out as a liability.
In response the Blairites would appear to want a focus on the poll and brief in how Gordon's fiefdom is in rebellion and he isn't that good. Just to add some more fuel we have this story in the Guardian:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labourleadership/story/0,,2023099,00.html
It's all getting rather messy in the Labour ranks.
The backbiting was evident over cash for honours when McTernan's interview led to the arrest of Turner and in response led to the leaking of McConnell's interview followed by the leaking of McTernan's.
They're in a state of utter paranoia as they try to jostle for position and stuff the country.
Have the Scots written off the Tories or is it the other way round?In Wales,which traditionally is far less friendly territory,save in recent years,they are making reasonable if unspectacular progress.With the hash Labour are making in Edinburgh they ought to be recovering.Why not?Is It still the legacy of the Thatcher years?Wales has moved on.
Penlan - the Clearances are still a hot topic of debate so expect the bogey-(wo)man of Thacther to endure in Scotland for another 150 years at least.
Whay aren't the Tories making little progress in Scotland? Well, there's a serious lack of talent in their ranks for a start and a refusal make any changes.
I seen this noted else where but can someone explain why the replacement of a centre-left coalition in Scotland with another centre-left coalition which will contain in all likelihood a minority partner from the original centre-left coalition any reason to get excited?
The poll predicts 44 seats for the SNP, 41 for Labour, 23 for the Lib Dems & 17 for the Tories. They need 65 for a majority, which means the SNP'LDs could do it but so could Labour/LDs if they get 1 independent.
Well, i'm looking forward to a change of administration in Scotland- Labour/Lib have been hopeless. I'm one of the few conservatives that would rather work with a SNP admin than sit on the sidelines and carp like Statler and Waldorf in the Muppet Show. I think through their anti-Tory bluster , the SNP would rather work with us than the shoddy LibbyDems!
simon [12.21 PM] I will not hear a word said against Statler or Waldorf. They would have done a better job of running the country than most politicians.
Simon Heffer didn't exactly help the Conservative cause in Scotland by writing a few weeks ago in the Daily Telegraph encouraging Scottish voters to vote for the SNP. Comments like that, coupled with his persistent anti-Unionism, are undermining all the hard work of Conservative activists North of the border. He should be ashamed of undermining the Tory cause so.
"Gammarama said...
Alex Salmond has a smug face you want to punch."
Err... http://www.gammarama.co.uk
As an Englishman I can truly say that Salmond is the only mainstream politician that pays England any kind of respect. He recognizes that, following devolution for Scotland and Wales, England is uniquely disadvantaged ( and some would say handicapped ) by being governed by a British Government.
In fact this Englishman is going to join the SNP - because the current status quo of England not having a voice is a sham - the SNP advocate a Parliament for England!
The SNP are currently the only hope for England as they are the only party that speaks up for Englands right to self government.
Perhaps then England wouldn't be facing 1.)road pricing, Scotland and Wales exempt 2.)university top-up tuition fees, Scotland and Wales exempt,3.)denial of life saving cancer drugs like Velcade and Herceptin that are freely available to all, including the rich, in Scotland, 4.) the elderly of England having to sell their homes to pay for nursing care whilst the Scottish, including their richest citizens, have free access to nursing care without having to sell their homes, etc, etc, etc
Viva the SNP! from a grateful Englishman.
" Penlan - the Clearances are still a hot topic of debate so expect the bogey-(wo)man of Thacther to endure in Scotland for another 150 years at least. "
Nowt to do with us in England - though they try and blame it on us . It was done by Scots to Scots - never let the celtic professional victims get away with this one
roll on the SNP
time for Eengland to get shot of the Scottish millstone .
As an Englishman I can truly say that Salmond is the only mainstream politician that pays England any kind of respect. He recognizes that, following devolution for Scotland and Wales, England is uniquely disadvantaged ( and some would say handicapped ) by being governed by a British Government...The SNP are currently the only hope for England as they are the only party that speaks up for Englands right to self government.
I totally agree, Anon 8.59. In fact I hope Iain and Boris will ensure Salmond receives a Knighthood for services to England.
"Simon Heffer didn't exactly help the Conservative cause in Scotland by writing a few weeks ago in the Daily Telegraph encouraging Scottish voters to vote for the SNP."
Why should he have to? I'm a Unionist but he's entitled to his opinion.
"Comments like that, coupled with his persistent anti-Unionism, are undermining all the hard work of Conservative activists North of the border. He should be ashamed of undermining the Tory cause so."
Why? He doesn't even support the Tories. You might as well say the Guardian should be ashamed of being a leftie paper.
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