Yesterday I asked you to vote for the Cabinet Minister who you would most like to see suffer a "Were you up for Portillo" moment on 6th May. The results are pretty categoric!
1. Ed Balls - 85%
2. Harriet Harman - 54%
3. Yvette Cooper - 35%
4. Peter Hain - 18%
5. Ben Bradshaw - 17%
Just as a matter of interest why is Balls the bête noire of you, Iain, and those who voted "for" him? I hold no brief for him personally but he seems OK to me. What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteAll a bit silly really since if Balls survives (as we must indeed hope not) then gloom will descend on readers of this blog.
ReplyDeleteMe, I do not care about Balls, indeed I hope he becomes next leader of the Labour Party (think about it!) - all I want for Christmas is a Tory majority of 3.
Its what I have always wanted and its all sane people (given the electoral precedent) could reasonably expect.
The percentages dont add up to 100%.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I missed something here.
I think this cuts across politics - the top three are just odious liars who also have a presumptuous arrogance that owes everything to tribalism and nothing to conviction. Castration would be too kind.
ReplyDeleteSurely the best of all, the most emblematic defenestration, would be that of Gordon Brown himself. Although unlikely to the point of fantasy, it would, in just one 'turned' constituency, define the utter rejection of 13 years of catastrophic financial mismanagement and governmental hubris - and the final discrediting of the ghastly man himself.
ReplyDeleteIt would also, crucially, force Labour to start reforming itself without the louring presence of the dreadful control-freak. Finally, as a dispassionate observer with an anarchist's innate and irrepressible love of chaos, I would have the immense satisfaction of watching (whatever's left of) the Labour front-bench tear itself apart, as all the repressed antipathies are forced to the surface rather faster than they would like. I really cannot see them agreeing on a compromise candidate easily.
But, in the end, very yes. Balls is the one to be given the bullet, with the outside chance of the sweetest of win-doubles if Mrs. Balls could get heaved out at the same time. Two Dromeys would almost as satisfying.
Iain, does my "Balls, Balls, and Balls" count as one vote or three?
ReplyDeleteVery tribal. Very close association with GB. Very sure of himself. Sometimes has a way of turning common sense logic on its head to make it sound like any ideas opposed to his own are potty or nasty.
ReplyDeleteThe ballot paper should have had the extra choice of ''all of the above''
ReplyDelete@ Paddy Briggs said...
ReplyDelete"I hold no brief for him personally but he seems OK to me."
Obviously you've been asleep for the last thirteen years?
Balls is OK, says Paddy Briggs.
ReplyDeleteHe is arrogant, conceited and dogmatic with an intensely irritating manner. He has messed up our education system big time. Most teachers hate him. And he wears nylon shirts.
Other than that he's OK.
I loathe the man, but I'd like him to keep his seat so that he can play his full, bloody, part in Labour's post election civil war.
ReplyDeleteTHAT would be fun!
I loathe the man, but I'd like him to keep his seat purely so that he can play his full, destructive role in Labour's post-election civil war. THAT will be fun...
ReplyDeleteJabba
ReplyDeleteFar from it - awake all the time and vigilant! I know you don't like Mr B - the question was WHY? Obviously he's got up the noses of the Blue Boys Brigade more than the rest. I just wondered why...?
Regrettably all of the top Labour figures have safe seats.
ReplyDeletePerahps I could answer Carl Harris? You see Carl, there were other names mentioned by those who polled. They make up the missing votes.
I am surprised to see that Peter Hain is so popular - I never trust orange men myself. What's that about Blair?
If you want to get ridi of Balls donate to Antony Calvert who is standing against him. http://www.antonycalvert.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteLooking at Gordon Brown's itinerary, has he visited ANY constituencies yet which are theoretically Labour gain targets? I don't think he has, has he? Most of them seem to be 6k plus Labour majorities.
ReplyDeleteCould this illustrate the theory that some running the campaign like Mandelson & Campbell have effectively thrown in the towel and accepted that it's all about the post-election battle for the Labour leadership? I'm just sayin'...
Thanks for the clarification. I get it!
ReplyDelete