It's all over for Labour & Mr Brown

[clapham_gull]

If this parliament was a football match the Tories are 3-0 up courtesy of 3 Labour own goals.

It angers me that the Tories are being handed the next election on a plate. The only matter of interest remains whether Labour can sink so low the Lib Dems - under a pretty decent leader in Clegg with decent team around him to boot - can win enough seats to make a hung Parliament a possibility.

Having watched Clegg last week I was impressed, and today's Sun leader in the middle of the Labour conference can only give the Lib Dems encouragement.

A dead duck Scottish one-eyed idiot or an Etonian lightweight? Bring on the leadership head-to-head...

I'd put up with the Tories for four years if I could watch Prescott kick the shit out of Michael Mcintyre (sorry David Cameron) live on television.

Why on earth anyone would thinking of voting for either Blair or Mcintyre (sorry Cameron) is beyond me. What is it about North London Estate Agents ?

 

[Pavilionaire]

As for the "toff" tag re Cameron it's ironic that in these times of economic hardship downtroddeen Britain looks set to elect a man who has known nothing but privilege in his entire life.

Cameron is not a bad man, but he's so bereft of ideas. What this country needs is a leader who has the realism to grasp the fact that what the civil servants and politicians in Westminster class as NECESSITIES - wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Trident, nuclear subs, hundreds of quangos, ID cards etc - are, in reality, luxuries.

 

[blue and white army]

Wowsers! Cameron done a Blair and has got the ear of Rupert Murdoch same old bollocks about politics party propaganda in the papers. Everyone will be in a state of elation when the Tories get elected but once that joy has dissipated the country will once again be disillusioned and calling for change.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The Sun were always going to come out for the Tories and it's typical they've chosen to do it on the day of Brown's speech. Labour will lose next May or whenever the election is held but he was right about the Tories calling the economic crisis wrong. ANYONE who knows a fraction of what was/is going on economically knows that governments around the whole had to act together to stimulate the globalised economy. Every country in the world did that yet the Tories argued against it. Labour haven't been a great government, which one has? But when you look at the way the schools and hospitals, our public parks, the Uk's attiitude to other countries, have been transformed, those are real achievements. Cameron has no ideas and very few policies. He will win because people think they're fed up with Labour/ Brown and they'll be better off under a Conservative government. The reality will be be very different.

A question: who is the next Labour leader?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I wouldn't say everyone will be in a state of elation, except for the minority who are staunch Tories who've been waiting for this for 12 plus years.

Most of us are fed up that Labour are complicit in f***ing up the global economy to the extent that all of our working lives are under threat, and the only hope is that the fillip of change might kick-start a feel good factor.

It's a pretty uninspiring hope, given that Cameron hasn't exactly announced any radical policy shift and has been described by Obama as a "lightweight"...

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I wouldn't say everyone will be in a state of elation, except for the minority who are staunch Tories who've been waiting for this for 12 plus years.

Most of us are fed up that Labour are complicit in f***ing up the global economy to the extent that all of our working lives are under threat, and the only hope is that the fillip of change might kick-start a feel good factor.

It's a pretty uninspiring hope, given that Cameron hasn't exactly announced any radical policy shift and has been described by Obama as a "lightweight"...

yes labour took their eye off the ball, big time, and for that they should be rightly criticised but it really started in america with sub prime mortgages. do you suppose it would have been any different if the tories had been in power? The answer is no. Cameron talks the talk but has no substance.

and you didn't answer my question...

 

[RexCathedra]

The behaviour of the UK middle-cum-working class, who will be the ones who put the Tories in -- there just aren't enough 'natural' Tories, someone has to provide the swing vote -- is analogous to a student who, after being flunked, breaks into their prof's house and vandalizes it -- by slashing their wrists and bleeding all over his stuff.

Yeah, you made your point. And yeah, the prof is really pissed, or really sorry, or a mix of both.

But your're dead.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Sneaky George, the next Labour leader will be someone desperate for power, prepared to have 4 years in the wilderness and probably lose to Cameron in 2014, yet be the sort of person to introduce reforms to Labour.

It all depends upon whether the party bigwigs think they can get back in next time around, or whether they are working on 2018. It's not like the old days when the parties were in and out every 4/5 years.

I may be controversial here but I can think of one man who would be totally up for the Labour gig - Mandelson.

 

[BensGrandad]

A question: who is the next Labour leader?

Strong favourite is Meddling Mandleson.

 

[jono1988]

Strong favourite is Meddling Mandleson.

Ha, no way will it be Mandelson. The Labour Party hasn't come that full circle.

If Brown goes before the next election, then it will be Alan Johnson; the 'safe pair of hands' who can play the 'orphaned former postman' line against Cameron's background. Interestingly, AJ had 3 kids by 19 (said this week's Guardian). The problem with Johnson is he lacks the charisma or policy to be able to do the job well in opposition so I doubt he'd get it after the election.

If Brown fights the election and loses then it's an open field. Balls, Miliband(s), Harman, Cooper, Straw, Burnham etc would probably all be interested. Then there's always Jon Cruddas to consider if he can position himself well. I fancy either Ed Miliband or Cruddas, though both are usually ignored by the press as potential future leaders.

 

[Gwylan]

i dont think that can happen here can it? you can get a majority in parliment with far less than 50% of the popular vote, but thats very different. I think in the US you can loose the popular vote and win due to the make up of the electrol college (sp?), but im pretty sure here if you got 50% of the vote you'd return with a massive majority.

As someone pointed out earlier, Labour lost the election in 1951 despite having won the popular vote. And don't forget that dear old Dubya was elected in 2000 with fewer votes than Al Gore - so it's not just the UK that has electoral anomalies.

While I think the Tories will win the election, I don't think that it will be the landslide people are talking about. I saw an opinion poll yesterday that had them at 36% - that's scarcely a ringing endorsement. A year before the 1997 election, Labour was regularly polling above 50% - with some polls showing above 55%. There's always a swing back to governments by the time the general election comes round - it's too big a gap for Labour to win, but I reckon it will closer than people think.

 

[User removed 4]

Reckon the pollsters may well get their fingers burnt here.

There's a million Labour voters who felt strongly enough to withhold their vote at the last election on account of B.Liar's support for the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. These voters will be back in force this time. On the day, it just needs White Van Man not to be arsed to go out and vote and the good guys might just nick one more win.

yep, scotland might get past the first round of a tournament as well, grow up mate

 

[User removed 4]

Truth is, there's probably a large number of people who will vote Tory who would rather vote Lib Dem but see it as a wasted vote. That's a real shame

i very much doubt it.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Thank F*ck for that.


Let's Party.:dance::dance::dance:

 

[Deleted User X18H]

If I were Clegg I would be spending all available party funds on the election campaign almost to the point of bankrupting the party funds.

Although I will vote Tory they are still weak though not as weak as Labour and ironically which party was in Govt during the last worldwide depression?

This in my opinion is the Lib Dems greatest ever chance if they take an electioneering gamble

 

[User removed 4]

Most of us are fed up that Labour are complicit in f***ing up the global economy to the extent that all of our working lives are under threat,

sigh, they're not , they've just spunked all the billions in extra tax receipts that might've made it easier for us to deal with the global financial crisis.

 

[Brovion]

I've always voted Labour but I must admit I'm firmly in the "Don't give a flying f***" camp. Of course the Conservatives under Cameron will be awful, but I think they'll just be 'differently awful'. Might make a nice change and I can go back to happily blaming the Government for everything like we did in the Thatcher/Major years.

As I live in Brighton Pavilion I'm even tempted to vote Green for a laugh - and I HATE the Greens as much as I hate the BNP.

 

[Stoo82]

As for the "toff" tag re Cameron it's ironic that in these times of economic hardship downtroddeen Britain looks set to elect a man who has known nothing but privilege in his entire life.

Cameron is not a bad man, but he's so bereft of ideas. What this country needs is a leader who has the realism to grasp the fact that what the civil servants and politicians in Westminster class as NECESSITIES - wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Trident, nuclear subs, hundreds of quangos, ID cards etc - are, in reality, luxuries.

Why does it matter that sombody has had privilege all his life? If I said I wont elect so and so becasuse they have been poor all there life and therefore they have no idea how to be minister for business. Thats just a ridiculas argument and quite frankly classist.

You may not agree with Camerons policies but to say "he's bereft of ideas" shows how little you look at the other partys policis. Go and look up other policies the othere party offer.

 

[Don't get me started]

Ha, no way will it be Mandelson. The Labour Party hasn't come that full circle.

If Brown goes before the next election, then it will be Alan Johnson; the 'safe pair of hands' who can play the 'orphaned former postman' line against Cameron's background. Interestingly, AJ had 3 kids by 19 (said this week's Guardian). The problem with Johnson is he lacks the charisma or policy to be able to do the job well in opposition so I doubt he'd get it after the election.

If Brown fights the election and loses then it's an open field. Balls, Miliband(s), Harman, Cooper, Straw, Burnham etc would probably all be interested. Then there's always Jon Cruddas to consider if he can position himself well. I fancy either Ed Miliband or Cruddas, though both are usually ignored by the press as potential future leaders.

I think they will do what the tories did. Elect a nobody (it was Billy Boy for the tories remember) None of the heavyweights will steam in if they have any sense as the likelyhood is they will be in the wilderness for some years and that's not good for a grandee of the party to sit there sniping day in day out only to lose elections.

Hopefully they will be hung out to dry for sometime, robbing cheating bastards.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Only 7 months to go. I am ticking off the days on my calender.