Bad night for Labour
Bad for Labour. Very bad. And with worse likely to follow. For once there can be no spinning, no rival interpretations, no debate about what local elections results mean.
If - as insiders on both sides now expect - Boris Johnson is elected mayor of London later today David Cameron will be able to herald his party's most successful night since John Major's general election victory in 1992.
This, of course, does not mean that Mr Cameron will follow Mr Major into No 10 but it does mean that something will have to change dramatically for Labour to prevent that happening.
What could that something be? A change of Labour leader? No, for all the discontent with Gordon Brown, hardly any Labour MP believes that's possible, let alone desirable. A change of policy? Certainly, though it's already clear that there is disagreement about the direction in which policy should change.
Thus, Gordon Brown will be left to blame unprecedented economic turbulence for the unprecedently bad political position he's in. He will offer to listen to voters' concerns. He'll promise to steer the country through troubled times as he did as chancellor. He expects that greater scrutiny will expose the opposition for the lightweights he believes they are.
Above all, though, he will simply have to hope that - in the words of the old election song - things can only get better.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~08~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Taxes have risen for ten years and still the public sector books don't balance, yet Gordon still expects us to believe the line that he was a prudent chancellor?
Complain about this comment
The turning point was the moment George Osborne said he would raise IHT to £1m. That burst of applause for the Tories has not stopped ringing since on almost everything they have suggested, while all that Brown and Darling touches turns to dust. It's the political karma. In London I find Livingstone epitomises what I dislike about Labour for whom I once voted - he believes he is a charming, cheeky chappie of the people and the disadvantaged. I can only see him as self-serving, arrogant, patronising, untruthful, out of touch with the mainstream while buying cheap friendship from increasingly peculiar minorities, believing London is hiself-justifying s by right. That's missing out the libelous bits. I cannot see Labour recovering from this because they lack the talent, the ideas, the money and the will.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I live in a traditional Labour seat; the Lib Dems won it as a result of the war in Iraq in 2004. Since 2004 and before then, each election the Labour party have not issued ANYTHING saying what their policies and intentions are, locally or nationally. the Lib Dems, on the other hand, are very active at a grass roots level- so why are we surprised that Labour does badly? No one has a clue what they do!
Complain about this comment
We still haven't started to count the cost of 10 years as "sub prime" Chancellor by Gordon Brown:
Off Balance sheet Assets (PFI), continually rising (stealth) taxes, poor expenditure control, increased government control and costly bureaucracy.
The guy was and is a "sub prime" financial disaster. The great socialist experiment has failed and we the taxpayers will pay the price.
Complain about this comment
My take is the Labour losses are less about policy and more about the Conservative's negative populist propaganda. Labour may have the right policy framework but they’re being undermined by a consistent and persistent guerrilla campaign. My suggestion before Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office was to be more practical, sociable, and low key. I think, that was on the money.
Before these elections I wrote to my MP and suggested a "simple, clear, and powerful" policy approach for government, and they promote the most depressed local area as "a place people want to visit". Being Liberal Democrat's they swiped those slogans for themselves. They didn't listen and Menzies Campbell has gone and their support softened.
My suggestion to Labour today is the same as I suggested to the Conservatives and Liberals – they must stop trying to win. This is counter intuitive to the average politician but the strategic advice is sound for two reasons: they will appear less brash and out of touch. Bringing arrogant businesses to heel and investing more in failed communities will help rebalance this.
Admitting they were wrong and sorry would be a start.
Complain about this comment
Please don't think this result is just about the economy. It's also to do with all the other fiasco's, miscalculations and down right incompetencies.
Don't forget the general election false start.
Don't forget his political use of the British troops to steal thunder from the tory conference.
Don't forget the lost data.
Don't forget the signing of the EU "reform treaty" (on his own!).
Don't forget the failure to deliver a referendum.
Don't forget his 3 line whip on issues that should have been a free vote (the embryology bill).
Don't forget the 10p tax debacle.
Don't forget the new attempts to extend detention without trial.
Anyone care to extend the list?
Can anyone remember him getting the headlines for doing anything right?
Complain about this comment
I have a feeling almost of relief. Ever since Brown became PM, and probably before that I have felt a weight pushing down on me. More erosion of rights, more legislation, more pressure on net income, a feeling of real dullness. Almost like depression - as much as you push back it keeps you down.
This morning it seems as if it is coming to an end. Now I'm not a member of any party, I just feel Brown has a very negative personality which makes everyone feel down.
So in Churchill's words "this may not be the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning."
I just hope Brown is gone soon, to be replaced by ANYONE else.
Complain about this comment
To Charles E H.
While I generally disagree with you there is a kernal of sense in your last post.
I believe that life in general should be very simple. You wake up, you work, you relax, you do what you want and you use your salary/wages to "enjoy" your lfe. Work is not important but a means to live your life to the full.
Labour in general, and GB in particular, seem to want to control everything and restrict everyone but themselves. They make everything so complicated, such as tax credits. Elderly friends had to fill in a 32 page questionnaire to get attendance allowance. It drove them to distraction.
If labour want to get back they need to simplify life for everyone so that we can get back to living and enjoying our lives. Not wanting to control aspect of our lives.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Does anyone still listen to what Harriet Harman says? Same old nonsense, from a woman who has openly contradicted her own party policies to send her some to a super-selective grammar school...
If it wasn't so important or annoying you would laugh...
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown’s personality type is the exact equal and opposite to George Bush. They’re both in a hole because of their extreme personality types. One could suggest they’re doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. By dropping the extremes and developing the centre of their respective personalities something more voter friendly would take root.
I believe the Prime Minister is a sincere man who cares but he’s too wrapped up in policies and stuck in the back room. As you suggest, people don’t want the sweat of dealing with a blizzard of policy initiatives and don’t feel happy if someone is waving a gun in their face. The Prime Minister needs to simplify, simplify, and simplify and get out of his fortress more.
This isn’t just about the Prime Minister. It’s about the people, and he’s been trying so hard the message has been lost in the signal. While his speeches are thorough I winced my way through his NHS keynote. Too many words, not enough polish. Cut, cut, cut. As for the poor, driving investment like hell on wheels to the bottom will water the economic roots.
Time to part the Red Sea, Prime Minister.
Complain about this comment
A general election is a long way away so that this result, while very bad for Labour and very good for the Tories, is only of significance nationally in it's effect on Labour MPs. None will now want to threaten the Government since they stand to lose thier seats in the present climate. So, paradoxically, Brown is I believe safer now than he was last week. He waited a long time to be PM; he's not going to give up yet. 'Something' could turn up - remember that the Falklands invasion ultimately led to Mrs Thatcher's elction victory!
Complain about this comment
This is not about Gordon Brown and his finances. This is about an illegal war, the Lisbon treaty and its erosion of Brititsh nationallity, Lies and spin, a Labour party that that is doing it's utmost to destroy civil liberties
Complain about this comment
Sadly, I think the messsage for Labour should be "Don't panic."
The foundations for General Election success have long since been laid. There is an army of people in the bloated public sector and in the benefit/tax credit commmunity who will follow the natural human nature tendency to engage in self benefitting behaviour. Not least in the public sector whose excellent pensions are being funded by private sector workers who can't afford to fund their own pensions.
It's true that Labour in achieving this, and in doing some good things, Labour have :
stealth taxed everything that moves, or doesn't move
horribly mismanaged the huge sums they have invested (aka spent) on public services, with a huge proportion lost in waste and precious little gained by way of improvement, relative to the sums spent.
lied their way into an illegal war and made us terrorist targets
eroded our civil liberties
sold off our gold reserves on the massively cheap
ruined the private sector pension system
polticised the civil service and created an army of special advisers
raised spin and abuse of inormation/unprecented levels
created a highly complex tax system to take money away from people and than force them to rely on state aid to get some back via a hugely expensive bureaucracy
etc etc
Probably, however, the "client state" element will be enough to keep them in power for a long time yet - as they calculated it would.
Complain about this comment
THings that need to change
Uncontrolled immigration whilst
6 million are on benefits
The Human Rights Act
Taxation, taxation, taxation
The ballooning of government quangos
just for a start
Complain about this comment
I agree with mikepko. I felt absolute relief when I woke up and saw the results this morning.
Harriet Harman said on the TV that they must start listening to the people - a sure sign that she believes Gord can turn things around before the next election. Face it Labour - you're finished!
Complain about this comment
LABOUR IS CLOSING DOWN
10p, 10p, 10p is all we have heard this morning!!.
Dissatisfaction began long before the 10p debacle with the arrogant rejection of democratic process by rejecting a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, closing Post Offices, closing schools etc.
They say they will listen - fine stop the PO closure programme, lighten up on school selection etc.
Don't hold your breath.
Complain about this comment
Absolutely the most dangerous thing that the Tories should do now is celebrate. These election results are not a victory. Merely an opportunity for one.
Complain about this comment
The Labour government is following exactly the same trajectory as the last Tory administration.
But will they learn from that experience?
No they won't. They'll comfort themselves with the idea that we're too stupid to appreciate all the wonderful things they have done for us and we just need more education before the next election.
They are the most oppressive, authoritarian regime in this country since William the Conqueror.
They have long since flushed away any Labour values to become the spying and fining, 'we know what's good for you' party, of the shareholding, first generation university educated, nu middle class, siding with the interests of business over the people at any opportunity.
At every election more perennial Labour voters are waking up to the fact that the Labour party they have been voting for doesn't exist any more.
Complain about this comment
My pension cheque dropped on the mat this week and if I had'nt made my mind up it sure confirmed that Labour had lost credibility on finance. Not that I lost out much but at times of high inflation I expect my tax allowances to at least keep up. I don't want to be told I can fill in a 40 page form to apply for credits.
I feel distinctly poorer, but satisfied I could voice my disgust for me and others in a worse position.
Complain about this comment
As I was coming in to work today I was wondering about the massive improbability of our homely little existence on this planet and in the universe. The fact that all the flora and fauna I was seeing through the window and all the people on the bus I was on are apparently miraculous one offs in a vast eternity of nothingness. I thought about the opportunity this existence should be for us to really excell in living it. Then I thought that if the Conservatives are all we can come up with to forge our brave new future after the snake oil sales pitch of New Labour we're really nothing but a bunch of squabbling filthy primates on a dirty great rock headed for oblivion.
So much for evolution!
Complain about this comment
Nick,
Today will see the emergence of a leading Labour politicians claiming that the local elections were really a success for Labour on the grounds that the result could have been worse.
The UK has reached the abyss of political integrity and incompetence under Labour and despite the results of 2007 and 2008 they remain in power with only 24% support of the voting public.
When local politicians are standing and financed by national political parties in Municipal elections the results are of national significance thus negating and argument to trivialise the results.
This situation raises serious questions about the capability of our politicians to understand what democracy means and the durability of dictatorial and arrogant government.
It is any wonder that we have an apathetic electorate when voting fails to result in any political change, especially to change a government and Prime Minister that are unpopular as the current Labour government.
Complain about this comment
Nick,
I note the time you posted your piece to your blog. Boy, some people can't get enough politics can they?
My interpretation of the results is slightly different. Labour has undeniably been given a hammering and, even where they have not lost Councils they have lost sufficient numbers of seats for the embarrassment to be obvious.
But it is worse than that for Gordon. He has lost not only seats, but also the opportunity to separate national politics from local and claim that he has time to prepare for a Labour victory at the next general election. Even at his lowest ebb, Blair managed - somehow - to keep discontent with him and his party distinct and separate from local politics. It is clear that these results show that the public treated these elections as a vote on Gordon - and the result is a terrible indictment of him and his style, competence and charisma.
Complain about this comment
Has Gordon Brown now become the 'Sub-Prime Minister'?
Complain about this comment
OK, so the country is telling Gordon Brown loud and clear that they don't want him. The only trouble is that the alternative, David Cameron, is a spectacular triumph of form over substance, like a shallower version of Tony Blair but without the policies.
The situation is similar in London: what does it say about Red Ken that Londoners will even vote for Boris Johnson in order to get rid of him? A man who has turned detachment from reality into an art form!
These are sad days indeed in British politics when voters are looking for the least worst option.
Complain about this comment
For Charles WH re 12
I think you are in cloud cockoo land if you think that its not Brown and the inability to get the message across.
Brown spent 10 years making himself out as as important at Blair, if not more so. So he became the heavyweight. And to get way he has surrounded himself with lightweights, both mentally and politically, Harman as a example. The population don't know who the others are!!!
Brown is know for being authoritarian, a dictator in all but name and as the population see him, a bully.
No Harman this morning says, "we will start listening to what the population wants." This is deperation and we know that Vrown will not listen to anyone unless they say what he wants to hear.
As the old saying goes " A leopard doesn't change his spots". If Brown changes, just as he does for the cameras and goes back to the same surly look when off camera, no-one will believe him.
It all goes down to wanting something so much, the willingness to do anything to get it, and when you've got it not being up to the job.
Its not the team which is at fault. It is Brown he is the government. He would probably be happier if none of the others were there at all.
Complain about this comment
Whilst this is undoubtedly a good result for the Tories I think we should beware of the tendency to read more into this than might exist. History shows that mid term local elections can throw up good results either way that don't then reflect the next election. That said, what is clear is that the traditional Tory vote is beginning to wake up to the reality of life under this misguided government.
So pleasing to hear Harriet (run with the fox, hunt with the hounds) Harman say that we need to listen to the people. Funny I thought that was what politics at this level was about!! Until now Gordon knew better. He and his inept front bench (Jack Straw excepted) are going to have to start thinking about some new strategies, for the working man who is deeply concerned about the bloated, so called client state. He needs to give something back to the wealth generators if he is to keep the keys to number 10. Not to mention all the other things he might need to listen to and genuinely start to make progress on like, Immigration. NHS. Civil Liberties, all of which is possible in the two years before he needs to go to the country.
Complain about this comment
Thankfully the majority of people in the NorthWest saw sense and did not allow the Conservatives to take hold of the major cities. It would have been disastrous. With the exception of some of its traditional Tory suburbs, and Bury, I'm proud of the good people of the city of Manchester to keep Labour in control and reward them for the amazing and courageous regeneration of this city. Also Liverpool seems to have had gains by Labour. So I think Mr Cameron is premature to this that based on results from the South he will be allowed into Downing Street that easily. I think Labour supporters (and Lib Dems too) need to put a big fight to put the privileged and unrepresentative Tory classes out of power and in opposition. It would be a disaster for anywhere other than the sleepy home counties if Tories were to rule this country again. Keep them out and start the fightback against them now!
Complain about this comment
For a long time now the Labour flavour has been off. We have an overcomplicated system in ever facet of our lives. I worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau as a volunteer for 5 years and people would come in in tears, just trying to fill in the forms. G Brown loves to control everything. We are so over taxed and get little value from the money this government take ad spend. We are tired of someone telling us they know how to spend our money. MPs have lost touchwith the reality that we all live with, we are over taxed, over governed, over watched, and less free than at anytime in history. Anyone who can improve on this has got to be a better bet, and it certainly is not Labour, no matter who leads them.
Complain about this comment
I totally agree with shellingout's comment earlier.
"Harriet Harman said on the TV that they must start listening to the people" she has just repeated this comment this on Radio 5.
If Labour has been in power for 10 years and only just realised that part of that responsibity is to listen to your people then it is no wonder why they are despised by much of the country.
Complain about this comment
I agree with one posting that said the reaction is not a vote for the Conservatives but a protest against Labour. Gordon Brown has no one to blame but himself and his morally defunct government.
If the Labour party wouldn't accept economic downturn as an excuse in the 1990's then they can hardly expect anyone to believe that from the so called Prudent Iron Chancellor.
As for Harriet Harman and her comments on listening, she is an infantile characature frankly whose only position apart from Conservative bashing is her out-dated feminist views. They should have been listening BEFORE the election and rather proves the point that it is their way or no way.
I think it is time they both started the speech circuit, don't you?
Complain about this comment
Some of these posts read like people have waited since 1997 to get rid of Labour. Interesting because people were desperate to get rid of the Tories then!
There should have been a proper contest for PM just like the Tories had because it looks like the Blair years were just a training period for Gordon. Cannot blame Labour for the difficult economic climate now, but it has crippled itself by pouring money into various wars.
I cannot see a way out of this for Labour. I do not think the Tories will improve things because they will have to support the wars and the economic climate may remain but that does not matter - the fact is, they will be in power.
Labour - 1997 has shown that they are electably.
Tories - Never agree to have a power transfer pact.
Complain about this comment
Nick,
Do you REALLY believe that the large number of Labour MPs in marginal seats are going to wait aound while poor hapless old Gordon loses them their seats? Never. Remember Margaret of blessed memory? A few of her foot soldiers feared losing their seas and slung her, somewhat uncerimoniusly, out. If the back bench troops can do it to her, there is little hope for Gordon. Prediction: He will not lead this rabble into the next election.
Complain about this comment
Many Labour MP's must now feel that they are dead men/women walking.
By default, the Tories will fill-the-boots as Labour are probably ejected at the next General Election.
But, overall, in effect, the cosy party duopoly continues to have its malign effect on us English.
This is a doleful prospect because it still leaves us English marooned in a political no-man's-land.
Until we English start electing some genuinely independent people, nothing will really change for the English.
Complain about this comment
If Harriet Harman had occasionally kept her mouth closed during the past 10 years, she would have heard what people had to say.
New Labour - Old Cant.
Complain about this comment
This is the end for Labour. The next Government will be a Tory government. We'll have to wait and see if Cameron's New Tories hace really changed since they were last in power. I'll never vote for them but I'm hoping they have.
It's a sad day for those of us who voted for Labour with high hopes in their 1997 landslide victory, but they have lost the trust of the people and deserve to be out of office. Let's hope that the next generation Labour Party will have learned from the mistakes of Blair and Brown.
Complain about this comment
Labour has lost the centre ground which it dominated for the best part of 10 years with Tony.
Gordons oafish nature has lead to extremism and lost the centre ground.
Saying that I don't think either the Libs or Torys dominate the centre ground either.
No one does - Labour take note. Reallign policies to the centre ground, boot Brown as the "Brown Bounce" has clearly rebounded you in the face and left you with a bloody nose, ditch Darling and reshuffle to an effective cabinet?
By the way where is the rest of the cabinet these days, are they in seculusion for fear of speaking out against the oaf? The time has come Labour it happened to Callaghan, people start to drift and the Labour party becomes fragmented and divided can only mean loss at the next election
Complain about this comment
The majority of respondents to this blog have nailed it. The Labour "experiment" was the same old Labour policy of tax and spend.
When labour first came to power in 1997 Gordon started off his theving ways by pillaging the pensions of HARD WORKING individals to the tune of £5bn a year and applying a "wind fall tax" on utility companies.
We were told that this would be spent on schools and health. Well now we know where it went. It went on employing idiots who decided the best strategy to improve statistics was to lower the standards. Now businesses have to contend with employing people who can barely read, spell or perform basic maths.
But we shouldn't be surprised an uneducated electorate won't be able to understand the issues and will aways vote labour. So the more thick people Labour produce the better for them .
The majority of thick people seem to exist within the Labour party. When the 10p tax band was abolished by GB himself hardly anyone from the labour backbenchers raised it as an issue. In fact the majority of them cheered and applauded the fat thieving fool and went on record to claim what a genius he was !
Lets also not forget one of the key drivers behind the house price explosion of the last 10 years. Very few commenatators have even mentioned it.
After pillaging the pensions pot for 3 years (1997 -2000) we had a stock market correction in 2000 when the dotcom bubble caused market returns to fall further. Then we had the sept 11 event which pushed market returns even lower.
The combination of these events on market sentiment and the Dick Turpin approach to raising tax revenues caused people to abandon stock market related investements. The negative economic sentiment that existed between 2000-2003 meant the Bank of England was in a cycle of reducing interest rates to bolster the economy.
Low interest rates and the abondonment of long term stock market investments due to the change in taxation policy meant people moved into housing as an alternative pension strategy. very quickly people started realising that the more they borrowed , the more they over-extended then potentally the more they could make.
Fatty Brown started to realise what a nice little cash cow this was becoming and so rather than tell the FSA to clamp down on lenders over extending credit he actively encouraged it. He realised that as prices go up the Govt gets more tax 1% of 100,000 is better than 1% of 50,000. So up went the stamp duty on house prices at various levels of purchase.
The inaction by Brown et al to reign in the abhorrant lending practices of banking institutions has been another dispicable example of mismanagement by this fool and his stupid supporters.
Economic prudence has been exposed as incompetence. (Telling the markets your selling the gold before you do it forced the gold price down even further and ensured as a coutry we got an even lower price.)
Genuine prosperity has been exposed as a debt lead spending spree.
Investment in education has been nothing more than statistical manipulation of the facts.
Investment in the health service has seen increases in MRSA, cDif ,QUANGOs like NICE and the worst Percentage increase of obesity lead diseases this century !
As for removing more children from poverty well they're about to fall straight back in to poverty. The 10p tax debacle , the rising costs of fuel and food which are largely fed by high oil prices is perhaps the greatest threat to the poor.
Green policies well a truly environmentally aware governement would have invested heavily through the tax system in a WIDE range of alternative energies. Solar , biofuels etc Doing so could have mitigated some of the increases in energy costs that as a nation we now face.
Finally as for the lie of encouraging businesses to grow and employ more people this idiots changes to the tax system are actually forcing LARGE companies out of the uk and overseas because of the changes to the tax system !!!
Well done Mr Brown (or should that be Mr Clown) keep up the good work. You'll be out of office soon.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Ive never understood why the tories are viewed as having no policies. Labour have been cherry-picking the good ones for the best part of two years now.
Yesterday I visited polling stations 3 times either to vote or in my work, each occasion I found they were packed out. The old chestnut of "voter apathy" is a myth i believe, when people object to something they will come out and vote.
One of your earlier poster's hit the nail on the head, people just want a simple life, time and the finances to enjoy life without government waste and interference are paramount to us normals in the street. life is too complicated, to many restrictions and controls are placed upon us all. could it be that the people have finally had enough?
Complain about this comment
Well you say there can be no spinning, but the BBC seemed much happier talking to Labour ministers than the victorious Conservatives. Not your fault, mind.
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
Complain about this comment
skynine @ #5: ‘The guy was and is a "sub prime" financial disaster. The great socialist experiment has failed and we the taxpayers will pay the price.’
Yes, I totally agree on the sub prime financial disaster. However I am mystified about why right wingers call this government socialist. All their policies are neothatcherite: the PFIs, wasting taxpayers money to advertise NHS hospitals to taxpayers (the internal market invented by the Tories), taxing the poor dry, i.e. the poor pay far more tax (particularly when you add Council Tax and indirect taxation) as a proportion of their income than the rich, let alone the super rich. With regards to the trillion credit bubble that is now bursting, contrary to popular belief this has not been directly the result of NuLab actions, it has been the result of the deregulation of the banking system on the grounds of market fundamentalism = identikit Tory policies. NuLab and the Tories have identical policies with regards to ‘free markets’ and public services: Privatise public services to put them in the hands of private monopolists with a license to print money, e.g., airports, railways, etc. Public services = socialism; private monopolies = free markets, this is, in a nutshell, the LabCon policy.
In fact, there was only one tiny difference between NuLab and the Tories, one that Gordo quickly put to rest: NuLab under Tony supported Euro membership. Nahh, said Gordo, I'm not having that, do you know the billions the banks would stand to lose if they had to forego the extortionate currency exchange commissions that they charge the tens of millions of British holidaymakers and businesspeople visiting the Eurozone? We would have to compensate them with tax credits...Well; they have done that now anyway…
Complain about this comment
Poor Gordon, he waited years for his dream job and it's turning into the stuff of nightmares.
Complain about this comment
You can be sure that all we will hear today from the loony left is "we need to listen to the voters".
Well listen to this Gordon Brown
- Slash the obscene petrol/diesel taxes
- give me the referendum you "promissed" on the EU constitution and stop taking me for a complete fool by calling it a reform treaty
- stop pouring money into the NHS and instead just run it properly
- slash immigration
- give low paid workers an incentive to actually go to work instead leaching from the benefit system - this is supposed to be a safety net, not a way of life.
- give our farmers a level playing and renegotiate the Common Agricultural Policy so its in our favor and not the French, you govan this country remember!
- Then when you've done all that, move over and let somebody competent take charge.
Complain about this comment
Did anyone notice Gordon's body language in the BBC News TV interview just now? He was squirming and backpedalling at a rate of knots. Still plenty of spin though. "We will learn the lessons.....I will listen and lead"...what clap trap.
I did notice that Gordon kept on repeating himself and taking up air time, so reporters could not ask many questions. He made a very quick exit. So much for that then.
Complain about this comment
I remember when I first dispaired at new labour... it was about 7 years ago when I noticed that my children's junior school had been fully equipped with the latest electronic whiteboards with computer projection screens in every classroom.
Over the 3 years that my children were at the school I often asked them if/when this equipment was used.... and it was almost never used. It is no exaggeration that my children had higher IT skills than the teachers.
Its this sort of throwing of money at solutions that had not been fully thought through that was the turning point when prudent Brown's policy of waste started.
PLEASE just resign Mr Brown, and call a general election!
Complain about this comment
Bet you a tenner that the London elections see a similar disaster to the Scottish vote with tons of spoilt papers.
I live outside London but apparently the 4 ballot papers with different systems caused a lot of confusion.
If Boris wins in London it will be a heroic performance because the system with second preference votes was obviously designed to keep a Conservative candidate out.
Complain about this comment
If Labour could wake up to the fact that "do as I say, not as I do", is not a sensible way to run a country and try to stop treating people as if they were resources they control, rather than individual sentient beings, then I'm sure they've have done better yesterday.
Oh yes, and trying to pretend that inflation is a good 2-3% less than it is is also a jape that is starting to get old (taxing people to the hilt is one thing, taxing them and giving them a yearly pay cut is another).
Complain about this comment
I am beginning to think the writing is on the wall for Gordon Brown.
I have detected signs over the last few days that even his most loyal support base is becoming disillusioned with his leadership and may be preparing to shift allegiance to one of the cyborgs that have infiltrated the Cabinet.
Am I the one only who has noticed that Charles Hardwidge can no longer bring himself to Hail the Blessed Leader at the end of every post?
Complain about this comment
Labour are finished and good riddance. Historians will rate this as the worst goverment this country has ever had! They inherited a great economy in 97 and destroyed it. Typical tax and waste socialism! It will take the Tories another 10 years just to clear up the mess.
Dont even get me started on the EU non-vote! I despise Labour!
Complain about this comment
Harriet Harman says the Labour Party will start listening.
Tony Blair PROMISED to listen at the time of the last general election when the position of his party looked tenuous.
Complain about this comment
When Gordon Brown was christened Prudent in 1997 and the UK did a fandango over the New Labour victory, I sat quietly bemused at the way the voters had been so well and truly scammed. New Labour? no just a wolf in sheep's clothing!!
Truth is Major should have lost the election in the early '90's and an unprepared Labour party should have been in power for 4 years whilst the Torys regrouped..... Instead in '97 we got a vicious mean spirited greedy bunch of corrupt incompetents who persuaded all that they knew what they were doing.... I christened Brown Profligate and said we would rue the day we bought this dangerous group into power. I was roundly abused by my peers..best chancellor in years etc...well rid of the Tories....
well now you all know and it may well be too late.... This government has spent the last 11 years stripping all that is good out of the UK, stripping each and every citizen of not only birthright but all their cash, savings and sense of purpose. We now live in the most burdened society in the free world... This is no longer a pleasant land, it is a sink estate governed by possibly the most incompetent corrupt and unpleasant people imaginable.
Uncomfortable words? perhaps but think back over the last few years.... Rail, MG, pensions, taxes, fuel..... Mandleson, Home Secretary x 3, the list goes on...
And we allowed the most incompetent chancellor in living memory to take control after 10 years of this debacle? I weep, I truly weep....
Can we recover? I would like to think so but fear the damage may just be too great.
And perhaps Poprishchin has a point!!
Complain about this comment
Since becoming PM, Brown has been revealed to be the empty vessel he is, without the ability, vision or charisma to match his ambition. But I didn't imagine the public would give their verdict quite so emphatically!
I bet Blair is kicking himself that he decided to quit Parliament. Even Iraq didn't hurt Labour as much as Brown's dithering incompetence. Restoring Blair as leader is probably the only hope they would have had of surviving the next election. It looks like Cameron is going to get in by default.
Complain about this comment
The chickens are coming home to roost.
People are realising what a charlatan Brown has been throughout his chancellorship and now his premiership.
Ordinary working people are utterly fed up with being snooped on and used by Brown as a cash-cow and the utter leniency shown by Nu Lab towards chavs, criminals, cheats and all manner of hangers-on.
There's no way back for Brown. His reputation is finished.
Nu Lab cannot win the next general election.
Complain about this comment
At last the british public have had a chance to go to the polls and have given labour and Mr Brown the resounding vote of no confidence.
24% of the vote is embrassing and he along with the cabinet should go to the country and have a general election.
Maybe the Tories are no better but at least we would have the chance to refresh and bring about some youthfull approach to things.
Labour has reverted back to high spending and high tax to help the poor.
In my view some of the poor want to be poor and live on benifits and contribute nothing,while some strive to improve themselves and there familes.
TIME TO GO GORDON AND GO QUICKLY
Complain about this comment
Nick, we mustn't knock poor GB too much because if we do, and there's a post election coup to remove the PM, we might end up with a human being as PM. That might cause probs for DC!
Complain about this comment
I've noticed that Charles Hardwidge can't bring himself to write "All hail blessed leader" too.
All Hail The "Shallow Salesman"!!!
Complain about this comment
As an old labour supporter can I be one of the first to welcome last nights results. Labour got what it clearly deserved and I was especially heartened by the lack of support in traditional heartland areas.
I'm sure we'll hear (again) more about listening but surely, even Labour, realise this can only work so many times. The time for listening has come and gone, I would suggest a little more action - our actions define us.
Labour makes billions available when business requires and seemingly the trickle down has been so successful that we can now remove the 10 pence rate. Labour's actions on Northern Rock and the 10 rate more than anything defines its new values!
Good luck in the general election. You know you're in trouble when you start to loose Scotland.
Complain about this comment
NuLabour is finished.
Nobody wants to listen to these self righteous preachers anymore.
At the first opportunity to defeat the government (42 day detention) the Tories need to call a vote of no confidence and get rid of this dithering bunch of policy free zealots.
Complain about this comment
Here is a message to the Labour Party from me - a traditional Labour voter who will never vote for them ever again if they continue being pretend tories.
1. Stop trying to deflect people with the message that the tories have no policies. Start re-learning a basic lesson, people don't vote an opposition in, they vote a government out. The oppositions policies are irrelevant, it's the anger with the incumbent that counts.
2. Start being the Labour Party we your core vote want. Stop the right to buy, start large scale council house building.
3. Secure our borders properly irrespective of whether the visitors/tourists/immigrants are EU or non-EU citizens. Nobody gets in to this country - not even British Citizens - without being properly checked and their ID and reight of entry thoroughly scrutinised.
4. Stop running the country the way you think it should be run and start running it the way we the majority of the people want it run over every issue, all the time. If you are not prepared to do that then you aren't actually of any use.
5. Keep your fingers out of our till. You are in Parliament to serve us, not line your pockets.
6 Keep Hazel Blears off the TV. She is so irritating it is unbelievable. The same goes for that Cooper woman and Ruth Kelly. They only have to open their mouths and your vote goes down.
Complain about this comment
"Unprecedently"? Or "unprecedentedly".
Complain about this comment
Misuse of English
Complain about this comment
Charles E Hardwidge.......
I note with some amusement that you now no longer end all your posts with:
"All hail Blessed Leader!"
Has something happened recently to change your once fanatical view?
Please let us know what has caused such a dramatic ommission!
Complain about this comment
So Labour will start to listen?
These are desperate times for the Government and they only have themselves to blame.
Way too late to start listening, they have been told enough times but they continued on their path of self destruction.
This Country is ready for a change and the sooner the better before they do anymore damage.
Gordon Brown has been given his chance and has failed time after time. He quite simply is not good enough - we deserve much better!!!!
Complain about this comment
I think the problem with Labour is that they have predicted the reason for their loses without really knowing for sure. Why make such big messes of economic policy in the weeks leading up to the election if it was at the front of their minds economic issues could cost votes?
The repeated comments blaming the economy I dont think is totally realistic of the picture.
Its way more complex than that and most public blogs and comments pages are highlighting issues far apart from the economy. Most people focus heavily on the fact that Labour has little principle direction as a party as they more and more turn right wing in policy.
Other issues of great tension is immigration, overseas workers, cultural changes, the governments ongoing challenges to civil liberties and so on.
The government is totally ignoring the political mindset of the average voter and the frustration many feel over poverty, pay, overseas workers and the like.
People feel this country under the helms of Labour is or has lost its sense of innate Britishness to the extent it doesnt know what it is anymore and doesnt seek the interests to speak up for people living and working here all their lives.
These issues may be controversal but its losing Labour votes if they dont face these sensibly.
I feel the Lib dems lost out in part as many voted conservative in some marginal seats to rid the councils of Labour and also because generally in this climate the Lib Dems are seen as more 'soft' on europe, immigration and encourage high taxation.
The conservatives on the other hand seem to offer a backbone of principles, even though policy at this stage may be weak.
They generally are strong minded on europe, overseas workers, taxation, reducing regulation and immigration.
Until Labout stops driving everyone around in circles with its crowd of press officers and spin doctors it will not go much longer in the race.
Why vote Labour when its really a conservative party that doesnt provide. Its lost face. People want the real deal now and the polls show that.
Get back to your roots Labour and stand your own ground and stop looking like a bunch of champaigne socialists that take people for granted while you push a right wing agenda to win middle ground and right wing votes.
Complain about this comment
The 10p tax change was the shortest suicide note in history. They're behind you Gordon!
Complain about this comment
Thank goodness the great British public have recognised New Labour for what it is and always has been, high tax and high spend.
To add to our grief and waste even more of our money they have added a massive doses of mindless form filling and process (e.g. tax credits etc etc)
The education system that Labour promised to reform is a pathetic joke, I work in Europe and the standards are far higher than in the UK.
Whilst in the US the government is sending out tax refunds to help people and even Spain has a budget surplus. What do we get in the UK, more tax on drink and fags, more income tax for the lower paid, council tax has doubled, car tax has doubled (if you are lucky)...oh and please stop using plastic bags or we might tax them as well!
Gordon if you really are listening.....please go now.
PS. Good luck Boris.
Complain about this comment
Nick
The Labour Goverment is and has been delighted to say Brown is a real "heavyweight" .......The bigger they are the harder they fall, last night and today has proved that good old boxing saying is as true in Politics as is in boxing
Down and counting 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8,.......
Complain about this comment
Paul Thurrott rightfully screamed about Microsoft looking like they'd never release a third service pack for Windows XP but it’s nearly here. I may bang my head on the desk over the Prime Minister’s current difficulties but that’s no judgement on his delivery. Watch this space!
Complain about this comment
the government say they will listen after this crushing defeat in the elections, well listen to this we are sick of you take 30% plus of our wages in tax and nationa linsurance, we are sick of you taking over £100 a month in council tax, we are sick of you take 80% in fule duty and doing nothing about the profiteering energy companies.we are sick of car and alcohol taxation to the point where public houses are closing down. Some of us have been saving for our retirement but since your tax rid on them they are now worth less unless we pump nearly double into them. We are sick of you ramming down our throats all this rubbish about carbon emmisions, and taxing everything that moves. We are sick of mass immigration which is goig to change the face of Britain for ever. We are sick of lies and spin and you selling us down the river to Europe. Basically we are sick of nearly every policy you have and now is the time to put up or shut up. We are sick of tax tax tax with no onvious benefits to the country. ex Labour supporter who is turnig blue (Tory) with rage
Complain about this comment
Labour MP's say they will listen, YOU HAVE HAD 11 YEARS TO LISTEN!
I have a big smile because for the 1st time, a major labour stronghold in Nuneaton and Bedworth finally became Conservative, it last was the 1st to gain BNP concillors!
The mayor-elect LOST his seat last night, a major casualty of the inept Labour council that Nuneaton had to suffer.
When will Labour listen?
Never, they all live in their own universe, thinking everything they do is good for us when its actually going to cause major upset to the vast majority of the British people.
Remember, no referendum on the EU consitiution, no word on how Northern Rock should have been handled, no word over the 10p tax issue.
Here in Nuneaton, Labour were kicked big time because of many LOCAL issues
1.They planned to knock down and rebuild a major estate and then stopped when the builders pulled out
2.Built a shopping centre and make it worse by rejecting many plans of it before.
3.Making the local Football Club suffer by asking for money it cannot repay, which may cause it to go into Administration.
4.People voted against the Labour gimmick of the lowest council tax rise in Warwickshire, knwoing full well it will go up if they were re-elected.
It was not national issues which decided Nuneaton, it was the local issues which kicked Labour out of power and ushered in The Tories and the BNP!
Complain about this comment
Statement from the Prime Minister : "I've listened and learned" and "I will focus relentlessly on the public's priorities"
Gordon Brown 2008 ? Nope. Tony Blair 2005.
Statement in reaction to the local election results : "We have got to show we are listening to people's concerns and we are going to respond to them"
Gordon Brown - May 2008 ? Nope. Gordon Brown - May 2004.
Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.
Complain about this comment
Gob smacking stuff on the BBC last night - Ed Miliband looked like a cornered hare - no matter how much he blustered he couldn't square the mess Labour have got themselves into by their arrogance and lack of listening to the people.
Gordon Brown has failed. No excuses, no Clare Short sniping from the sidelines, nobody else to blame. Just have-it-all-my-way-Gordon and his round table of champagne socialists to take the hit.
It's time to ditch Gorden, Ed, Harriet and the rest of them before it's too late - there's just time to get a new PM into Number 10 before 2010 and the even worst disaster of David Cameron and his band of Eton toffs get their hands on the levers of power.
Ed Miliband's smarter, elder brother is the man for the job I'd reckon; young, intelligent, ruthless and charismatic. Someone in the Blair mould to reset the whole New Labour experiment. Hopefully someone who can cut out the cancer of incompetence from the Labour government before we end up with Boris Johnson's 'noblesse oblige' mates in government.
Complain about this comment
@julianmoss. You make a valid point
Gordon Brown has hurt Labour more than the Iraq war.
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown's fundamental problem is nobody likes him!
Complain about this comment
I'm hoping that the Tories have the sense to work more closely with the SNP in Scotland.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, the SNP are proving popular in Scotland, and the more SNP seats, the less Labour...
... and the SNP *don't* vote on purely English issues.
That's worth considerable support from the English taxpayer.
The Tories fail to win some older industrial cities in England? If Labour loses a decent tranche of its Scottish seats - it won't matter.
Complain about this comment
Recent history suggest that the British eloctorate is, in the main, an apathetic body. Of those who do bother to vote, change is not exactly their preference! However, if the reults so far are anything to go by, several conclusions may be drawn. Ultimately, elections are only won and lost based on those who make the effort to vote. Given that the proportion of these is more likely to fall than rise based on recent trends, Labour has now fallen too far to come back. The key word in all of these discussions is confidence. It is difficult to place too much faith in a Prime Minister who, for ten years, was the unquestioned architect of the financial positon over which he now presides. Also, there is a saying in the world of sales whcih says: under promise and over deliver. Therefore, if as a prime minister you make any promises, you absolutely have to deliver on them. This is non negotiable. The 10p tax band fiasco is the biggest case of political suicide which I've ever seen. Brown has succeeded in alienating the one group of people whose support he could most count on by breaking a promise to them. In addition, this group is the lowest paid group. Imagine how let down they feel by a party which has traditionally pertained to be their natural ally. The dithering over calling a general election will come back to haunt Gordon Brown. He showed a lack of conviction and wobbled. The British people are happier with a leader who does what they say they are going to do. Finally, the extent to which his decision as Chancellor to hand over financial decision making to the Bank of England will ultimately prove flawed is beginning to become clearer. The time taken to act over Northern Rock was yet another example of a ditherer who was incapable of making a frim decision. It is all very well to point out that such a decision was in the hands of the Bank of England. However, the decision to nationalise the Northern Rock was eventually and inevitably made by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. Hardly the stuff to inspire confidence in an electorate worried stiff over the prospect of rising mortgage payments, household fuel, car fuel, basic food costs and the impending gloom of recession. As much as this has been a vote to express disapproval and dissatisfaction in Gordon Brown's administration, it has also been a landmark decision by the electorate to turn to the Conservatives. Not so much through being forced to (although this has certainly helped) but more through the fact that the Conservatives have made their promises sensible and realistic. They need do no more than what they are currently doing to enter government with a landslide in 2010. One thing is certain. Given that the time it takes for Gordon Brown is reassuringly slow, we can take it that he will occupy No.10 until the very bitter end.
Complain about this comment
Right. Now if we agree that GB and labour are on the way out (note the use of lower-case l for labour), what do we want to start rebuilding this Country.
If I can start, what I want is
1 Government for ALL of the population.
2 Simplification of laws and taxes so that we can understand them
3 An annual report for Great Britain plc, like my company to show us what we are paying and how it is spent., to strict guidelenes and showing all off-balance transactions, Northern Rock, PFI - rememeber that this was how Enron went down the drain and the bosses jailed.
Now its your turn.
Please try to be constructive.
Complain about this comment
Reiner_Toreheit
The Tories voted in favour of the Iraq war and would no doubt be even closer to the Bush administration from 2000 onwards than Blair was, and certainly Brown is. Of course Cameron or Howard don't take any flak for the war because they weren't in power- but maybe you should take a look back in history if being a Yankee poodle troubles you so much- Thatcher-Reagan era perhaps?
Complain about this comment
Ok Gordon
If you are so intent on listening try this:
TIME TO QUIT.
Cause lets face it you'll make a mint on the dole.
Complain about this comment
What amazes me more and more about Brown is his inability to CONNECT. He seems (tell me I'm wrong, Nick, if I am) positively scared of facing the press, unconvincing with the public, shy and distant with voters. What comes across VERY strongly is a sense that he is uneasy in the role.
Now, I know we are talking here about the local elections, but how you handle the fallout from them is key. Gordon doesn't seem to know how to do that. He appears increasingly like a nervous rabbit caught in the headlights.
Someone in the Labour Party must for the good of that party (by the way, I am no supporter) get GB either to show real connection with voters or get out of the way and allow a successor to turn the ship around.
Sorry, Gordon. It's crunch time. Clearly you won't do for voters: does your ambition to be PM have to be at the expense of your party being ousted from power? Please don't say there is time to affect an election outcome. There isn't. The rot has set in. People don't believe in you or, even more importantly, believe you. Read the signs, and then - go.
Complain about this comment
Empty heads voted Labour into power now Empty pockets are voting them out.
Complain about this comment
Perhaps contributors here should keep their comments to a few paragraphs.
Most of us don't have the time to read anything too deep and give the lengthy replies a miss.
Complain about this comment
The truth is, the Labour party have lost the trust of the British people. It happened with the tories and now it's happening with so called 'New labour'. They'll do us all a great favour if they hire a large ship, get on board, then simply sail away into the sunset. I won't be sorry to say goodbye to a party that has shown it likes to make tough decisions for small people and no decisions at all for big people. All is gloom and doom!
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown displays the classic 'deputy' syndrome.
He's been a 'number two' for years, looking at Tony Blair and saying, sotto voce, 'gi'us the job, I could do that'.
Now he's discovered there's a whole lot more to it than appeared from merely watching Blair do it.
Complain about this comment
So, "Culpability" Brown says that his job is to listen and lead! nil out of two so far then. When are the public going to realise that "not voting" is not regarded by Politicians as a protest, but as a sign of acceptance. If only 10% voted and one party got 6% ,then they would claim a landslide. Voting should be compulsory, with a fine for not voting, and the idiots who say they tore up their ballots in protest deserve more Nulab.
Complain about this comment
Prudent Gordon was Lucky Gordon. The good years were down to his careful management - the bad and worse to come years are down to external factors. You suggest that Labour MPs are not seeking to replace him Nick, I say give them time.
Complain about this comment
So Labour say they will now listen and act. By doing what? Increasing taxes to continually fund a bloated and out of control Public Sector? We are being governed by Lawyers and Barristers who have no conception of reality. When will Governments start to listen to people who actually have to run business's, understand cashflow and know how to make a profit - although that is becoming more and more difficult! I am becoming increasingly frustrated at the continual waste of money in the Public Sector yet nobody seems to be prepared to do anything about it.
Or am I just a grumpy old man!
Complain about this comment
No wonder he did not want to have a leadership election, he can't win arguments, he's always on the back foot and his catchphrase "prudence" has well and truly been ditched. We now find what most of us probably knew from the outset HE CANNOT WIN ELECTIONS. NOWS NOWT, DOES KNOWT IS KNOWT. "Clunking great fist" more like ham fisted. Oh happy day.
Complain about this comment
re: Millibands et alia taking over..
I would be aghast at the prospect of the 'Labour Party' voting in a new leader without a General Election. That would fly in the face of the very democratic principles upon which that party was founded!
Ooops! I just realised they already did that when Blair resigned. Ho Hum.
Complain about this comment
Any gov that has been in for 11 years is liable to lose popularity. The phrase 'time for a change' resonates more with the electorate. I am unconvinced by mos tof the other reasons/excuses which the Westminster village is putting out.
Complain about this comment
Hi Nick,
How anyone say Gordon Brown did a good job as Chancellor simply astounds me. The fact that there exists this myth of the 'prudent chancellor who put and end to boom and bust' beggars belief. It would appear to be based on the same mistaken belief that Alan Greenspan was a great Fed Chairman. He was clueless. (to put it mildly.)
Gordon Brown raided the piggy bank while the times were good to waste the money on frivolous persuits, foolishly believing that simply throwing money at a problem will solve it. He systematically destroyed the pensions industry and increased the overall tax burden in his underhanded attempt to increase tax revenues to pay for all his white elephants.
I think of abolition of the ACT tax credit, idiotic windfall taxes on the energy companies and utilities and the horrendus auction of 3G licenses, all of which hurt the very companies which pension funds are big investors in and derive a lot of their income from their dividends.
In fact the only thing he did which was good was granting the Bank of England independence.
Nothing was put away during the good times and now the government is reaping the harvest of it's horrendus fiscal policies. "Brown, who was clueless at the helm of the Treasury" rings more true than anything else.
That there is no one in the ranks of Labour who is better as the PM is a clear demonstration of how incompetent Labour has become.
Complain about this comment
So Gordon's response is we will start listening.
Ok what have you been doing for the last 10 years.
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown is like the manager of bad and underperforming football team that has been deservedly beaten. He cannot accept that the other team was superior to his, played better and deployed superior tactics. He blames everyone and everything but himself and his leadership. In truth, the electors have recognised that the Tories are a superior party with better policies and more able politicians. Nothing Gorgon can do will alter that.
Complain about this comment
Some BBC correspondents, i.e. Robinson and Peston, are very good at stabbing a falling guy. I want to know who these 'insiders on both sides' are, who are expecting a Boris Johnson win? I wonder if Mr. Robinson, an ex young conservative, would treat his old chums in the same manner if they ever manage to get back in government. I am no fan of Labour, but I find Mr. Robinson's blogs very anti-Labour, which goes totally against BBC's impartial stance.
Complain about this comment
What appears to be missing from this debate is the fact that, based on last nights results, the Lib Dems truly will hold the key to the balance of power - which party will make ovetures in our direction? It will be interesting to see if Boris wins the first round of votes in London - but Lib Dems put Ken back on their second preferences.
Complain about this comment
Nick
How did the BNP do? I think that If they do well then that's another thing that New Labour has to claim responsibility for.
Complain about this comment
mikepko (post 79) asks "What do we want to start rebuilding this Country" and requests constructive comments.
Fine.
You have to start at the beginning, which means defining what you mean by 'country'.
As far as I can see, it is totally asinine to carry on pretending that the zombie political entity known as 'Britain' continues to serve any useful purpose, except for certain politicians at Westminster.
So, if you are English, Scottish or Welsh, then the starting point, in your head, truly is 'What can I do for my country?'.
Everything else, politically speaking, can flow from that premise.
Complain about this comment
Remember MacMillan's words (I'm not quite old enough to remember him saying them) "You've never had it so good"? I think many people are feeling that they cannot remember when they had it so bad.
Complain about this comment
Poor though the labour party's results may have been yesterday they hide a considerable problem in both local and national government elections in England, that of proportional representation. Yet again in Manchester there is only one Conservative elected member which cannot represent the votes made by the electorate. The so-called "first past the post" system, which would be more correctly called the largest number system, has yet again delivered councils which do not reflect the share of votes cast in the election. Time and again we have been promised electoral reform by the labour party only to see them avoid instituting effective reform in national and local government elections in England. It is scandalous that the English are shackled with a system which delivers unfair representation and guarantees the perpetuation of left/right politics and the protection of the professional political classes.
Complain about this comment
Ok just saw the latest results Labour is down 214.
These guys haven't been beaten or got a bloody nose. They have been thrashed to within an inch of their existence.
If Gordon Brown is not under some really serious pressure to stand down now then the Labour Party deserves to be demolished. He has to change this silly record of "listening and learning", "setting out visions" etc. That white wash is just rubbish not one single person in this country believes him. He set out a vision for a strong economy as chancellor and we see what long term impact that has.
Apart from short changing people with the new tax laws and getting short changed in not getting to vote for a new prime minister when TB resigned I think Gordons days are numbered and deservedly so.
Where have all the fresh ideas and policies and enthusiasim that gripped 97 gone? Out the door it seems in TBs suitcase me thinks. Someone has to step up to the plate and have the strength to oust this absolute and abhorrent failure of a PM.
I implore the rest of the country and those Labour councillors ousted from their posts to oust Gordon!
Complain about this comment
I seem to remember a few years ago Tony Blair saying that the Labour Party was going to start listening to people.
To whom have they been listening? So, come on, prime minister Brown keep to your word this time. (A little humility wouldn't go amiss either.)
Complain about this comment
Are things really that bad!? The country is enjoying the lowest unemployment since the war, inflation is stable and low, crime is historically low, schools and hospitals have drastically improved over the last 10 years.
Although we are in turbulent economic times, the macro economic factors of the country are still very positive. Particularly when we view this globally.
I agree that Gordon Brown is not the most charasmatic leader, however, he has not made many mistakes. I don't think that Cameron would provide any better policies and his European stance is unprogressive and will hinder the UK in the long term.
Complain about this comment
I find this vilification of GB very strange. Yes, he's clunky and Scots but compared to TB he is charm and honesty itself. Is this just a delayed reaction to TB or is it just a way of expressing fear about the economy.
Complain about this comment
I am still amazed that more people are not jumping up and down over the issue of tax.
Over the last 10 years we have seen more of our pay packets disappear in tax. There have been massive increases in national insurance contributions, a 100% rise in council tax, a huge increase in the costs of housing, petrol and food.
At the same time we have seen Gordon Brown decimate the pension schemes of this country, swelled the numbers of state employed work to such levels that we are on a par with old soviet Russia and allowed the unions to raise there head to the detriment of the country.
Britain has had enough and the sooner a general election the better
Britain has had enough and the sooner a general election the better
Complain about this comment
Not a bad night. It is "bad nights"!
When things are being supported by the media, it is fine - people can learn and re-learn, even from school days.
But when time is up, then time is up!
I like the system, it changes very quickly to reflect the facts that some one did not their job properly - it happened in Tony's time, Thacher's, etc.
War has never been an answer to making more money - not in this age.
Troops to come home!
Complain about this comment
Re Post 7 Yes I would like to add to the list of bad things Labour has done to the country, the first thing and most importantly is that they have put three million people back to work, now you would think that enough of a disgrace wouldn't you but then they rather stupidly got thousands of people off the poverty line by introducing the minimum wage, of course the other two major parties opposed that, it was ridiculous it was going to close down businesses and throw people out of work and they were right weren't they? then of course they made matters a lot worse, they gave pensioners a £200 winter allowance now we know they did'nt need that, the tories knew how stupid that was thats why they gave them £10, thats if the temperature dropped below zero for a week, that was much more sensible. Labour also gave them free TV licenses, why did they do that, we have to pay why shouldn't they. To go on with these dreadful errors. they started to build new hospitals and schools and they renovated all the old ones then they were stupid enough to equip them with new equipment like computers for the children and new xray equipment and such, what on earth did they waste money on that for, it worked fine before. Then they cut down dramaticaly waiting times for operations, people didn't want that, they used to enjoy waitng for a year or so, they could then prepare themselves better.They trained quite unnecsessarily !7 thousand more nurses what was that all about? then to top that they trained another 19 thousand more policemen absolutly stupid and look what that cost the country. I am quite sure that all the pregnant mothers out there dont feel they need the extra maternaty leave that labour brought in for them and there husbands they dont need that they want to work right up to the confinement, just like they used to do years ago. they gave us the lowest sustained interest rates since records began, and the lowest inflation rates for decades put I dont see nothing in that to brag about any party could have done that, then they wasted more money on paying the miners their compensation the Tories had the right idea make them wait, that makes more sense doesn't it, of course they then spoilt the fun of all us true sportsmen and women who love to get on our horses and with forty or so Fox hounds chase a little fox around until it either collapses from exhaustion or the hounds catch it and rip it to pieces, like wise a stag, but why on earth did they want to stop it, it was great fun.but then thats Labour for you always rather stupidly giving the lower classes their own way, As you say where the hell was Gordon Brown when that civil servant was puting the data in the wrong place and where was he when that naval officer left his laptop in his car why on earth wasn't he there checking on them,another thing why did he interfere with Northern Rock there was no reason for him to interfere it would have put thousands of people out of work and caused a unprecedented catastrophic run on the banks but why is that our responsibility why should we have to sort it out, then there's the referendum as you say they whittled it down by about two thirds and put in safeguards to do away with the things that had been a problem then they had the audacity to call it a treaty well we dont think it was but even if Ken Baker and Gummer agreed it was and there was nothing in there to fear, off course they should to be fair have sent a copy of the original constitution and a copy of the treaty to every voter in the country then we could have read the two of them and then we could have decided, it would have cost millions but it would have been fair.
Can't remember Gordon Brown saying he was going to hold an election though I can remember Cameron saying there would be and the media saying there would be but not Gordon Brown. I could go on but it makes me so angry that they have done nothing for the people. Have they???
Complain about this comment
Re 95 What policies are they then tell us about them has Cameron confided in you? go on enlighten us.
Complain about this comment
Might have been a bad night for labour, but it was an excellent night for Great Britain. Let
Complain about this comment
Might have been a bad night for Labour, but it was a great night for everyone else. Let`s just hope that Red Ken is despatched to history later today.
Complain about this comment
Well said realamorgan @101
But I am afraid you and I are in the minority. The English, it seems, don't want to live in a democracy. I think they fear the responsibility of doing so. In what other country could a government gain a 67 seat overall majority with only 34% of the votes cast. Zimbabwe perhaps?
In Scotland and Northern Ireland we can see the benefit of democracy at work. We could even see it in the London Assembly if it wasn't toothless but it is always good to use the results to see how the wind is blowing.
Complain about this comment
I’m an ex Young Tory and ex Liberal, and was called a sycophant yesterday. I'm not but neither is Nick's blog unfair. Actually, I think, it’s rather good. Most of the problem I see is that the British tend to be cluttered and insular. The Tories are playing on that and using George W. Bush style tactics to smear and bully their way into power. I think, with some care the Prime Minister will prove what a stand up guy he is and when peoples heads clear they'll see the anarchic bullies for who they are.
Complain about this comment
"For once there can be no spinning" - no disrespect, but what planet have you been on the last 24 hours Nick?!
Labour have all been spinning like crazy, blaming everyone else but themselves, they're telling us:
1) Gordon's wrecking of the economy is down to the Americans.
2) The high fuel prices are 100% down to the price of oil and have nothing to do with taxes.
3) The high food prices are purely down to global conditions, and the fact that nobody can afford to feed themselves in the uk has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Gordon's stolen all our money.
4) Council tax is fine; we're all happy with the level of council tax, and the fact that Labour's stealing Tory boroughs' money and giving it to their own labour heartlands instead is also fine.
5) We're all fine with the fact that Gordon's been stealing everybody's private/company pensions for the last 11 years via massive tax raids.
Early this morning I heard one labour mp on tv saying that a net-gain of 4 for conservatives coupled with a net-loss of 3 for labour in a council didn't indicate a shift in the vote for that council.
These people are clearly living on a different planet to the rest of us.
They're blaming everyone but themselves, but 99% of the current problems are caused by Gordon Brown personally, the remaining 1% are exacerbated by Gordon Brown personally. Labour need to wake up and see what people are really thinking/experiencing.
Complain about this comment
Just look at Redditch!!!!!
The town is where all the labour support is, suburbs/villages are all tory.
Looks like Jaqui Smith will be out next election.
Goodbye home secretary. x
Complain about this comment
104. At 1:14 pm on 02 May 2008, moorsey10 wrote:
"Are things really that bad!? The country is enjoying the lowest unemployment since the war, inflation is stable and low, crime is historically low, schools and hospitals have drastically improved over the last 10 years. Although we are in turbulent economic times, the macro economic factors of the country are still very positive. Particularly when we view this globally. I agree that Gordon Brown is not the most charasmatic leader, however, he has not made many mistakes. I don't think that Cameron would provide any better policies and his European stance is unprogressive and will hinder the UK in the long term".
I think moorsey10 is the blog logon ID for Ed Balls. (aka Nicholas Chauvin)
Complain about this comment
I'm hoping for a continuation of Gordon Brown's laughing stock policies.
Let's have more 10p tax gaffes; more non dom climb downs; more selling of gold at rock bottom prices; let's lose the whole country's data not just 25m peoples'; 42 day detention? Go for it Gordo.
The more of this shabby self righteous laughing stock are exposed to public scrutiny before the next election the better. So get Harman on the TV every night telling us we simply don't understand or appreiciate all the hard work this government has been doing. Get Yvette 'i don't understand the 10p tax debacle either` Cooper on so Paxo can anihilate her; get Ed husband of Yvette Cooper-Balls on so we can hear his weasel words. the ;list goes oin.
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown should do one of two things. He should either enunciate his political vision and policies for Britian in a fortright manner and adjust his Cabinet accordingly to implement that vision or he should resign forthwith.
I believe that Gordon Brown is a man of integrity who has the potential to be a great PM. He needs to lead from the front, disregarding crazy political correctness. He should listen to advice but act according to his own instincts which are Labour's core values of fair society.
Gordon Brown has passion and he shouldn't be afraid to display that every opportunity that he gets.
I suggest that he should shake off the shackles of minders, pollsters, and the daftness of some of the younger people he has surrounded himself with and get out more and meet the public. Cameron might have the looks and the soundbites, but Brown is a conviction politician. I am dismayed by the manner that matters have spiralled out of control since the good start he had when he replaced Tony Blair.
If he is not prepared to change his ways, he should resign forthwith and let someone else become leader of the Party and PM. I hope the former happens for Britain's sake.
Complain about this comment
GB will have forgotten his party's pounding by lunchtime, so assured is he of his righteous path. The people of the UK cannot survive on their 3% pay rises when they need 9/10% to cover inflation and his tax take. Insolvencies will soar, placing further pressure on the financial system. Meanwhile the cabinet will bunker up in their tin hats, looking for a conflict to detract from their woeful economic performance.
It is claimed we are wealthier then for a decade. How many feel wealthier? I don't know anyone who does. All I feel is pummelled by a tax system that makes the poor and elderly fill out 35 page begging forms for benefits they are due. Would David Cameron be any better? I am not utterly convinced but I sure as hell know he couldn't be any worse.
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown is John Major Reincarnated.... Gordon Brown naively believes that the British public had had enough of Blair's celebrity politics and were yearning for a grimacing leader to get on with the job, but he couldnt be more wrong. John Mccain is probably just as able as Clinton or Obhama, but is as inspirational as, say, err.... Gordon Brown, and for that very reason will not be elected by the US public. And by the way, the 10p tax issue is a red herring in labours defeat at the locals (how many 10p tax earners are there, and how many got out and voted ?).... Gordon has to wake up to personality politics.
Complain about this comment
Well Mr Brown - you now have confirmation that you can fool some of the people for some of the time - but when they catch up with you , they don't forgive being cheated out of promised referendums, stealth taxes - otherwise know as taxes by mis-representation, and most of all, they won't forgive you for treating them as fools. Please stay in the job as long as you can - we really don't want labour to win the next election.
Complain about this comment
For John Constable Number 99
I am English and think there should be an English parliament. I would like to see an English Parliament looking after domestic affairs but all of the parliaments coming together for areas such as Foreign Policy.
I would then like the parliament, intead of tinkering around the edges go back to first principle. From there simplify taxes and laws.
Most importantly, be fair to everyone and not treat one class at the expense of the others.
Everyone, I hope, believes in helping the poor and children, but things have got too far out of kilter with hard working people being stung to help a large number of people who really won't work.
Everyone can help themselves. Its certainly the case that many people won't do anything to help themselves and expect the government to look afterthem. This really rankles.
So I've started again. Over to you.
Complain about this comment
To those expressing the view that labour are as bad as the tories as they adopt tory policies I say this...
It's one thing to adopt an idea, it's another thing entirely in order to implement that idea.
If you want what are often good, well meaning ideas, then why not let the originators of the idea actually go through with them?
Ok, so to some degree all politicians are probably a bunch of bad apples, but one barrel of apples are at least part way competent!!!
Complain about this comment
grandantidote - Gave up on your post after 3/4 words and am sure its really interesting reading. I can perhaps accept mistakes being made; what I will not accept though is lying in any shape or form. We had it on tuition fees, we had it on the referendum. We had the ridiculous '2p tax cut' spin when the 10p rate was abolished. People like me in the private sector are having their pension plundered to pay for unrealistic schemes for the public sector. As for looking out for the poor; social mobility is at its lowest ebb ever. What chance does an 18 year old kid without wealthy parents have of working hard and having a decent house in a decent part of town? Absolutely none. I started off from that base in the 80s. A £50K salary now will only give you a grubby terrace in many parts of the country. Depriving the youth of any realistic ambition can only lead to chaos.
It should be as clear to you as me that any Labour pledge / policy may as well be printed on Andrex. Brown sways more tham pampas grass in a hurricane.
Complain about this comment
Labour's main problem, which will now see it lose the next general election to the Tories, is its sheer arrogance in presuming what the public want, rather than actually taking the time to find out. No one wanted Gordon Brown as prime minister. No one wanted Britain in the Iraq War. No one wants ID cards. No one wanted the abolition of the 10p tax rate. Yet time and time again, the government in its infinite wisdom makes decisions like these and foists them upon us, regardless of the will of the people.
Yes, the government have "lessons to learn", but sadly for Gordon, its too late to learn them, and in order for the British public to teach him a lesson we're now going to have to suffer four years of David Cameron. What kind of price will that be to pay?...
Complain about this comment
Reading through all these comments you see that the arrogance of Government is a pretty common thread.
People don't want the Government just to listen, they want them to act! Labour have refused to acknowledge or take account of public opinion far too often. This isn't just about the current economic mess - most people know that started in America - it's about everything else - whether it be road pricing, fuel duty, terror detention, id cards, nuclear power, immigration, the olympics spiraling budget etc - the Government carries on regardless!
And I don't think that hard-pressed Civil Servants were likely to vote labour this time either considering the Government are slashing jobs and refusing to pay them a living wage, capping pay rises below 2% at a time when the costs of running a home are spiraling out of control.
Complain about this comment
to #120
To call the 10p tax debate a red herring is just wishful thinking.
I'm one of the 5,000,000 who had their entry rate of basic rate of tax doubled by this measure.
I'm paid weekly and so am weekly reminded that I am now poorer than I was. and why hell will freeze over first before I vote labour again (just once 1997).
I voted.. I'm low paid..not lazy as you seem to want to imply.
Complain about this comment
Mr Brown's biggest problem is he doesn't have the thing that made Mr Blair survive all those years and keep the support of the public.
Charisma and Personality.
I've seen more Charisma for dead goldfish's.
I honestly belive as unpopular as Mr Blair was in the end, The results of these elections wouldn't have been nearly as bad under his leadership.
Complain about this comment
108 Grandantidote, Let me add to your list: what about the mess that is UK PLC. How about (while you're choking in your car) the integrated transport system. Oh, and those waiting lists, are we talking about those weird waiting lists that seemed to go down as new techniques for counting 'waiting times' developed. Nearly forgot, what about the growing division between the rich and the poor. The great carbuncle: the Mandledome. Ooops, also forgot, the fact that you need two amazing jobs to buy a house these days. By the way, tried to get your kid into a school of your choice lately???? Mmmmm, do you mean all those hospitals that charge premium rates when we, the poor confused public, want to call our ill or dying friends and family members, who, by the way, have been infected with some crazy bug that for some reason just won't go away. Did I mention all those poor kids been stabbed in our streets, or perhaps the fact that we can't walk in our towns after 5.30 pm because of drunken louts fighting and being sick on the pavement.
OK, perhaps I'm been just a little too hard on you, Yes New Labour have some good points. But, you know, I'll get get back to you on it, as I can't quite manage to think of any at the moment...
Complain about this comment
right now, looking at the stats, the growth in councillors for the lib dems in percentage terms (of their existing councillors) is greater than the gains made by the tories.
Why is nobody mentioning this?
A good day for the tories, and a bad day for labour, but cleggs gang aren't doing too shabby either.
Complain about this comment
When Tony Blair was elected we were told that they were adopting the outgoing Conservative government's spending limits, for the first term, to appear prudent and reliable to the voters of middle England. Once they had gained the electorate's confidence they could be more radical in the second term.
In short order they became what they were pretending to be, nuTory with a bit of social conscience.
What little political vision and conviction that metamorphosis left them with has been swept away by years of exposure to expensive management consultants.
They think, walk and talk like management consultants, spraying policy initiatives in every direction to justify their being in government.
They need to calm down, reflect, and spend some time developing a proper political vision for the future of this country to replace the one they junked to gain power.
One which resonates with the electorate, as opposed to circumscribing their every action, down to the most trivial detail, with menaces, respecting people as more than units of consumption and output.
Politics should be about more than a choice of management consultants. No wonder the whole system is in disrepute.
Complain about this comment
Constitutional lessons to be learned from the trainwreck of Brown's political career
1 No Chancellor should be allowed to remain in office for anything like eleven years. Five years, absolute max.
2 No Prime Minister can afford to grant to a chancellor anything like the degree of autonomy that Blair conceded to Brown
3 Cabinet ministers must show courage and act when face d with an overbearing Chancellor blatantly abusing the power of his office to bully and browbeat in furtherance of his own ideas and ambitions
Complain about this comment
Be fair, Dr Gloom. They've given us the Olympics. With paragon of virtue and goodness Tessa Jowell holding the purse strings. Doh! Where's Peter Mandelson when you need him...dodgy loan, sorted.
And Mandelson's 'I'm a fighter' turn was pretty funny as well.
They've given us loads of good stuff. Wibble, wibble.
Complain about this comment
Re 95: " The tories are a superior party with better policies" you state? As far as I have seen and heard Chameleon Dave has no policies only a counter position to everybody who disagrees with him. That is not a policy and until his party actually come up with something viable/believable, I will regard him to be the chancer he appears to be.
Complain about this comment
To those bloggers above who write in praise of the current Labour government, try this simple exercise:
1. Count all messages above
2. Decide which messages are for the government, and which are against
3. Calculate the percentages (i.e. pro/con)
I think you will find that the pro-Labour percentage would work out at roughly 10%, which indicates that the remaining 90% are THOROUGHLY FED UP TO THE BACK TEETH with what Labour has done to this country.
This is an incontravertable FACT.
Complain about this comment
Nick,
For once, Gordon can't fool the media gurus by spinning the story. Isn't it wonderful? Here we have the blessed leader revealed for all to see as the PM with no clothes.
As for policy changes, I would expect that most 'normal' politicians would act swiftly. Instead we have a policy wonk, surrounded by like minded policy woks, who think that if they slag the opposition often enough, then they might just get out of the hole they have been digging. Personally, I don't expect new an innovative thinking from these people. Instead, they will hope to see an upturn in the economy, just like Major, but it was too late for him, and it is already too late for Brown. Roll on 2010.
All the best
Complain about this comment
I've worked out who GrandAntidote is!
With a post that long, rambling and devoid of punctuation (not to mention boring and bordering on propapganda) it can only be John Prescott himself.
I agree with Arthur C Clarke on the issue of Politians (read Songs of a distant earth for more info), which is that anyone who actually wants to be a polititian is clearly the wrong person for the job as they have an agenda.
Not massively practical I know, but could be relatively amusing.
Losing 297 seats, that is a sorry state of affairs, even for Labour. Can they hit the big 300 I wonder? (Clearly, as there are still 9 councils yet to post their results)
Complain about this comment
All those who voted Conservative, should perhaps think about where this money from taxation is going. The government’s spending includes work towards reducing child poverty, improving the state school system, keeping employment the highest it has been for a generation, raising basic state pensions and armed force wages, and making public transport more accessible for the disabled and elderly. These things don’t seem to bother the Tory supporters. What a shame they were moved to show support for the Conservatives – we are going back to the days of Thatcher’s ‘no such thing as society’, when every man is out for himself (days when Britain’s superfast economic growth resulted in a recession that helped Tony Blair get into power). And Gordon Brown admitting that he is figuring things out has been made into a rod for his own back because obviously David Cameron (a man who has made little comment on what his government would do to rectify these economic woes and find the £8 billion needed to abolish the 10p tax rate) has all the answers; his reponse to this year’s budget speech was the shortest in recent history. In any event, since George Osbourne committed the Conservative Party to Labour’s spending totals for three years in 2007, you would probably have to keep parting with your money, even if a general election was called tomorrow. That’s probably a good thing for the country’s poor.
Also, Brown gets blamed for a war that Blair implemented and Cameron backed?
Complain about this comment
@maximusmanc
“I think Labour supporters (and Lib Dems too) need to put a big fight to put the privileged and unrepresentative Tory classes out of power and in opposition.”
A post that apparently fell through a timewarp from about the mid ‘70s
There are few politicians more unrepresentative than Labour's right now.
Complain about this comment
Labour will start to listen.
Blair said it brown said it and every time they failed to listen.
Those words are devoid of all meaning when uttered from the lips of a new labour mp.
Suffice to say I am delighted by the results.
Now lets see if GB takes the hint and does to the country before he is pushed.
Complain about this comment
133 Marco Boogers' Discount Holidays:
I have to say being of a gloomy disposition (brought on, I might add, by the current administration) I missed those very cogent points you refer to. There have been moments of bliss: that friendly greeting given to Tony Blair by George Bush when the mikes were still on, That strange attempt to cultivate a sense of elegance by wearing a shirt with secret pictures on the cuffs. Who could forget the warm reception at the womens institute. So yes, we do have some things to be greatful for. It's such a pity that these contributions to public well-being aren't reflected in the current election results.
Complain about this comment
"At 11:36 am on 02 May 2008, wdwilso2 wrote:
maybe you should take a look back in history if being a Yankee poodle troubles you so much- Thatcher-Reagan era perhaps?"
In fairness Reagan was probably more Thatchers poodle, she handbagged he largely gave in (or they both agreed in the first place). Certainly compared to the Blair/Bush relationship.
The likely comparison is more with Major and Brown, Labour have many of the same problems with sleaze, being in power "too long", global economic issues and generally doing what they want rather than what the people want.
Endlessly repeating "we'll listen" and then not doing so isn't likely to wash any more.
Complain about this comment
This election result actually means very little. thatcher continually took mid-term municipaal hammerings - yet came back to trounce all-comers at the only ones that really mattered, the General Elections
Complain about this comment
missamandah (138)
Do we need a visa to visit your planet?
LABOUR HAVE MADE A HASH OF IT.
If this was not the case then the majority of bloggers above would be coming out in support of Labour.
BRING BACK MAGGIE THATCHER!
Complain about this comment
Charles_E_Hardwidge is clutching at straws and - like all thwarted lefties - is turning nasty and spiteful (which goes to show his 'Zen' waffle for the rubbish it is). He says: "The Tories are playing on that and using George W. Bush style tactics to smear and bully their way into power"
It seems that in this warped universe Charles_E_Hardwidg inhabits, if the people vote against Nu Labour then obviously 'evil forces' are at work.
As for "I think, with some care the Prime Minister will prove what a stand up guy", he seems to be confusing a 'comic' with a 'clown'.
The Party's over.
Complain about this comment
120. Paul_NorthLondon wrote: "Gordon Brown is John Major Reincarnated.... "
No he isn't. John Major won an election.
Complain about this comment
Just like for John Major in 1995 - it doesn't matter what excuses Labour make today, it really doesn't matter about gambling on an economic recovery (the economy started recovering in 1994 but it didn't help John Major) once a government has been discredited - it's over.
Saying they will now "listen" is not going to help Labour now. They basically lost their chance last September.
Gordon Brown should have had the courage then to go to the country. His "dithering" then cost him. And that indecisiveness will be his undoing in 2010.
History repeats itself.
Complain about this comment
Re: 135
Don't forget that only 35% of the electorate voted last night and traditionally opposition vote in higher numbers in local elections.
90% of the electorate are not fed with the Labour government and hopefully that will be displayed at the next general election. I would be happy to form a Lib-Lab coalition, anything to keep the Tories out.
And don't forget, Cameron is not Blair (ie. unique). He is a copy that smiles for the camera, his policies are so weak - noone knows what he stands for. If I were you I wouldn't be so confident about the next general election.
Complain about this comment
Looks like the share price in Labour (Government) plc has just crashed.
Labour (old) plc used to have a poor share rating until it was taken over by Tony Blair(marketing).
Who rebranded it as Labour (new)plc.
Given that Labour (new)plc later won the contract for running UK plc everything looked fine.
Until Tony left to spend more time with his millions, and left the financial Director in charge.
Shareholders in UK plc are unhappy, but cannot vote for another 2 years by which time UK plc may be out of business.
The CEO of Labour plc has issued a statement that he is "Listening and Learning" which worked for Tony the last time the share price was at this level.
Nobody from Labour plc was available to outline actions that may be taken to offset UK plc shareholders investment in Labour (government)plc which are now considered worthless.
Complain about this comment
For mikepro Number 122 (and anybody else who is interested) :
I too am English and also think there should be an English Parliament.
I would also like to see an English Parliament looking after domestic affairs and all of the parliaments coming together for areas such as Foreign Policy and Defence via the EU (once reformed i.e. the EU accounts fully audited, until then they should not get another penny from us English).
I would then like the English parliament, instead of endlessly churning out new 'laws', start scrapping some.
From there, simplify taxes (flat taxes), remove stealth taxes (such as on road users) and dismantle what are effectively Government monopolies, on education and health.
Most importantly, be fair to everyone and not treat one class at the expense of the others.
Defining the English people as 'working', 'middle' or 'upper-class' is not at all helpful.
Everyone, I hope, believes in helping the poor and children, but things have got too far out of kilter with hard-working English people being stung to help a significant number of people who are prepared to subsist on 'benefits'.
The 'benefits' system must be reformed such that only genuinely deserving people are cross-subsidised by working people and businesses.
I believe that English people would generally prefer our English Government to stand well back and broadly leave us to get on with our own lives.
In the end, only you can save you and your family.
Over to you.
Complain about this comment
The voters have taken the first opportunity offered to them, to shown Gordon Brown that they do not like his policies or his style of politics. He must surely be aware, by now, that the truth is they do not want HIM in charge of this country.
This is a man who has risen to power by clinging to someone else's coat tails. He has no real mandate to be where he is Is he going to follow the Mugabe precedent and cling to power come hell or high water, (How demeaning); or will he do the decent thing and call a General Election.
Complain about this comment
#149
Haha Super stuff and I agree totally bar the fact that i believe Labour Government Plc is actually bankrupt especially with its recent acquisition - Northern Rock.
Anyone else waiting to see if 300 gets broken?
Complain about this comment
Streathamite in Milano - What do you care, sounds like you're lucky enough not to inhabit planet UK2008?
missamandahs - Do you work as a labour spinmeister? You seem to have spun at such velocity its scrambled the Hannibal feed. Crime is a mess, the economy is a mess, transport is a mess; education and health are less of a mess, BUT should be fantastic for all that's been spent on them.
Get it yet? Labour as a whole have made the country a....yup, mess. Brown's just the figure of fun who happens to be currently holding the tiller. Could be a good day to bury bad PMs...but I hope not. I still want him as sleazer in chief come 2010.
Complain about this comment
Over 300 lost, that is a lot of seats isn't it?
Complain about this comment
Post #9 above is spot on.
Gordon, you are in danger of boring the pants off us, leaving us saddled with more intrusive and unnecessary nannying legislation than we need, and doing it all with the sophistication and aplomb of (Vince Cable got it in one) Mr Bean.
Please, just go.
Complain about this comment
4.48pm
Labour losses - 310 councillors. Brown crying his eyes out. Ministers clutching at strawa on the radio.
Time for a party. Lots to drink and hang the Chancellor's budget tax increase on wine and spirits.
Have a good weekend everyone, whatever your political colours.
Complain about this comment
Did anyone see BBC's election night programme opinion poll?
ICM asked respondents which party "can be trusted to keep its promises"?
The Tories - 17%
Labour - 17%
Lib Dems - 16%
But 58% said "none of them"!!!
Complain about this comment
To those of you criticising Labour for their handling of the economy I ask you this question.
What would the other parties do regards the economy that is fundamentally different from Labour?
I'll be interested to see your responses because as far as I can see they all follow the same economic orthodoxy.
Complain about this comment
Gordon Brown is the leader of a party who supposedly are "for the people" and yet for the past few years we have been taxed to the hilt. The NHS isnt good despite all of our well earned money being poured into it, As a working class person I want to earn as much as I can and so I have to travel by car to my job ,this is now harder because the price of fuel has gone up by nearly 50% over the past year(86.9 /Litre to 125.9) and I am being told it is an environmental policy ,RUBBISH it is to raise revenue because the majority of people it is affecting is the working class, the Labour voting Public.
Well the chickens have well and truly come home to roost for this lame duck Prime Minister.
I certainly wont waste my vote next time in the belief that I will have a better quality of life ,Goodbye Gordon Brown and NEW LABOUR
Complain about this comment
#74 I'd prefer Alan Johnson - at least someone who is competent and has worked in a real job.
Complain about this comment
#78 "Labour has now fallen too far to come back"
I'd disagree - when these same councils voted in 2004 Labour polled 26% of the share of the vote and still came back to win 2 years later.
As MacMillan said " A week is a long time in politics".
Complain about this comment
Re Post 148:
moorsey10 wrote:
"Don't forget that only 35% of the electorate voted last night and traditionally opposition vote in higher numbers in local elections.
90% of the electorate are not fed with the Labour government"
I am sorry but I do not see how you came to that position! I assume you are a spin doctor for Labour.
According to you 65% did not vote and of the 35% that did vote only 24% of them voted for Labour (so between 8 to 9% of the electorate)- so with the best possible spin you can only claim that 71% of the electorate are not fed up with the Labour government.
I would love to see how you can spin my wifes situation - she works in a school and is paid 11,000. Now she is not yet 50, our youngest is now at university - so please Labour Spin doctors - please tell me how the abolition of the 10p tax rate - and the measures that Darling Brown have put forth - are going to benefit her?
When a party drops a fundamental policy (like helping the less well paid) - they wonder why the electorate drop their support for that party.
Complain about this comment
A monkey in Hartlepool and a **** in London, what a waste.
Complain about this comment
Re194 So you only managed 3-4 words before forming an opinion well thats only what I would expect from a Tory maybe if before commenting it would have been courteous to read the whole letter but then again, as I say only what I would expect.Re 129 I really dont have the time or the inclination to answer all your points but if you want to be a clever boy get your facts right, the mandledome as you so un amusingly call it was a product of the Tory party, John Major and Haigh were the people who put that idea into pactice and it was William Haigh who costed the job and estimated the amount of visitors that would attend each day with drastic results,the labour party foolishly trusted these figures and carried on building the dome unfortunately. The only thing else I have to say is that do you think that if bully boy Cameron and the Eton boys club get power we are going to live in Utopia, have you got a shock coming to you if that ever happens Sunshine.
Re 137 You really do typify the Tory chinless wonder dont you. I unfortunately was not as I imagine you were given a great education,neither was John Prescot but he rose to become deputy prime minister of one of the finest countries in the World for ten years, an acheivment that I am sure even with your apparent inflated opinion of yourself quite sure that you could never have achieved even on one of your self opinionated grandiose trips into fantasy land that you apparently live in. My punctuation may not be as good as it could be but then in your case that is offset by your bad manners.
Complain about this comment
Nick,
I know these were local rather than a General Election, but if the BBC figures are correct (even nearly so) then 44% voted Conservative, 24% Labour. If this is repeated in England and Wales in the General Election, then clearly Scotland's vote, probably returning Labour MP's to Westminster, will unfairly influence domestic policy in England against the wishes of the English electorate. Time now, as a matter of urgency, to redress the West Lothian question anomoly and give England freedom to choose her own form of government. I suspect that it was resentment over this issue, amongst all the others, that hurt Labour today in England. It certainly decided my vote!
Complain about this comment
I am sad for Brown. He must be the rare politician with almost Gandhian personal integrity and genuine concern for the downtrodden. But his policies have been wrong. He took money away from savings and pensions of millions and funded an unsustainable expansion in wasteful public sector. So long as the global economoy and along with it South East England was booming, he managed. Last one year the panick has been showing. The 10 P tax decision is a 80/20 no big deal business decision but in politics a harakiri. As PM he forgot he was no longer a manager but a politician. Sad I did not vote for him and he will go.
As for Ken, he has been practising classic third world, interest group, vote bank centred politics and if he goes, I will be most delighted.
Complain about this comment
#166
Your final paragraph description of Ken's behaviour applies equally to Gordon Brown.
Complain about this comment
Anyone know why does the BBC News Homepage show that Conservatives gained 256 seats and Labour lost 331 seats, whilst the Sky news website http://news.sky.com/skynews/fixed_article/0,,91211-1314737,00.html shows that the Conservatives gained 300 seats and Labour lost 407 seats?
Complain about this comment
The 10p issue was huge and it will continue to be so.
Some on nice salaries seem to think Gordon Brown's raising of taxes of the poorly paid merely an issue of principle - in other words a theoretical injustice to a very few. These people obviously don't talk to their secretaries.
You don't need to have to be on the breadline to feel angry. This is the point some people are missing. The concept of doing a full week's work for not a huge financial reward, in a culture where for many the concept of work is optional, for taking responsibility for your own bills, budgeting within your means, paying your own outgoings, indeed taking responsibilty for your own life, merely signals to Gordon that he can help himself to the sparce fruits of your endeavours. And for what? To give it to Northern Rock, GP's on £100,000, endless management consultants, parents on £50,000 etc etc etc.
We are one of the richest countries in the world and Gordon Brown has CHOSEN to take an increasing chunk of tax from people on £11,000 per annum? We feel a huge injustice. And like any victim of injustice we feel very very angry. And there ARE a lot of us about.
Complain about this comment
Politics is a tough business. Being second in command does not guarantee your fitness for leadership. Gordon Brown is a decent man but he is not up to the job of Prime Minister. Blinded by ambition he has set himself up for humiliation and failure. The sooner his acolytes grasp this the better. Accept defeat in the next Geberal Election and regroup for the one after.
Complain about this comment
So it’s been a bad day has it Gordon? All I can say is GOOD! It may remind you, that the British public do not deserve to be treated with the contempt you seem to think is acceptable. Hidden taxes, (laughingly described as green taxes), speed cameras (safety cameras, I don’t think so), punishing the poorest elements of society so you can claim to be cutting taxes, dipping into pension funds. Did you think that we wouldn’t notice? You are entrusted to SERVE the people and NOT con them!
Complain about this comment
#5 skynine
This has never been a 'great socialist experiment' . From the moment Blair entered no.10 in 1997 he declared he would continue with the previous conservative programs. You should have known what you were getting when he visited Maggie before the election and received a resounding endorsement from her . they may have 'Labour' in their name but they are anything but socialist - just look at the social injustice , inequality and piecemeal removal of basic rights to understand that they hijacked the Labour party to serve their own ends of gaining power for its own sake at any cost - even that of truth.
Complain about this comment
Brown is a disaster as I always new he would be. He kept his head down whenever the Blair government was in trouble and used his henchmen to force him from office. Brown lacks leadeship and is a poor statesman. This is the end of what has been a fantastic period in office for New Labour. Shame :(
Complain about this comment
The Red Flag is a flag of convenience.
Complain about this comment
Time did tell maybe a little quicker than anticipated, from Iron Chancellor to Tin Pot Prime Minister some people have all the luck.
Complain about this comment
Well Gordon has got his name in the record books for the worst Labour vote for 40+years... what did he expect? hes an unelected interloper. He has no right to be in his job in the first place.
Whatever people might say about 'you elect the party not the leader' If the voters dont like the leader, the party will not get elected and Labour certainly would not have been elected if Gordon had been put forward.
Isnt it the job of the deputy leader to take charge if the leader stands down? well why isnt a deputy chosen who could do this job?
He got what he deserved. He was not elected by the country (never mind this nonsense that the party elected him) There should have been a general election when Blair stepped down.
Oh... another thing... Why are Scottish MP's still allowed to sit in OUR parliment, vote on OUR issues and take a place on OUR government? Scotland has its own government which OUR MP's are not allowed to attend or vote in. It works both ways!
Complain about this comment
I'm not going to deny it, I voted Tony Blair in, back in the mists of time... The country needed a change and things certainly seemed to get better... Unfortunately the 'party for the working man' decided it would rather pamper to the fat cats in designer suits so the 'working man' was pushed further and further into the shadows. Labour allowed (and still allows) companies to register multi billion pound profits and yet put the price up year on year... water, gas, electric, fuel, food, etc etc... the working man is getting poorer year on year and the best that the Government can come up with is a pathetic winter fuel payment for pensioners (who pay tax on their pensions).
Does anyone remember that petrol had large year on year rises because road tax was going to be phased out, but no chance of that happening its just another money making scheme.
What about north sea oil and gas?? (before my time) wasnt this supposed to give us virually free heat?
Complain about this comment
I havent finished my rant yet... What does Gordon actually constitute as a tax? You take a litre of fuel, add on profits, shipping costs etc etc and the government takes a 'cut' of it. v.a.t. etc is along each step of the journey to the pumps and then when it gets to the pump a further tax is slapped on the top. Our illustrious leader will not accept that v.a.t. is VALUE ADDED TAX so the end user ends up paying the sum of all the taxes so we end up with about 80% of the fuel cost at the pumps being tax.
By the way the maximum cost in the U.S. is $2.50 a gallon
Complain about this comment
164 Grandantidote:
All the more shocking, that a party that spent years questioning the competence of the previous tory administration should adopt their assessment of the viability of the dome project. Then again, perhaps I can understand why labour went ahead with it: the thought of creating that spectacular event, the milennium celebration, must have been irresistible knowing that the whole country would have the pleasure of watching that very special moment when they all linked arms and sang auld lang syne. The party elite must have been overwhelmed with anticipation.
Complain about this comment
Iwould like an explanation as to why our rebate to the EU was given back. This premier new that uncirtain waters where ahead, if not. Why not?. Stealth taxes etc have made us the highest payer in the world. We are just a wee small island who has a stupid goverment who think that we are this grandiose group of people who are un intelligantly running a once prosperous country. Shame on you. More TB, More Poverty, more homeless, more people poorer. We now are akin to some nations in europe who had peasant's, ie the hungry poor, unable to afford to heat there homes and feed themselves. God help them if they are elderly. The goverment won't they will give a little with one hand but take it back in stealth by the other.
Complain about this comment
I’ve just read someone complaining about Cameron barracking and bullying poor Mr Brown in Parliament...unbelievable behaviour apparently, Mr Cameron must be mentally unstable according to the blogger?
What a terrible shame that a posh English schoolboy (from Eton no less) which I suspect is bloggers real issue, should be allowed to make naughty, nasty, horrible, sneering comments to reveal the Stodgy, Prespaterian, Scrooge like mind of our Scottish Prime minister, who when he flees (run out of) England will be able to retire to his beloved homeland safe in the knowledge that good old English Taxes will continue paying for a devolved Scottish Parliament and his large pension and that he may still even be allowed to have a Seat in Westminster...if he is lucky (!)
The man is disingenuous, faux and an even worse actor than his glamorous predecessor. At least Blair was too busy being a celebrate, looking at himself in a camera monitor and screwing up the rest of the World to bother too much with England unless Mr unpleasant, nasty, pasty Alistair told him to do...Cos it wud suit is public profile...nice bit of PR
If Brown feels my pain he can try running a small business and paying a mortgage.
This Government inherited one of the best economies in the world thanks to Thatcher and Major (like them or hate them) and what have Blair / Brown really managed to do with it...give the Banks free reign and then prop them up with more of our money and let the housing market boil over all because of an irresponsible low value spending policy which we now need to pay for.
They were inexperienced when they became government but even after all this time they seem to have achieved very little.
Ok, Foxes don’t get chased by hounds anymore but even this left wing distraction tactic wasn’t followed through properly, animal rights are still appalling and animals are not protected as they should be in a modern society. Just look at the news, aggressive yobs allowed to own vicious dogs, horses half staved before being exported for pet food?
And that is just animals what about human issues...Zimbabwe, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iraq, poor poor decisions made with arrogant disregard for the best advice given by their peers and experienced politicians often within their own party.
It doesn’t matter which side of left or right blue or red you are on the list of MISSED opportunities is shameful and they should be dismissed for that alone.
Complain about this comment
It was a bad night for the Labour Party.....
Complain about this comment
I refuse to even listen to Gordon Brown anymore following the TV interviews he did the other day; he "feels responsible" and "feels our pain", admits that "we made mistakes", but then went on to say that his general approach and policies are all 100% correct and don't need to change.
The unbelievable arrogance when he said (paraphrased here) "I am the best and only person who can lead the country, I know everything, I always know best, and I am always right" was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
He doesn't understand any of his mistakes; he's just pretending he does because his own job is in the balance. By saying "we made mistakes" but then immediately following that by saying "my approach and our overall policies are always right and won't change" he contradicts himself.
All he's going to do is minor tinkering (eg the immigration rules, the 10p "rebate" [which is just a joke] etc), he won't address the major issues such as simplifying the tax system and letting people keep their own money instead of giving it all to him and then having to beg for some of it back with reams of forms.
I don't trust a man who doubles the lowest tax band rate and then says he didn't know that it'd effect people on low incomes; does anyone trust/believe anything that a man who does that would say?
The interviewers were equally awful; why didn't they take Gordon to task on his blatent lies that he's been telling everyone, or point out the gap in his logic of "we made mistakes but all our policies are right" and "we're listening but we won't change any of our general approaches" ?
Complain about this comment
I'd like to comment on a side issue this posting mentions: that there can be no misinterpretation of what this round of local election results means.
I hang my head in shame that people are daft enough to ignore local policymakers and vote nationally (is Gordon rescheduling your rubbish collections? no... is Gordon responsible for your local planning decisions? no... etc) as some form of protest - this is shooting yourselves in the foot - but I think what's really getting on my nerves are that the journalists create this situation.
Prior to polling day, all national news sources I heard and saw effectively told the voters that this was an opportunity to "send a message", by that sideways method of interviewing each other and asking opinions of each other, usually of the type "what do you think Gordon Brown will do if labour perform as badly as predicted?..."
We have to stop our national news media doing stuff like this - you probably don't realise it, but your attempts to make this stuff "sensational" in this way may actually by undermining local democracy. Turnout is low enough without most of those who do voting as if it were a general election - why become a local council candidate if you know your views, opinions and vision mean nothing at election time? That in the end, it all boils down (once again) to what happens in Parliament?
Complain about this comment
re posting 184: that's true, but on the flip side there's no alternative when a government gets to the stage where they're acting so negligently that people want to register a meaningful protest but the general election is still 2 years away.
ie it's the only way to say "stop and think, or we'll boot you out" to the government when they've still got 2 years left in which to destroy the country even more.
Sending letters or emails to the cabinet to register a protest wouldn't do any good; the only thing labour understands is when their own mps' interests/jobs are put at risk, as was demonstrated with crystal clarity on the 10pct chaos.
Complain about this comment
When will they learn? It's not about the credit crunch, OPEC prices etc, it's about the 'screwing of anybody and everybody' in their daily pursuit of everyday life. Step out your front door and climb into your car and wham! you'll be one of those contibuting to the billions of pounds raked in to the treasury in the name of 'road safety or green issues'.....Never before has the law abiding public been under such fierce attack.
Haven't got a car? Don't worry, you won't be left out, there's the recycling thing that's adding huge amounts of money to your local councils coffers (quoting EEC fines for landfill etc) strange that, I can't remember voting for EEC rule... They talk about more'regional control', yeah, right, all that means is they'll provide cash for certain initiatives providing it fits with their policies...cash that belongs to the taxpayer in the first place. Oh for a local authority that doesn't slavishly follow directives from London.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS