This entry was posted on
Monday, April 3rd, 2006 at
9:48 am and is filed
under Tony ‘King Blair.
Independent – Blair handover: If not now, when?: In the old Nottinghamshire mining town of Kirkby, 30 Labour Party activists sat in a horseshoe-shaped huddle in their modern party offices on Friday night, sipping mineral water. Party stalwarts and councillors meet every six weeks to discuss such staples of grassroots political activity as fundraising for party campaigns. But the agenda for the general committee of the Ashfield Constituency Labour Party last week included an item that was potentially incendiary. Senior members had called for a vote on when the Prime Minister should resign. Towards the end of the meeting, at 8.30pm, hands shot up as the motion went to a vote. Some had argued passionately that the Prime Minister should set out a timetable to quit, to restore certainty to politics and to prepare the ground for an “orderly” handover to Gordon Brown. Others called for calm, and argued against forcing the Tony Blair’s hand. It was this faction that won the day, and the call for a timetable for departure was soundly defeated.
Guardian – Brown and Blair prepare united front for local election campaign launch: Labour officials last night scrambled to ensure that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown share a platform when Labour launches its local election campaign this week, in a renewed attempt to display public unity in the face of factional squabbles in the party.
Well, that’s it; it’s time to correct this beast with a short, sharp pull on the choke-chain.
Quiet, please… man building.
PS – I meant to write a long apology/explanation for Bob Piper this morning… but it turns out that I don’t need to. In the comments under this post he says it himself; “I can understand your reservations on [insert issue here], but your local councillor is hardly to blame. Having said that, every vote for Labour will be claimed by Blair as a vote of confidence in him.”
So all I really need to say is; “Sorry… but you know why this is necessary.”
By goatchurch April 3, 2006 - 12:53 pm
One question to pose is to these Labour representitives is: "If Condoleezza Rice came to your city, would you line up to shake her hand?" For the Labour leaders here in Liverpool, that's an emphatic Yes.Bombs, death, war, lying, the criminalization of democracy are all fine with these party members. The only thing that will ever turn them against Blair is if he becomes an electoral liability. Therefore, clearly, they have told us exactly what we must do.