Gordon Brown insists he won't stand down as election rout looms

[IndianaGreen]

Source: The Guardian

Gordon Brown insists he won't stand down as election rout looms

PM attempts to steady party and move on from expenses scandal

Allegra Stratton, political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 31 May 2009 20.51 BST

Gordon Brown today tried to draw the poison from the ongoing scandal over MPs' expenses as a remarkable ICM poll of election voting intentions pushed Labour into third place for the first time in almost 25 years.

After 10 days of lying low, the prime minister finally attempted to establish a clear way forward, by proposing a code of conduct for MPs and insisting that he would not step aside, regardless of the scale of defeat for Labour in this week's local and European elections.

Though Brown continued to insist that he would reject any cabinet attempt to persuade him to retire, one leading rebel said yesterday that the weekend's polls confirmed his belief that either "Gordon goes or the Labour party does". The rebel said he had not come across a single voice in England and Wales supporting the prime minister, though Brown continued to enjoy the support of Scottish MPs.

Brown only has a short while to inject new purpose into his party, with many MPs using the days between now and Thursday's polls to decide whether to fall in behind him or join a push to oust him.

However, asked on BBC1's Andrew Marr show today whether he would stand aside if cabinet members said it would help Labour's chances at a general election, Brown replied: "No, because I am dealing with the issues at hand. I am dealing with the economy every day."

His challenge was made more difficult yesterday by opinion polls suggesting historically bad results in this week's elections. An ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph of voting intentions in a general election put Labour on 22 points, 18 behind the Conservatives (on 40 points), and three behind the Liberal Democrats on 25 – the first time since 1987 Labour has plunged so low in an ICM survey.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/31/gordon-brown-poll-election-expenses

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Brown's goose is cooked.

:popcorn:

[Bert]

1. Good

He helped Tony Blair enable Bush, and any good that Blair did in Britain(like reclassifying Marijuana as a class C) was undone by Brown. Maybe after conservatives screw it up the liberal democrats can become the main party.

[mackerel]

2. The recent MP debacle was the final nail.

[w4rma]

3. I knew Brown was going to be a disaster from almost the start.

As long as the liberal democrats plus labor, collectively, have more votes and seats than the conservatives then I'm fine with whatever happens.

[Pab Sungenis]

5. There won't be a Labour/LibDem coalition.

The LibDems won't back Brown as PM, and Labour is unlikely to back Clegg. Neither leader is humble enough to defer to the other in forming the coalition. Thus, it would be a Conservative minority government which would likely fall within a couple of years.

The one saving grace for Labour is that now David Cameron himself is caught up in the scandal, showing that Tories can be (and are) as corrupt as the Labour MP's.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. The Tories will almost certainly get a sizeable majority

You can see the recent polls (for voting for a Westminster election) here: http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/

Their current prediction, based on those recent polls, is for Tory majority of about 100 (ie 100 seats more than all other parties combined). It's been a majority of more than about 50 for well over a year now.

The British system is not proportional representation, just a simple 'one vote per person, whoever gets the most votes in the constituency becomes the MP' system, and so any party with a reasonable lead gets an absolute majority of seats, without getting anywhere near 50% of the country-wide vote. For instance, in 2005, Labour got 55% of the seats, from 35% of the vote. The Tories got 32% of the vote, but only 26% of the seats.

[T_i_B]

4. You know what annoys me about all this?

Whenever there's an outbreak of anti-Brown rumblings in the press it's never to do with policies. It's always to do with the performance of the Labour party in the polls. It's very difficult to support a party whose sole preoccupation is clinging onto power at any cost.

And to be honest it's not like there's anybody else at the top of the Labour party who would be able to turn things around for them this side of a general election if you ask me.

Anyway, we shall see what Labour gets up to after the County Council and European elections on Thursday.

[conspirator]

7. fuck gordon brown fat lazy pig. He hasn't done jack for Britain

Britain is a nation of mcjobs now and the pound is becoming toilet paper

[Justitia]

8. The Tories are coming back, in force. Bad news for Britain. Good luck, friends. -eom

[New Dawn]

9. Saor Alba!