The mood in cabinet

Ian C

It's over. Everyone knows it. It is now about managing the exit.

TrevorH

Lloyds are taking over HBOS. What will this do for jobs in Halifax what will this do for jobs in Edinburgh what will this do for jobs in the high street?

A Labour talking head on BBC The Politics Show - egged on by some LibDem woman - has just said its virtually treason for the plotters to be asking for an election. All of this misses the point that it is Brown who has left us unprepared for this and has no idea how to get us out of it.

Nicholas

Treason eh? Well that's something Labour should know all about.

Mark

In May 1940 there was some suggestion that Chamberlain should hang on as Prime Minister because the Germans had invaded the Low Countries and France. It cut no ice then.
Brown should not be allowed to shelter behind the current financial crisis any more than his predecessor as unelected, disastrous, Prime Minister and former Chancellor, Chamberlain could rely on the crisis in 1940.
Get rid of him. Now.

mac

So, some in the Cabinet stare at their hands, others scribble while the 'leader' plays his metaphorical fiddle. What a bunch of spineless cattle they are, either moo-ing risible platitudes or maintaining their anonymity by saying nothing. But they're marked for posterity as 's/he belonged to Brown's cabinet . . . '

strapworld

cowardly and incompetent he chairs a meeting of the cowardly and incompetent. They arrive at a conclusion, Not to make a decision until later. True democracy at work.

Unable to govern, unable to make a decision. They are, simply, unable incompetents!

David C

'It's humiliating for everyone'
Why?
If the cabinet was united behind Brown then there would be spirit of siege.
If the cabinet was split, the feelings would be ones of anger and betrayal.
If people feel humiliated and embarrassed by the state of the cabinet then, whatever they say in public, there's nobody rallying behind him and it's all over for Brown.

Meanwhile, nothing is happening and the cabinet is paralysed without leadership.

During, as Brown puts it, ‘a period of economic turmoil’.

Make your own minds up.

dave, surrey

The downward trajectory of Mr Brown is much steeper than anything Mr Blair could have achieved. Hats off to Tom Watson I say.

Emil

dave, surrey.

In this respect I rather think that Mr brown is a self made man, and nobody else deserves anycredit for his inevitable, thoroughly deserved, demise.

rebelrebel

FFS, and I am not one who swears easily....but if any cabinet members read this - come on, put us all out of our misery and get rid of him. Resign - it's not going to get any better if you stay.

John Moss

The net borrowing figure from Q2 1997 to Q4 2007 was £185bn, taking UK National Debt to £618bn, excluding pension liabilities.

Nobody, anywhere, can possibly think that Brown has the economic expertise to run a whelk stall, let alone our economy!

cuffleyburgers

No don't he hasn't suffered enough yet the UFSC.

King Prawn

We keep hearing that Brown should be left in place because of his experience in dealing with the economic crisis.

So why isn't he taking the necessary decisions then?

Brown was a young man during the 1970s. He saw how Dennis Healey cut public expenditure when he was chancellor (although the IMF did not give him much choice). And let's be honest Healey took the heat from Labour Party for doing it.

But he did it for the good of the nation not for party self-interest. Healey was a giant compared to Brown.

What Healey did in the 1970s, Brown should be doing now - cut public expenditure.

The first thing to cut would be the tax credit system which overspent by £1.5bn last year. That is around £60 for each taxpayer.

The fact that he will not do it, shows two things:-

1. all he cares about is own political future not the future of this country;

2. the fact that he cannot recognise that he has made a mistake means that he is in no position to correct it.

Another young man during the 70s was Jack Straw. Surely he must see what needs to be done?

The likes of Brown and Jack Straw were young men during the 1970s. They saw how Dennis Healey cut public expenditure when he was chancellor (although the IMF did not give him much choice). And let's be honest Healey took the heat from Labour Party for doing it.

But he did it for the good of the nation not for party self-interest. Healey was a giant compared to Brown.

Austin Barry

It's rather touching really. Like a pack of Greyfriars Bobbies the Cabinet mutts loyally sit by their dead master's tomb.

mac

They're not sitting by the graveside out of canine loyalty; the behaviour of these second-raters is more like hyenas, waiting for someone else to attack first and to pick up the spoils when the deed's done.

John Miller

Sometimes I sits and thinks, but sometimes I just sits...

Kelly

Brown lecturing people about loyalty after what he did to Blair, what a joke. Has he got no shame?

Diversity

An elephant in the Cabinet Room that no-one is willing to either mention, or to prick it with a pin to find out if it is merely an inflatable. Even John Prescott would not have stood for it.

Tim

The question that intrigues me is simple - is it Brown that's unpopular, or is it the Labour government as a whole?

Or to put it another way, would a change in leadership produce anything more than a dead cat bounce for Labour in the polls?

Gordon Musgo-soon

Isn't it pretty much treason for any of HM's right honourable minsters to allow this farce to go on by supporting the miserable grand guignol failure no matter what?

Craig Jewitt

You'd have thought in the face of such an important financial situation they'd have there wits about them but no, instead the Labour Government are squabbling like kids - I'd have thought under this guise it should be said the party go and a general election be demanded. They have lost touch with the people, governance and most importantly the ability to stand tall in the face of catastrophe.