The rebels haven't gone away

golfwidow

I am currently on crutches and have got to the stage where I dare not leave my sofa for fear of falling over at the latest outrageous Labour claim. How I wish this Titanic would hit a very large iceberg and get it over with.

Frank P

Mr Eugenides sums it all up somewhat more forcefully:

http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2009/06/liveblogging-cabinet-reshuffle.html

Vulture

If parties -like people - can suffer nervous breakdowns, then the Liebour party is in the throes of one. An outbreak of collective cowardice has gripped these people, torn between terror at losing their
power and perks if they oust Gordo now, and the certainty
of even greater devastation if they cling to him for a few months more. They are between the Devil they know and the deep blue sea of utter annihilation. Ain't it sad?

Leo

The Great Leader. Not wavering...but drowning.

hadrian

Glenys..another has-been unelected gravy train rider. Pathetic. Off to the E.U. to represent us...now there's a surprise. Hubby got a nice little earner in the E.U. after being kicked in the unmentionables years ago and by all accounts she might be joined by that toad, Blair.
Oh, how one does yearn for a UKIP triumph!

Austin Barry

I watched Brown's press conference. Watched his huge, implacable, Easter Island head, pasty with fatigue, heard his lifeless monotone as he reiterated his dreary mission to get-on-with-the-job and I thought: this man is mentally unwell and is being humoured by self-interested Cabinet cowards. Surely, Sarah Brown should dissuade her husband from continuing his futile descent into lunacy. Enough. Ya Basta.

The Masked Marvel

If Gordon Brown and his cronies hadn't pushed Blair out earlier, he would now be in prime position (pardon the pun) to take over as PM just when Labour is in dire straits and in need of fresh leadership. The economy and the rest of the world would be in the exact same situation it is today because Brown's Chancellorship is what made Britain so "well placed" to survive the economic crisis anyway. Darling's task has essentially been to continue Brown's legacy, so it's as makes no difference.

If Blair was still in charge and Brown was still the promised PM-in-waiting, today would have been Gordon Brown's chance to take over in triumph and lead New Labour to glory at the next election. His mantra of "we will take real action in order to take the necessary actions" wouldn't sound so tiresome as it does now, and his back-benchers wouldn't have to struggle so hard to appear sincere in their support for him as they were running for the hills.

Too bad lust for power caused a premature premiership, Mr. Brown. If you and your thralls didn't think you could win an election last time, what makes you think you can do it next year?

cuffleyburgers

I saw Pickles in the same series of interviews, and I thought his party line ("its irrelevant whether he stays or goes") hopelessly wrong.

Surely the correct line for the Tories to take is "Brown s so weak he cannot lead the government. The next six months are going to be critical for the economy for decades. Decisions are being taken on constitutional reform and the most massive borrowing with no effective debate or scrutiny since the government's focus is 100% on day to day survival, with the result that hige mistakes are being made which can never be undone. What happens next is far from irrelevant, and given the wave of popular opinion against the government and the extraordinary circumstances, dissolution of parliament is the only possible course of action"