Whitehall’s hung parliament contingency plans vindicate Tory alarm over the economy

Chris lancashire

"To be fair to Brown" Why?

Naomi Muse

Mandarin action is the state looking after itself if the politicians cannot persuade the electorate of any of them being better than any other politician.

This clearly shows that the electorate hold the politicians as a whole in very low regard.

Politicians who have messed up their own image and reputation have still not done enough to correct it.

DB Mandarin activity does indeed confirm that Labour have completely wrecked the national finances and are not doing the right things about it or even planning to do the right things about it.

Sadly, G Broon would still chant his old mantra, 'It was a good decision.'

Dehsinif Si Ruobal

How much does the general public notice the sinking pound? Probably once a year they might see that their pound does not buy as many Euros as it used to do. However most people do not realize that this is directly related to the Government’s handling of the economy. Many probably blame the Europeans.
As for the effect on inflation, again most of the electorate haven't yet cottoned on to the fact that a weak pound raises import prices. This month's headlines were all about falling inflation, whilst nobody pointed out that at 3% our rate is three times that of most other European countries.

Ben

But surely if Brown stays in office even if the Tories get more seats would in itself cause a run on Sterling

John Ware

They are, by the same token, an admission that the bankers have wrecked the national economy, but for some reason you don't mention that.

Bardirect

Brown made his intentions clear 2 weeks ago in his R4 interview with Jane Garvey. He said then that even if he LOST he would go "on and on" as PM.
ie he intends to continue without resigning until he loses of vote of no confidence in the new Parliament. It wouldn't surprise me to see him hanging till that point even in the face of a 100 seat Conservative.

Ghengis

Signs of widespread disquiet throughout Whitehall and Westiminster engendered by the possibility of the electorate getting the Government it has voted for.

GeoffH

Before breakfast this morning I posted elsewhere that this is Brown's attempt at a 'Heads I win, Tails you lose' election plan.

Time for the men in white coats to ensure he doesn't get the chance to play this card.

Hawkeye

@Chris Lancashire - I'm not one for being fair to Brown myself, but the danger is that is you blame it on Brown he will play the victim just like he did over the soldiers' letters. Victimhood gives him a bounce in the polls.

Far better to portray it as leftie mandarins. Since they are faceless and cannot make statements then they cannot play the victim.

Michael Booth

Are we seeing signs of a mandarin-orchestrated coup d'etat?

AndyinBrum

Hardly, it's a constitutional convention that's been around since we've had democratic elections, and has been exercised in living memory. I believe it's just been brought down off the shelf & dusted off for the 21st Century

GeoffH

Andyinbrum: "Hardly, it's a constitutional convention that's been around since we've had democratic elections, and has been exercised in living memory."

This is disingenuous.

The only likely circumstances for a Hung Parliament currently are that Labour loses both the popular vote and is behind the Tories in seats. No opinion poll, to date, has suggested anything like a Labour lead in seats and/or popular vote.

In such circumstances, any attempt by Brown to cobble any sort of deal to remain would be an outrage.

The constitutional convention in such circumstances would be, as Heath did in 1974, to think about for a day or so and then go to the Palace not to hang around for three weeks to thwart the result of the election.

And Heath had the excuse that he was ahead in the vote and only narrowly behind in seats. Again, nothing like this has been suggested by any opinion poll to date.

Englishman Abroad

I thought the convention was that HM asked the leader of the party with the most seats to form a government.
Not the encumbant that was responsible for politicising the Civil Service.
Zimbabwe here we come.

Ben Wright

The fact is that our politicians have had ample time and opportunity to deal with the mess our economy is in.

If we are heading for a hung parliament it surely proves a damning indictment of the state of inertia all MPs have fallen into.

This is now the time to radically address our voting system and the current unfair first-past-the-post sysytem.

Jury Team will review the work of the Jenkins' Commission on electoral reform, which Labour abandoned, and deliver real change where the House of Commons is elected in a directly proportional way. http://www.juryteam.org/p15-proportional-representation.php

As for economic uncertainty, we need action which will reduce the £167bn budget deficit, which is affecting the prosperity of future generations.

Jury Team will also limit government borrowing to 10% of total spending to achieve this over a period of 3 to 4 years. http://www.juryteam.org/p02-govt-borrowing.php

So whilst the Big3 are using the country's woes for their own political ends - it's refreshing to see some independent thought delivering solutions.

JONNY

So Sir Gus stops the newly elected Commons from meeting for the first 18 days?

Please tell me I am wrong.

Neil Wilson

Proportional elections = permanently hung parliaments with minorities holding the balance of power and having their views exaggerated in excess of their actual support.

There is a reason the Japanese envy our whipping system.

The Masked Marvel

How sad that class warfare is so powerful in Britain that, despite the disaster of Brown's leadership, endless scandals and missteps by his ministers and staff, and a stream of lies from No. 10 since Blair, the Tories don't have a clear lead in the polls. One can go on endlessly about policies and events which contribute to the poll standings, but all of pales next to class warfare.

Any campaign with "fairness" as its guiding line cannot be fought by other means, for "fairness" will always mean not equality of opportunity, but equality of outcome. The Conservatives seem to be fighting a different war most of the time, which rarely works.

Cameron was the wrong choice as leader, as Labour, the BBC, and the Guardian fight a class war above everything else. The UK will forever be the poorer for it.

Marcher Baron

I thought Darling had confirmed the bankrupt state of the economy in the Chancellors' debate. Didn't he say we didn't have a penny in the coffers?

Ronnie

I think everyone has gone mad.

George J

Imagine for one orgasmic moment that Gordon Brown lost his seat at the General Election.

Have you finished with the tissues?

Ok, so what would happen then in the event of a hung parliament? Remind me who is the deputy prime minister?

AndyLeeds

Brown, when he goes to the Palace, does not resign as Prime Minister. He retains that office, and can do so when a new Parliament is summoned if, and only 'if', he thinks he could command a majority. That test is the 'Gracious Speech'. And that is the test H.M. the Queen would use.