If Labour want to limit the damage, then Alan Johnson is their best bet

Matthew Blott

I thought you lot were gunning for James Purnell?

Pete

To get us out of the mess that Labour have created we need a financial wizard, not an ex-postman that is good on camera.

TGF UKIP

James, you omitted to mention that Johnson must also hold the World Record for the largest expenditure of taxpayers money in his own political interest by any politician. His cave in to the public sector unions at a cost of hundreds of billions on retirement at 60 and all in the forlorn pursuit of one of the world's most inconsequential posts must merit inclusion in the Guiness Book of Records.

Stuart

That would be great wouldn't it - Prime Minister Alan Johnson, Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Who'd have thought Britain could end up being run by Johnson&Johnson...

No More Tears!

David Lindsay

It is difficult to articulate just how out of touch with reality must be anyone who seriously suggests that Alan Milburn, David Miliband or someone called James Purnell should become Prime Minister.

But as for Alan Johnson, bring him on. The old archenemy of church schools would at once annoy the Old Labour Catholics even more than is already the case (which is quite a feat) and have the same effect on the New Labour C of E types.

There are not enough Blairite MPs to get anyone onto the ballot paper (you'd have thought that they'd have worked that one out after last year's goings on), although a failure to do so would still not be as welcome as the actual defeat of such a candidate.

Just as the Clintons and their menagerie of an entourage need to get the message that they no longer own, or even matter in, the Democratic Party, so the Blairs and their menagerie of an entourage need to get the message that they never did own, and certainly no longer matter in, the Labour Party. Will they?

Tian

Very witty Stuart, classic! You made me laugh with your comment.

tina

Galloway has just backed Alan Johnson on his radio show.

Fergus Pickering

Goog God! Alan Johnson? What about my secret passion, Hazel Blears. What man worthy of the name, has not felt a stab of pity as the gallant, feisty, sexy little lady is assailed on all sides by the likes of Paxman (about as sexy as a wet weekendin Southend). Our furry little Hazel is a sort of cuddlier amalgam of Gracie Fields and Hilda Baker. I keep expecting her to crack a joke, then burst into Smiling Through. Why doesn't she join us Tories and we'll make her Minister of Song and Dance.

dave, surrey

I think the truth is no one's going to replace Mr Brown because, at this stage, no one would want to take on the leadership and fight a general election against Mr Cameron.

Also you're right about Hazel Blears, I saw her on channel 4 news last night, dare I say she's head and shoulders above any other minister..

Water

Change at this point would be political suicide for Labour, though if the don’t change they seem doomed anyway. It makes you wonder when will they stop flitting around the maypole and make a decision. Though what grounds will they give as the premise for their decision? If a change were to take place then surely the general public deserve an explanation.

Nicholas

Once Titanic hit the iceberg would it have mattered if another ships officer had taken over from Captain Smith? Would scholarly debate about the possibilities be fruitful?

The debate goes to the heart of the political shift to personality (dare I say celebrity) rather than policy and the presentation of image rather than purpose. An overblown man and a particularly weak cabinet presiding over the busted flush of New Labour.

And Fergus re Blears, please, not while I'm eating breakfast old chap.

Faceless Bureaucrat

Fergus - "Why doesn't she join us Tories and we'll make her Minister of Song and Dance." Mmmmm...sounds about the right level.

Chippo

Oh-ho-ho- methinks I see constitutional problems. Would The Queen agree to having an unelected nobody thrust down her (and our) throat? 2nd in less thn a year without the mandate of a General Election.

Paul

I really think this is a superficial analysis. We have a country which, after a decade of Socialism, now has unchecked immigration resulting in people with all sorts of unknown criminal histories walking the streets, children who will seemingly kill their peers for any perceived slight,no matter how trivial, an economy in meltdown and a business community buried in restrictive red tape that is more damaging than any 1970's trade union baron. We have a debt mountain of unprecedented proportions and a tax grab on every working person far higher than that in most similar countries.

Quite how you think that an ex-leftie postman is going to be able to pull us back from the brink is beyond me.

What we really need is:

1) An early general election to get rid of these conmen for once and for all, and

2) A Conservative government ready to take a hatchet to the public-sector, pc minded gestapo that now really runs this country.

Water

"1) An early general election" I think the vast majority of us agree there.

JR

Paul - enjoy life a little. I don't support Labour but even I'm able to see that we're relative to historical and international comparisons we're doing just fine. If you think having the conservatives in power will make much difference you're mistaken. As for the suggestion we're living under a socialist government don't make me laugh! If anything it's a Thatcherite government for better or worse - illiberal social policy, liberal but tax and spend economic policy.

Frank Pulley

tina

"Galloway has just backed Alan Johnson on his radio show."

Good! that's Johnson f****d then. Golly Dave, they're doing your job for you - relax and enjoy your holiday week-end.

Water

To fair to Johnson though Harman only beat him marginally. The count was 50.4% to Johnson's 49.6%.

Water

Now that's not what I sent you guys. Pete is this something that happens often with other people other then myself, or do I need to get this computer checked out?

Water

The same has happened with the last post, very peculiar indeed.

Max Kaye

Following Galloway's endorsement of Alan Johnson, all Johnson needs now is Ken Livingstone's blessing to be dead and buried. Good.

Fergus, I worry about you sometimes.... I'd have to be out of my skull to consider Hazel Blear attractive. Not even an all-expenses-paid pub-crawl in Dublin would make me succumb to her dubious charms.

There is something shrill and self-righteous about socialist women - even the pretty ones - that renders them most unattractive in my eyes - even for the most base and fleeting purposes.

Frank Pulley

Water

Get a plumber, perhaps he'll cut you off for a while while the repairs are carried out. The leakage is giving me a head cold.

Water

Frank Pulley I advise you see a doctor if you're ill.

Fergus Pickering

If you look at prognostications for the next few years then a Minister of song and dance is not such a bad idea. Max, you have no taste at all. Do you like the Harman better? Or Mrs Balls? Of course on OUR side there is the divine Nadine.

Danny, Oxford

What is all this about Hazel Blears being the best of the rest?

This odious woman - on message, on my nerves. She is a puppet. Vacuous. Smug. Deluded, like the rest of them. She makes me feel angry, sick, and like I want to crawl out of my own skin.

Please please please everybody, vote Labour out so that I never have to see or listen to this sycophantic imp ever ever again.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Despatches from Knotty Ash

Fergus - Hazel Blears Minister for Song and Dance ? I thought Ken Dodd had that job !

Tatty by every body.

Despatches from Knotty Ash

Fergus - Hazel Blears Minister for Song and Dance ? I thought Ken Dodd had that job !

Tatty bye every body.

Water

Song and dance seems about right. Also whilst people staring at the carrot don’t forget to add to the £150 billion more we get taxed now then we did 11 years ago (to paraphrase Clegg).

John Dixon

I really can't see why anyone at the Spectator, a right-wing Conservative magazine, should want to suggest some means by which Labour might ameliorate their currently desperate situation.

As a Conservative, the only thing I am interested in, as regards Labour's general situation, is kicking them as hard as possible, trying to ensure that they are booted out of power and then kept out of power as long as possible.

As regards helpful suggestions, it might be wiser to concentrate on how the Conservatives' performance can be improved, to best bring about the effect on Labour outlined above.

Water

One reason a conservative magazine maybe inclined exercise a degree of restraint for the Labour party is due to the fact that they will be running the country (as far as I can tell) for the next couple of years, the very same country which will be inherited come the fall of the next general election by the Tories.

Paul

Alan Johnson - ha! Please ask employees of the NHS about what they think about Alan Johnson! He really is a man out of his depth - god only knows what would happen if he were made PM.

Ian

Three things are certain: Labour will not win the next election; by getting rid of Brown immediately after the European elections, the most vulnerable Lab MPs might survive; and there will be Cabinet resignations in 2009 to force Brown out. Remember - an election in June or October will preserve a whole swathe of Lab MPs losing their Commons salaries!