Is the worst over for Brown?

BrianSJ

The worst is yet to come. The poor people who still think that Harold Wilson is PM and whoever else thinks GB is ok are going to change their minds soon enough.

Scary

People over 40 who were attracted by the toff campaign and those who realise they have non-jobs and are only in employment because of Gordon's benevolence will always continue to vote Labour... at least until the next election. Then we can expect the Labour party either to disappear altogether or to merge with the LibDems, so completing the revolution started by the Gang of Four.

David C

Brown bumps along the bottom, sometimes up a little, sometimes down. It makes no difference as he has lost the trust of the public. Things will drift on and the Party will become used to the shambles of his administration. This leaves the Labour Party paralysed.
No event will be big enough to force them to dump Brown, so he stays at No.10, with no credibility, no authority and no hope of avoiding the landslide at the next GE.

Graeme Archer

I suspect this is as much to do with the modern media's demand for a super high frequency of change to the current narrative. I expect the last month's wall of "Brown's a disaster" to be replaced with "he's doing alright actually" by the end of the month (not here, obviously!).

Sherlock

As pointed out on The Wilted Rose, the Scottish parliamentary seat gained by the SNP in 2007 was Fife, Central. The equivalent Westminster seat is easily deduced from this...

TrevorH

Surprisingly Dianne Abbott on TV was dismissive of the spin put on Jaqui Smiths speech to the PLP the other night, she implied it had only swung 4 members and that the concessions were unworkable and the revolt was still on.

It struck me - may e Brown was again in denial and he may have to climb down - this was Portillos view and he pointed out this would be desperatly bad for Brown.

Who knows Brown may taunt rebels by making it a vote of confidence and he might have got his backbenchers so bloody minded they may call his bluff.

In any event it was illuminating to see Abbott knock on the head the press coverage (so much for future leader Smith).

Nicholas

Trevor H - I noticed that too and found it very interesting. If there is serious conspiracy going on inside New Labour it makes one wonder if the supposed quelling of the 42 days rebellion was an elaborate game to shunt Brown into a position where he can be forced out.

I agree his bluff may well be called. There may be a majority of Labour back benchers making friendly noises but determined to bring him down in the belief that a subsequent Left shift will save them.

Oscar

I'm afraid I take a gloomy view. I think Labour will be terrorised into voting for 'anti-terror' and with the good offices of the BBC and their astonishingly partisan spin machine, we will be inundated with the message that Brown took a strong stand and won. We will start to see a slow climb for Brown in the polls. He's already up 4 points according to the latest ComRes poll and I'm braced for more advance. Despite their massive C&N victory the narrative has been all about Brown and not about the Conservatives (with the exception of the MEP expenses story which the BBC and Guardian have seized on with glee). It's going to be very tough ousting Brown in these circumstances, which despite superficial similarities are actually very different from the mid-90s. The Conservatives have a lot more work to do.

Oscar

And if anyone doubted the bias of the BBC, Newsnight has just devoted a programme to the awful "scandal" of Caroline Spelman employing a nanny on expenses ten years ago. Quite frankly of all the 'legal' expenses MPs get away with, I can't understand why paying for a nanny isn't permitted. Looks like a classic case of chauvenism. The BBC is working flat out to smear the Conservatives and rehabilitate Brown.

Max

The possibility of Brown recovering is directly related to the possibility that he might be able to listen, acknowledge mistakes, and change. All are highly unlikely.

Max
http://theerrorlog.blogspot

Perry from Topsy-Turvy land

No, No, No, No! Completely wrong-headed! Al ja Beeba could not possibly field any discussion of anti -‘terror’ measures. How could they? – the words ‘terror’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ are not known in that well-oiled organisation.

Instead, over the next few days and weeks, the ishoos will be ‘re-framed’ so that ‘inclusiveness’, ‘diversity’, and ‘other-ways-of-thinking’ are ‘celebrated’.

Stand by therefore, for a lovefest in luvviedom. All Right-thinking (that means leftwards) people will join, in Solidarity, to cut the maximum retention to 24 hours, - if that. In fact, why bother to pick up anyone at all? The Beloved Leader will be Rehabilitated, and Empowered to Reconsider, and All Will be Well. 600 million UK children will be raised out of poverty. And a Concert organised by moaning Celebrities with weird sunglasses will save Africa for the umpteenth time.

Needless to say, the perpetrators of Right-wing Oppression and fiddled expenses will be pilloried.

There, I think that’s got nearly all the New-Lie-Bore gush words in.

TrevorH

'worst over' ?
well the church of England is doing its best to keep the pot boiling
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2085597/Christianity-%27discriminated-against-by-Gordon-Brown%27s-Government%27.html

as is Milliband
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/2083814/Labour-Party-David-Miliband%27s-nationwide-tour-sparks-leadership-speculation.html
when did a Foreign Secretary last embark on a tour of ... Britain?

And 'bottomed out' ... at 77% disapproval? yeah well how much further were you expecting it to go?