Labour in crisis: Brown's leadership is now Topic A

Mike, Brighton

This is the tipping point, the beginning of the end for Brown. Labour will have a new leader by the end of this year. No words can describe how earth shattering this loss is for Labour and Brown in particular

Austin Barry

One would love to be a fly on the wall in the Fuhrerbunker this morning as Frau Braun serves the Great Leader his hubris-laced porridge.

Jo Moore

It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?

richardj

Unelected, unelectable and incompetent. The whole country knows it - why not the Labour Party?

John

Blah, blah. The tipping point happened a very long time ago. This is merely the inevitable subsequent process, the ongoing slide, taking place.

Max

Two unelected Prime Ministers in a row?

Count the days to the general election.

Max

Kevyn Bodman

I think Mike is closer to being correct than John (above).

This is the tipping point because if Labour had held on there would have been plenty of spin about how the Labour Party had come through the worst of the political crisis and how ,in undeniably tough economic times with all the bad economic news recently, the voters trust the Prime Minister, yadda,yadda ,yadda.

That spin can't be offered now.
And I bet the mobile phones of Labour MPs have been hot this morning; I'm sure the electoral calculations and plotting have already started.And it doesn't matter that Parliament is in recess; all MPs can use the phone no matter where they are.

More important than who leads any of the parties is the thrust of future policies and how to get the nation, and the deprived communities, out of the mess they are in.
Welfare and benefits have exacerbated and entrenched poverty and deprivation in Glasgow East, and other areas. It's completely the opposite effect to the one hoped for, but it's now surely obvious erven to the most die-hard of Labour politicians? (I have to put a ? there, in truth.)
Fraser's reports on this site were excellent.
Now, more principled aggression from the Conservatives, please.

Although I'm a long way from being a traditional Conservative they are the best chance the country has got.

JONNY

Agree with Max.
The present doomed Labour Rump cannot just nominate a new unelected PM for the 2nd time running in the same parliament. There would have to be an immediate election.
Surely now there would...

TrevorH

Its not the likely effect of 2 'unelected' prime ministers in a row ... its that two prime ministers who wanted to stay will have been removed by their party.

Churchill and Eden retired through ill health without precipitating an election --- bun then again that was in a different age.

But also them again - go ahead, change leader ... but what about policy? Will labour change policy? Brown tried that one to no discernible effect ie like abolishing the proposed casinos and giving the impression of 'CHANGE'.

Just what would any new labour leader actually DO that was different? Getting rid of Brown is pointless unless it recognises all the failure of his policies and interventions of the last 11 years.

I see Kevin Maguire's latest wheeze is to say Cameron is actually very right wing, Thatcherite. Well we can live in hope.

emil

Kevin Maguire, and his left wing mates who think that a return to traditional Labour policies is the answer, just don't get it, do they?