The plot thickens...
Peter Hoskin 12:45pm
And so the Labour leadership struggle rumbles on, with claims by Team Miliband that the Milburn for Chancellor story was "fictional" - an effort by the Brownites to smear their man as an uber-Blairite, and thereby alienate him from the left of the party. But Rosa Prince of the Telegraph has since claimed, in no uncertain terms, that the Milburn story came from "friends of Miliband". And a new article on the Telegraph website suggests that the Team Miliband denials are an attempt, on their part, to quell criticism from other Labour MPs.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with all the speculation. And I can currently see only one winner emerging from it all: The Conservatives. After all, the more the struggle between Teams Brown and Miliband appears on the front pages, the more Labour will seem like a party in decline. And that's hardly going to endear them to the voting public.
Previous
Alex
August 7th, 2008 3:39pm Report this commentWhatever the true story is, Miliband has shot himself in the foot with his botched leadership challenge.
As time goes by, more more discredited / slippery he is looking.
Guy Incognito
August 7th, 2008 3:56pm Report this commentThe most incompetent putsch imagineable. If he hasn't got the guts or the smarts to depose a teetering loser like Brown, what chance has he got running a country?
Oscar
August 7th, 2008 4:43pm Report this commentAs so often Guido Fawkes gets this story exactly right - take a look at his post 'Labourgraph spinning for Brown'. Guido thinks the Brownite/Rosa Prince story is unutterable twaddle. I agree.
Ian C
August 7th, 2008 5:24pm Report this commentAlex and Guy - you speak too soon. He has set the whole thing up for September. He has put his name at the top of the list and made his telephone no. available for anyone in the Lab. party who thinks Brown has to go (that's about 93% of them).
Go and enjoy, as best you can, this soggy August and come back in September for the real fun (when the sun will shine once more!).
Dr Blue
August 7th, 2008 5:30pm Report this commentIt's fun watching all this.
It can only lead to the obliteration of Labour. Mr Brown is now rather like Mr Major- in office, but not in power.
john miller
August 7th, 2008 5:33pm Report this commentWhen your party is despised for its 12 years of mendacity and spin - ok lying - to mount your leadership challenge by using the political terror weapons of , um, lying, seems ill fated, to say the least...
Oscar
August 7th, 2008 6:51pm Report this commentJohn Miller- it's clear who the liars are in this case and it isn't Mliband. Rosa Prince's story has no legs. As usual Brown is mixing lies with smears to exocet Miliband. It's the only thing he's halfway competent at.
TGF UKIP
August 7th, 2008 7:32pm Report this commentI would also commend a visit to Guido at www.order-order.com for his take on the departure of the the freedom agenda from the Cameron Tory agenda and its replacement by the preachy, hectoring and lecturing stance of recent weeks.
Anything Blair and New Labour can do The Heir and Blue Labour must do too.
mitch
August 7th, 2008 7:53pm Report this commentBrowns problem, sorry one of browns problems is that people can see when he schemes and plots he just isn't very good at it.
TrevorH
August 7th, 2008 8:01pm Report this commentDear TGF-UKIP
Good effort to try to spread your propaganda - but really how the hell can anyone complain if someone stands up and says that mags like 'Nuts' are crap insults to the intelligence?
And by all means let Guido and his cronies try to defend the latest Batman effort - but it looks like a load of overblown over violent humourless twaddle to me, and I see no reason why anyone should not be able to say so.
Harry T.
August 8th, 2008 1:41am Report this commentA friend of Milliband can be a friend of Brown also surely?
Guy Incognito
August 8th, 2008 11:29am Report this commentIan C: You might be correct that this was a necessary step to create the conditions for a proper putsch in September. I'm far from convinced this was anything but an unforced error by Miliband. There were cleverer ways of doing this, and moreover ones that would have looked less like mealy-mouthed treachery. It's not like no one was under any illusion that he would have support. So, if you're going to strike, why telegraph it two months in advance, giving your opponents all the time they need to assemble a long list of your faults and character weaknesses?
Maybe I credit political activists with more smarts than they deserve, but if his potential backers really needed a Guardian op-ed to remind them of his existence, perhaps he should reassess their value and their commitment!
Silent Hunter
August 9th, 2008 10:56pm Report this commentCan some one remind us what UKIP is again?
Is it an offshoot of the Monster Raving Loony Party....United Kingdom Idiots Party or is it some thing to do with everyone needing more sleep?
Actually I do know this one....they're the United Kingdom Irrelevance Party.
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