Will it be goodbye from Glasgow for Gordon?
James Forsyth 10:28am
Gordon Brown is, according to The Sunday Mirror, finally going to take a proper holiday. The Brown family will head to East Anglia later this month for a week or so. But if Labour loses Glasgow East on the 24th of July, Brown might find the Labour party sending him off on a permanent vacation.
It looks like Labour has finally found a candidate, Margaret Curran—a Glasgow MSP, to stand in what would in normal circumstances be a very safe seat for the party. But as Andrew Rawnsley points out, Labour’s traditional strength here means that the party is not well-equipped to fight a competitive campaign; the Glasgow East branch of the party has less than 200 members and no canvassing records.
Labour’s majority in Glasgow East is formidable but it is possible to imagine that the SNP could pull this off. If Labour does lose then Brown’s position is vulnerable in the extreme, as Fraser notes in the magazine this week defeat in Glasgow East would mean that no Labour MP could consider himself safe from Brown’s unpopularity. Add to that the fact that the longer Brown is in office the more unpopular he is becoming and that in a general election campaign Labour could not hide the Prime Minister away, then the case for removing him becomes compelling enough to force Labour MPs to act. Rawnsley notes that while Parliament will be in recess when the Glasgow East results comes in, Labour’s National Policy Forum will be in session. If Labour does lose, events may move faster than anyone is expecting.
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Comments
Fred
July 6th, 2008 11:55amErh, isn't the postponement of the selection another example of Mugabe Brown's manipulation? So what that one candidate withdrew on Friday? There were other candidates applying, why didn't the selection process go ahead? We truly live in a corrupt society when elections are re-arranged just so that the fix can be made.
AlanofEngland
July 6th, 2008 1:04pmIt seems eleven Glasgow councillors are facing copruption charges, so the choice is limited. There is no truth in the rumour the new Labour candidate was shown the John Lewis list before she applied!!
Travis Bickle
July 6th, 2008 1:51pmJonah is going to East Anglia? And I thought they were already worried about the Norfolk coast being washed away.
Tony Waites.
July 6th, 2008 2:19pmWith all the excrement hitting the fan would it not be better for the Tories for Gordon to stay in place until the GE to avoid getting the blame for the problems to come
Trumpeter Lanfried
July 6th, 2008 4:17pmWhat has East Anglia done to deserve this?
Silent Hunter
July 6th, 2008 4:46pmThe fact that 11 Glasgow Councillors are being investigated for corruption is no surprise.
The majority of the Labour Councillors in Glasgow are well known for their links to crime and dodgy practice.
Remember the former leader of GCC Charlie Gordon was neck deep in sleazey donations to Bendy Wendy.
So its taken as read that the Labour Party in Glasgow are synonymous with sleaze & corruption.
I just hope that the people of Glasgow East can get over their tribal affiliation to Labour and vote with their conscience and sense of history to be the pebble which starts the landslide to remove a corrupt & authoritarian Government.
GET RID OF LABOUR......NOW!
Craig Strachan
July 6th, 2008 5:15pmWhat, no Cape Cod this year? Has even Bob Shrum stopped taking his calls?
TGF UKIP
July 6th, 2008 7:01pmI'm beginning to think that Gordon is going to go and that it will be Balls who will deliver the coup de grace and that he will extract a price for doing that to his mentor and protector.
My rationale? Balls is still a young man but he is inextricably linked not only with Gordon and his policies but with Gordon and his backstabbing and thuggery. In short Balls has no shortage of PLP enemies who will tie a Labour defeat to Balls every bit as much as to Gordon.
On the other hand, though, Balls' desertion is probably one of the very few factors that could prise Gordon's fingernails away from No. 10.
If I were Gordon I would be very, very worried at any reported path crossings between Clan Balls and Clan Straw.
TrevorH
July 6th, 2008 8:59pm"Et tu Ed ?"
mmm .... No, if Brown goes balls (Mr and Mrs) are toast. I don't KNOW that of course, but I do have half a brain and I know just who I would evict from the Cabinet if I came in now as PM. Could any self respecting current cabinet minister be different? Well I suppose that does beg the question ...
Meantime lets not forget that the scenario of Labour losing Glasgow east and Brown resigning surely must include an election sooner than later (can the moral authority of a government sustain two such changes in a year?)
This leaves Labour MPs looking down the barrel.
-- I know what you Labour MPs are thinking. "Is the swing 10% or 20%?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a General Election, the most powerful peoples weapon in the world, and would blow your expenses clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, Labour MPs? --
Silent Hunter
July 6th, 2008 10:24pmTrevor H.
Is the 'H' for Harry then? ;O)
WELL?.....IS IT?.....PUNK!
Brilliant parody!
Love reading your stuff! :O)
JohnA
July 7th, 2008 12:14am"no canvassing records" - scarcely surprising when the identities of so many of those who live in the area are either unknown or bogus.
They'll get ballot papers handed to them when they turn up at the voting booth and give a name and address.
Ian C
July 7th, 2008 11:49amGo on Glasgow East, make our decade!
With homage to Trevor 'do you feel lucky Labour MP's'H.