Thursday, September 07, 2006
Harakiri for Brown - The Eight Samurai
It seems the total number of MPs to quit government posts (ironically over Blair's refusal to quit a government post) rose to eight yesterday.
The Daily Mail reports them as Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole, David Wright, Iain Wright and Tom Watson.
There is supposed to be an announcement later today when Blair is supposed to set out his timetable to quit. I'll believe it when I see it, especially after satisfying myself there's no ambiguous words.
In any event, if Blair stays on, these 8 have lost their careers in government, for Blair to be forced into this timetable now, there can only be one beneficiary: Gordon Brown. Perhaps tiring of the permanent bridesmaid role, he has decided to wield the knife and finish Blair off? In any event it's not totally over yet, if Blair wriggles and leaves room in his statement for other possibilities, then Brown might not take the crown. If the timetable is anything less than a capitulation to Brown, then Brown is in a poor position; an ambiguous timetable might satisfy a lot of MPs especially those who don't want Brown to get the leadership, so it might take the pressure off Blair. In such an eventuality, Brown will be left with very little option, but to resign himself. After all the "Brown eight" have sacrificed their careers if Brown doesn't get the leadership so he'll be duty bound to stand by them, especially if he can't make Blair go.
One way or another it's finally crunch time for Brown either he gets the leadership within 24 hours or he's bust. Blair still has some small room for manoeuvre.
The Daily Mail reports them as Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole, David Wright, Iain Wright and Tom Watson.
There is supposed to be an announcement later today when Blair is supposed to set out his timetable to quit. I'll believe it when I see it, especially after satisfying myself there's no ambiguous words.
In any event, if Blair stays on, these 8 have lost their careers in government, for Blair to be forced into this timetable now, there can only be one beneficiary: Gordon Brown. Perhaps tiring of the permanent bridesmaid role, he has decided to wield the knife and finish Blair off? In any event it's not totally over yet, if Blair wriggles and leaves room in his statement for other possibilities, then Brown might not take the crown. If the timetable is anything less than a capitulation to Brown, then Brown is in a poor position; an ambiguous timetable might satisfy a lot of MPs especially those who don't want Brown to get the leadership, so it might take the pressure off Blair. In such an eventuality, Brown will be left with very little option, but to resign himself. After all the "Brown eight" have sacrificed their careers if Brown doesn't get the leadership so he'll be duty bound to stand by them, especially if he can't make Blair go.
One way or another it's finally crunch time for Brown either he gets the leadership within 24 hours or he's bust. Blair still has some small room for manoeuvre.
Tags: Labour leadership, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
