Observer: Party ready to turn on PM (Blair)

[dw]

The Observer, Sunday September 28, 2003

The Prime Minister faces a complete breakdown in his relations with large sections of the Labour Party after a poll of members revealed a remarkable level of disquiet about his leadership and the war on Iraq.

The YouGov poll of more than 300 party members over the last three days found that more than 40 per cent want Tony Blair to stand down before the next election and nearly 60 per cent believe he was wrong to sanction war on Iraq. More than 80 per cent believe he exaggerated the case for war either deliberately (37 per cent) or unintentionally (44 per cent). Less than 20 per cent believe there was no exaggeration.

Revealing that the issue of trust has poisoned the Prime Minister's relationship with many of his own party, more than a third said they either do not trust the Prime Minister 'at all' or 'very much'.

MORE

[xray s]

1. Tony will do fine

The have his seat on the Halliburton Board of Directors all warmed up for him...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. If Blair goes down...

Chimpy is right behind him. Know it.

[AP]

8. Explain the logic of this. Labour and Democrats have historically moved...

...in tandem. Republicans and Tories have moved in tandem.

If Bush stays in '04, Blair goes, and Tories will win in no time. If a Dem wins in 2004, Blair will win in 2006, after they work together to fix Iraq (and they will remove, forever, the possibility that Republicans can use Iraq to justify American imperialism.

[LivingInTheBubble]

15. You forgot the Lib Dems

They are neck and neck with the other two parties.
I do not anticipate the tories getting back in at the moment.
My current guess is that Blair will be replaced as leader from witin the labour party after which they may well go on to win the next election.

[Nlighten1]

3. This is big...

He is toast but I bet you anything he doesn't step down.

[Cappurr]

4. Hooboy

This guy is toast. And he can thank his "pal" Bush for that (who doesn't give a shit, of course)

[KoKo]

5. One of our Brit DU'ers said Labour won't leave Tony....the alternative is

too terrible...but I don't know if they are aware of this latest poll......

[AP]

9. The guy's in his second year of a five year term. This poll isn't the...

...worst news. It's the equivalent of Jim McGeevey. The strange thing is that McGeevey is unpopular because of a bad economy created by Republicans. Blair is actually doing incredible things with the British economy considering the crappiness of the global economy (which is mostly a refelctiong of what what a little liberalizing can do after years of conservativism).

[Zech Marquis]

6. see Poodle

you wanted to be * whistle ass's lapdog, and now you're all but done in your political career. nd don't think that nice Halliburton job will be waiting for you either, Unca Dick's having a few problems himself these days :evilgrin:

[AP]

10. He didn't want to be Bush's bitch. The fact is, Britain IS America's bitch

and has been since the 40s. Blair is holding out, staving off economic sabotage, until the UK and Europe has its act sufficiently together so that it CAN stand up to the US.

[MariMayans]

19. quite correct

The UK has as much autonomy as the Ukraine did pre-Gorbachev

[TacticalPeek]

7. Nice legacy. n/t

[Nottingham]

11. The Liberal Party Kennedy is making a huge surge

Tony is getting ready to be ousted! :bounce: He will have a Billion dollar job for Bush don't worry!

[AP]

12. I would love to see a single tiny shred of evidence supporting this often

repeated theory.

I think it would be strange for Blair to be offered a job by Bush when Blair was so supportive of Gore's candidacy that Murdoch's lobbyist threatened Blair after Bush won (it's in Pallast's book). I think Blair would want to keep his distance from a guy whom CIA agents on Democracy Now! suggested was intentionally sabotaging him. I think former foreign service official Richard (?) Kiesling wasn't alone in recognizing on the Diane Rehm show that Bush was making life extremely hard on him. I think Blair realizes this too. If they wanted to give him money, why wouldn't they let him run his country too?

And, hey, obviously Tony is going to be appointed UN Ambassador, or he'll carry the liberal flag in EU government, or, if the Tories do take control of the UK, he'll go back to being a barrister.

[AndyTiedye]

13. It's Gotta be Blackmail

Bush must be blackmailing Blair somehow. Nothing else makes any sense.
Why would Blair support something that should be anathema to himself and
his party, and which will almost certainly bring down both?

[AP]

17. Of course he's blackmailing Blair -- Bush will destroy the British economy

and will undermine Blair through the press.

[T_i_B]

14. The theory of the Lib Dem surge?

Heard about the Brent East By-election AP? 29% swing to the Liberal Democrats, Blair had his arse kicked in a previously rock solid inner city Labour seat.

Blair's betrayal of the progressive cause has caused a lot of people to turn to the Liberal Democrats. Of course they are still a third party but I can assure you that their platofrom is many timnes better then the Blairite one and when all is said and done, why should we vote for a party whose policies we abhore?

[LivingInTheBubble]

16. Popularity figures

All three parties had around 31% in a poll on support for parties.
I think its hard for some to imagine more then two parties in the run for power but it does happen at some points.

Labour moved right to capture more voters leaving a space for a more left wing party and the field is now split in three.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. Agreed

The Lib Dem surge at the expense of the Labour is not a theory, it is an established fact. Anyone who doesn't know this is not paying attention.

In Britain, the Left has something better to do than hold its nose and support Blair because he's better than Duncan Smith.

[durutti]

20. If I Was a U.K. Citizen

I would vote for the Socialist Alliance: http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

[LivingInTheBubble]

21. Thankyou for the advice. I have bookmarked them. eom