Gordon Brown 'may name Straw as British Deputy PM'

[T_i_B]

Source: Daily Telegraph

Gordon Brown could bypass the winner of Labour's deputy leadership contest and parachute Jack Straw, his campaign manager, into the job of Deputy Prime Minister, senior party sources said last night.

Such a move would disappoint front-runners for the job - including Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary and Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary - who are keen to land the title of Deputy Prime Minister and the prestige that goes with it. Mr Brown, who is under no obligation to make the deputy leader his Deputy Prime Minister, has refused to make any guarantee because he does not want to tie his hands before knowing who the winner will be.

The job of Deputy Prime Minister comes with the same salary (£137,579) as other Cabinet ministers. But among the perks that go with the title are Dorneywood, the Buckinghamshire country house, and the right to deputise at Prime Minister's Questions.

One minister with links to Mr Brown said last night that most of the candidates in the deputy leadership race would not be appropriate for the role of Deputy Prime Minister, which carried huge responsibility including chairing a raft of Cabinet committees.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/24/npols24.xml

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So it appears that the beauty contest to elect the deputy leader of the Labour party would appear from this report to be even more irrelevent as some in the British Labour party don't seem too keen on listening to their own members votes.

And I'm sure you lot remember Jack Straw as British Foreign Secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Strange - I don't know if this is Torygraph mischief or not

That was my first thought (since it only appears in the Telegraph - what Labour minister talks to the Torygraph but no other paper?), but I hadn't heard that Blears and Cruddas had both said they don't want to be Deputy PM too. Those would be the 2 least suitable as deputy PM to my mind anyway - Cruddas because he has no ministerial experience (not necessarily a deal-breaker, though), and Blears because she's Blears. The other 4 have got enough experience and independent thought to be capable of it.

There's a fair amount of talk that Deputy PM (and maybe deputy party leader too) isn't worth much:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_kettle/2007/05/deputy_leader_is_a_nonjob.html

Take it from me, it’s a pointless job

...

I enjoyed my time as Neil Kinnock’s deputy. I was able to help Mr Kinnock to elbow Labour back into the mainstream of politics. But the real joy – perhaps it was the consolation – of Opposition was engaging the enemy in policy debate. Being a Shadow always carried the faint hope of one day becoming substance. If we had won the 1992 election and I had been asked to choose between evolving from deputy leader to deputy prime minister, or becoming Home Secretary, I would have chosen Home Secretary without a moment's hesitation. In politics doing something is far more important than being somebody.

The deputy premiership is a nonsense. In the wartime Government it confirmed Attlee’s vital role within the coalition. But since then it has been used as either a consolation prize or a boost to sensitive egos. Position in the Whitehall hierarchy is defined by ability and responsibility, not by title. The same rule will apply in seven weeks’ time.

If by some malign act of fate, Hazel Blears became deputy leader and in a moment of madness Gordon Brown made her Deputy Prime Minister, the rumbustious, though ridiculous, Ms Blears would certainly not have the same influence on Government as the quiet, but hugely competent, Alistair Darling – whatever office he holds. The new Prime Minister ought to announce – before the new deputy leader is elected – that the office of deputy prime minister has been abolished. I was shanghaied into standing by John Smith, my campaign manager in the 1983 leadership election, who telephoned me to say that he had arranged for my nomination. Told that I did not want the job, he explained that my actually becoming deputy was not part of his plan. Neil Kinnock had offered to serve under me. As the next leader, I must show an equally ecumenical spirit.

...

The new deputy will automatically sit on Labour’s National Executive Committee. He or she should be a responsibly independent voice, not an echo. That is the role that Jon Cruddas would occupy as deputy leader – remaining on the back benches and representing the party to the Government, rather than representing the Government to the party. He would not be required to repeat the prejudices of Marxists and Trotskyites, Bennites and flat-earthers. The days when the constituency Labour parties represented the wilder shores of politics have gone. That does not mean that the role of deputy leader should be a permanent feature of Labour's constitution. It should be abolished, as pointless, as soon as is decently possible. But in the special conditions of today – the party in desperate need of revival – electing Mr Cruddas would make temporary sense. He gets my vote.

Roy Hattersley

[T_i_B]

2. I'm wondering if it's Torygraph mischief myself

But I'll post it anyways just as the speculation about whether Gordon Brown will withdraw troops from Iraq gets posted as I think it's worth a butcher's.

And yes, I did know that Cruddas was not planning on becoming DPM if elected, but that's only because I've been taking the time to try and read labour blogs of late to get an inkling of what that lot are thinking. Many of them are pro-Cruddas although I'm not sure that the good press he gets in some parts of the blogosphere is reflected in real life.

But all the same, I think that most people are expecting the person elected by Labour members to become DPM and it would not look good for Gordon Brown to be seen to be overruling that decision made by Labour members.

[Kagemusha]

3. The leader of cabinet can name his deputy PM, period. Just how it is.

Status in the political party of the PM guarantees nothing in terms of Parliament. The law doesn't force a deputy onto him (or her) for the simple reason that it might not be in the best interests of getting things done. If anyone has a problem with such choices, that's a problem with the PM.

[youngdem]

4. Bush wets himself with jealousy at the thought of being able to appoint KKKarl to Veep