Calls for Blair to quit

[TacticalPeek]

Calls for Blair to quit

By PAUL EASTHAM
13jun04

snip

"The issues . . . for voters were Iraq, asylum dispersal and senior figures in the Government."

No one at Westminster doubted the "senior figures" he was referring to included Mr Blair and the discussions would centre on replacing him with the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.

MP Clare Short joined the attack, saying: "I think that the electorate is sending a message to Tony Blair. What we did in Iraq has brought disgrace and dishonour on Britain.

"As Tony Blair won't change the policy, the only way to make a correction is for him to step aside."

Labour backbencher Christine McCafferty said Mr Blair must apologise for the war or quit.

snip

more
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9824169%255E663,00.html

[Spazito]

1. No surprise there, given the election results!

One can only hope that this sounds the death knell for blair and soon.

I find this last sentence beyond ridiculous:

One of the few crumbs of comfort for Mr Blair was the victory of Labour candidate Ken Livingstone, who was re-elected Mayor of London.

Ken Livingstone was blair's biggest critic and that was why he won and it was IN SPITE of being on Labour's ticket.

[pippin]

39. Livingstone is technically not a Laborite

He is actually an independent candidate and maverick MP who was expelled from the Labour Party.

[T_i_B]

40. Technically Livingstone is a Labourite

as he has come back into the Labour party and won re-election as the Labour candidate.

Livingstone ran the first time around as an independent but the Labour party realized that they would perform really badly without Ken as their candidate so he has come back into the Labour party.

Ken Livingstone was an independent, but he is now officially back in the Labour party.

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. i'm not familiar with british electoral law....

but, if the party chooses, can they just replace him with Mr. Brown?
I had such high hopes for tony blair, and the labour party, but he has been such a disappointment. such a brilliant man being a poodle for *.

[Spazito]

3. Yes, he can be replaced by the party which would also remove...

him as PM. I have no doubt that the Labour party members are looking closely at when they would have to replace him in time to try and get back Labour supporters before the next general election to be held next year.

[qwertyMike]

5. The Brits elect a Party

The party leader becomes Prime Minister. So Brown can replace Blair as leader and so become Prime Minister without a General election.
Usually he will call an election for a mandate soon after.
Like wise Canada, OZ, New Zealand.

[Mr Creosote]

36. Change of leader

"Usually he will call an election for a mandate soon after".
Not necessarily the case here. Major left it late after Thatcher went. So did Callaghan after Wilson. Home had an election fairly promptly - but he was at the end of a Parliament. So generally I don't think the timing of an election has been affected overmuch by change of leader.
My guess: Blair will resign at the end of the autumn - and we'll have an election this time next year. Unless we win Euro 2004 in which case he'll disolve parliament immediately!

[hadrons]

8. would be hard for the party to throw Blair out ; Blair has lots of lackies

in place ... although this week's elections could be a wake-up call to many of them

and I agree with what posters have said about Livingstone's victory; if Livingstone can be 100% against the war and barely wins just because he's in Labour that tells you how bad things can get for them

[Fenris]

4. Kids, there's no "if" here. It's only a matter of time before he's out.

The question is, "When?"

[AndyTiedye]

9. At This Rate, He'll Take the Labour Party Down With Him

and the UK will be stuck with the Tories again. (Bush* hits the trifecta AGAIN):wtf:

Labour had better move fast.

The BFEE must have something horrible on Blair. There is no other explanation.
Blair knows better than this.

[JCMach1]

10. Precisely, he has done the only thing that could get the Tories

back in control.

[Mokito]

17. If Blair's booted before November

What do you think will be the fall-out for The Pathetic One?
I tend to say it will hurt his chances...bad, but on the other side; isn't it possible lots of Americans swing to The Pathetic One just to show the world they...(ahum)...can't be influenced and such?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

43. I think reasonable [sic?] Repubs would see it as further confirmation

of Chimps ineptitude. Blair, Howard and Berlusconi are just about all he's got left. And all are going down, including Chimp. The delusional Pugs will never change so there's no point in worrying about them.

[cliss]

6. Well, you have to give him credit for one thing:

Blair is a lot more tenacious than I expected. He's hung in there, swam upstream and fought public opinion coming at him from all corners.

Why, I even expected him to throw in the towel when it became apparent that the Niger Uranium fiasco proved we had no reason for marching to war. But - no concession forthcoming.

Instead, the Old Poodle made an Enquirer-like claim that he has special "top-secret" information that it really was true. Oh really? Show us the facts, dude. Well......he couldn't divulge it because it came from an Italian source and he well.....it was secret.....and..... (yawn) you know the rest.


I think Blair is a little older and wiser. If you're going to lie to your people Tony, you've got to have some substance to back it up with. I know you're passionate and you thought passion would make up for a lack of everything else.

But a sceptical world expects more than that. In particular when you have blood dripping on your hands.

What did they promise you? A seat on the Board of Carlyle? Will it make up for the people?

[Sagan]

7. So why is Livingstone's re-election a "comfort" for Blair??

Livingstone was totally against the war. He HATES Chimpy. Blair was all gung-ho and kisses Chimpy's ass every chance he gets.

But two articles I've read on the UK elections both say that Blair can take some small solace in Livingstone's re-election as Mayor of London.

To me, that should worry Blair EVEN MORE. It's not about Labour or Tories or LibDems. It's about BLAIR going to war and BLAIR kissing Chimpy's ass.

[mom cat]

12. I had a similar reaction to that strange comment. If Ken's win is the

only comfort the poodle can muster, then it must be bloody bleak. P.S. -Its good to see a fellow Texan on DU. Howdy and all that stuff. Actually, I live in Boston now. I couldn't take the summers anymore. Keep up the fight. Texas needs people like you.

[Sagan]

13. Thanks!

I'm a native Texan and boy, our state sure has gone to the dogs. I used to be proud of Texas and thought that a good, common-sense Moderate-to-Conservative Democrat was just about the natural representative of our formerly great state.

The fundamentalist neo-con whackos have trashed Texas, now. If the opportunity comes for me to go, I'm gone.

[mom cat]

20. Hope that you escape before the global heat wave gets worse.

[Atlanticist]

16. Agreed 100%

Livingston got back in in spite of being on the Labour ticket. Because he's so high profile, people know he's no time for Blair and detests Bush. The people I feel sorry for are all those hard working Labour councillors turfed out of office because of Blair - he has set back the Labour grassroots massively.

[Mokito]

18. Well, now Labour gets to keep control of London

Imagine how it would look for Blair if his party lost the capital.

[IndianaGreen]

21. And.... he is gay to boot!

One of the few crumbs of comfort for Mr Blair was the victory of Labour candidate Ken Livingstone, who was re-elected Mayor of London.

I agree with you that I don't see where this would be any comfort to Bush's poodle. Blair is too stubborn to realize he is done for. Perhaps it is time for Labour to do to Blair what the Tories did to Thatcher, sack him!

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. If you mean Livingstone, no he's not

(and I guess you don't mean Blair).

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,9061,1175154,00.html

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today announced the birth of his second child.
The 58-year-old mayor's partner, Emma Beal, gave birth to baby Mia at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, north London, on Saturday at 12.15am.
...
They began seeing each other after Mr Livingstone ended his 20-year relationship with Kate Allen, the UK director of Amnesty International.

But being gay isn't a big deal in British politics by now. 2 or 3 of Blair's cabinet ministers have been, and even one of the Tory front bench spokesmen is.

[TacticalPeek]

26. "The 58-year-old mayor's partner, Emma Beal" - tipo?

[T_i_B]

38. Livingstone's re-election is a comfort to Blair because...

...he is the Labour candidate this time round. (He won the first time as an independent.)

[number6]

11. good-bye bushes poo-dle ....

..

[abburdlen]

14. In any election since Iraq

has the party/candidate that supported * won?

[playahata1]

23. Have you not been paying attention?

Look what went down in SPAIN a couple of months ago.

[struggle4progress]

15. Poll result 'a signal for Canberra'

The routing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour party in local council elections showed how vulnerable governments were in the wake of the Iraq war, Australian commentators said today.

The British Labour party lost about 470 seats nationwide in council elections, with the anti-war Liberal Democrats securing around 30 per cent of the vote.

Griffith University Emeritus Professor of History and Politics, Ross Fitzgerald, said the British result was a positive sign for Labor Leader Mark Latham.
<snip>

He said the result showed dissatisfaction with the war was continuing to flow through to ballot boxes.
<snip>
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/12/1086749937323.html


Hope our Aussie friends toss Bush's little "deputy sheriff" Howie!

[BillZBubb]

19. Unfortunately, Blair won't quit. Fools like him can't see the truth.

Blair is so delusional, he believes the public will forget all about his betrayal of his country and his party before the next election.

He sold out those who put their trust in him for a pathetic sociopath--Bush*. Blair must be defeated.

[crossroads]

30. He and * get together to reinforce their mutual delusion...

I have noticed they seem to inflate each others illusions -- that the world is in agreement with them... It is sickening to watch...
:shrug:

[dwilson]

42. I think Blair is much too popular, despite the election results

and the rhetoric, to be "sacked". I think they want to appear to be behind their leader in a time of war. Similar to many American's misplaced sense of pride (or whatever) in Bush.

[Joanne98]

22. The Labor Party should have known this was coming

I'm beginning to think they've been infiltrated by saboteurs.

[SenatorBulworth]

25. still i am glad this happened

They need a wake up call and this is it labour needs to dump Blair as punishment for being a lady in waiting to the Boy Emperor:spank:

[Dirk39]

32. Blair was the saboteur

Before Blair, the Labour Party was mostly financed by the Unions, now the labour party is financed mostly by corporations. Blair has changed the Labour Party from a somehow democratic organisation to an authoritarian corporation, controlled by few people.

It's one of those unexpected victories of the political right and corporatism: while the Reagans and Thatchers and Kohls did destroy the welfare states and the "New Deal", the corporate lobbyists prepared the former somehow left-wing or Socialdemocratic Parties to be just a part of their game:
The DLC/New Democrats in the USA (Clinton), Schröder's "New Center" in Germany, Blair's "New Labour".

After the people started to realize, what Reagan, Kohl and Thatcher were about, any possible alternative was destroyed from within.

Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[struggle4progress]

27. Tony should step down for the good of the party.

Hope many party faithful are calling for his resignation!

[dArKeR]

28. Battered Blair goes home

REUTERS , LONDON

A humbled Tony Blair returned to Britain yesterday to answer critics in his own party after voter backlash against his support for war in Iraq brought an unprecedented trouncing in local elections.

Blair's aides tried to put the best possible spin on the election defeat while the prime minister attended the funeral of former US president Ronald Reagan in Washington.

But more than 460 Labour officials were voted out of local government, and Blair will have to convince party members with seats in national parliament that they will not suffer the same fate in a general election likely next year.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/06/13/2003174881

[Jack Rabbit]

29. Go, go, go

Aznar
Berlusconi
Blair
Bush
Howard

[silverpatronus]

41. whee!! eom

[Gloria]

31. The real shock is that the Liberal Democrats actually came in

AHEAD of Labour in the polls!! Heard it on the BBC this morning. Blair has damaged his party tremendously...

[Yavin4]

33. Going To War WITHOUT The True Consent of The People Is A

disaster in a true democracy.

[Tight_rope]

34. Buh bye Blair....Bush to follow right behind you...you'll see him in hell!

[Matilda]

35. An interesting quote from Blair ....

"Admitting lessons had to be learned, he added: "I think it is a
question of holding our nerve and realising, yes, Iraq has been an
immensely difficult decision."

I think Tony is implying that the people are the ones who have
lessons to learn - he just has to hold his nerve until everybody
else comes round to his way of thinking.

There is only one lesson to be learned from this, and that is that
GOING TO WAR ON IRAQ WAS A BIG MISTAKE. The only thing saving his
leadership is that Labour doesn't appear to have anyone else with
the popular appeal he once had. But perhaps it's time they took
a chance with Brown, because thing's don't look too good for Labour
with Blair in front.

As for taking comfort from Livingstone's victory - there'e no love
lost between those two. "Red Ken" is a genuine Socialist, Blair
is pseudo-left.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

37. Apologies aren't going to help Labour in the next election

The choice is to either get rid of Blair now and save Labour positions or keep Blair on and his "apologies" and lose labour positions and Blair in the general election.

What's Blair worth to the party?

[Dirk39]

44. Hello from Germany,

I think this would be very difficult to do. Blair and his gang have started a kind of coup within the Labour-Party long ago. And they have destroyed the democracy within the Labour Party.
You just have to look, where the money for Labour comes from now, and where it did come from, 20 years ago.
Without a kind of inner-rebellion, Labour will never become the party again it was long ago. We undergo the same experience in Germany with Schroeder right now, who's results in the european election are far worse than those of Blair and Labour in GB. Schröder (New Center), Blair (New Labour) and Clinton (DLC)were somehow puppets to destroy any kind of real oppositon or alternative within capitalism.
Dirk

[Gloria]

45. Another Blair health scare today, according to The Telegraph

(conservative)

Apparently, he couldn't quite get words out and looked a bit off.

Reminded everyone of his "heart scare" a while back....