Glasgee East by-election

[Jon]

If they lost, which looks unlikely, gordo would be gone in september.

he's not got long left in the job he so coveted then, it seems, Grings!

question is, is Milly ready for the hot seat? Will he stand against Gordo? Will he want it right now?

Labour are not going to win the next GE, barring some sort of minor miracle, so maybe best to leave Gordo to fight the next GE and sink, and then someone else takes over afresh?

[Awol]

Alan Johnson's a safe pair of hands I reckon Jon, if they go for Harriet they'll be even further in it, Balls is a cretin, Straw wouldn't be any good and as you say I reckon Miliband will keep his powder dry and go for the leadership when they are in opposition again.

What a result for the SNP though.

[Jon]

Alan Johnson's a safe pair of hands I reckon Jon, if they go for Harriet they'll be even further in it, Balls is a cretin, Straw wouldn't be any good and as you say I reckon Miliband will keep his powder dry and go for the leadership when they are in opposition again.

What a result for the SNP though.

indeed. and good points too. it seems clear to me that the people don't like Gordon Brown. They don't seem to either like or trust him, and don't see him as decisive either.

He lacks charisma.

all essential elements of a great leader.

he has to go. With Alan Johnno, whilst Labout would IMO still lose the next GE, the loss wouldn't be as heavy.

[Risso]

Oh dear, more trouble for the government, that's absolutely ruined my weekend, I can tell you....

[Awol]

With Alan Johnno, whilst Labout would IMO still lose the next GE, the loss wouldn't be as heavy.

That's got to be Labour's key aim now. They will be out at the next GE without question but they need to consolidate and hold onto their core areas in order to rebuild later. Worst case would be the Lib Dems taking second place in the English constituencies and Labour also losing out to the nationalists in Wales and Scotland. They could end up as the third party in Westminster.

I don't think it will help Gordon that they are now going on the summer break either, plenty of time for gunpowder treason and plot.

[Demitri_C]

i cant see th lib dems coming second at all. lets not say labour will lose anything can happen, say cameron murders someone?! alot can change in politics

are you not forgeting our foreign secrteary? he might be next labour leader

[ahamaad]

My reaction to Brown losing:

[The_Rev]

Cya Gordon.

[tonyh29]

I know people say these things kinda off the cuff but so many people i know that have previously voted labour have said

"they would never vote labour again"

This was also a phrase being heard around the streets of Glasgow yesterday according to the TV show i watched

Would suggest Labour will need to change leaders about 2 or 3 times and get a clean break from anything Blair/ Brown related before they are even back in with a shout

3 terms of the conservatives and then the merry go round starts again ??

[snowychap]

A reaction from one of the bloggers at Labourhome:

link

How do we come back from this?

S**t, we lost, was my first thought. But I wasn't too surprised. We delayed in selecting the candidate and worse, there appeared to have been no canvass returns in the constituency.

We need to face this fact - the next election will be a air war versus ground war one, and we've already lost the air war and there's nothing we can do about it. Gordon Brown isn't very good at presentation, and even if we replaced him, his successor would be dogged by problems in the international economy. Besides, the press has simply decided that they want a change in government, and there is nothing we can do to change their minds.

However, we do need to remember that we've faced a hostile right-wing press most of the last century and still managed to get elected nine times, thanks to an effective ground war.

The most important thing to understand about ground wars is that it's impossible to win them in three weeks flat even if you pour hundreds of activists into the constituency. For starters your opponents are doing the same and the air war is on their side. A good ground war takes at least a year, usually longer, to have an effect because it takes a while to build up a rapport with voters.

The problem with Glasgow East and Crewe and Nantwich before it, was that the local MP's and parties had been lazy and had simply not done regular canvassing and leafletting for years. Neither constituency had canvass returns for instance, so it was guesswork as to where the Labour supporters were. Even when Labour people are found, last minute work will not get a voter to turn out, if they've been neglected for years and had their head filled with anti-Labour stuff from the press.

MP's leaving parliament for their constituencies this summer should spend their time banging on doors and getting their canvass returns up to scratch. Sitting around in tea-rooms feeling sorry for themselves won't cut it. Wasting time gossiping in tea-rooms all these years instead of canvassing has contributed to this mess.

We've all had a wonderful time these last fourteen years simply cruising in the slipstream of the national New Labour machine. The machine is broken now though, and we're not going to get it back barring some miracle (and miracles don't happen in real life). It's only old-fashioned graft of the sort hardly any of us recall, that will get the MP's back into parliament.

So the lesson is we all need to get out in our local constituencies and get our canvass returns up to scratch ASAP. Some in the press are already talking about the Labour party being Obliterated. Obliteration is a serious word - it's no longer about the survival of New Labour, it's about Labour itself. But Labour will only be obliterated if constituency members on the ground allow it to happen by not doing old-fashioned politics on the doorstep. If we want the Labour party to survive, it's all in the hands of us the members, independently of what national government does.

[Rodders]

Woops.

[Rodders]

3 terms of the conservatives and then the merry go round starts again ??

at least two at any rate. Seems fairly obvious where the next GE is heading, labour chaps might as well prepare for Opposition as soon as possible.

[ahamaad]

Cameron now calling for a general election.

£100 to VT if Brown calls one.

he has got no balls.

[Demitri_C]

if brown did agree he might get some respect back and not be labelled a coward

[privateer]

He might not be labeled a coward but he would be branded breathtakingly stupid or insane! Labour would be massacred at the polls, which would be a good thing, but frankly it ain't gonna happen. Much as I would like to see shit in human form like Patricia Hewitt bounced out of office.

His own party may well do for him - the "men in grey suits" - but he won't call an election and I doubt he will take the decision to step down of his own volition.

BTW, I haven't read the reactions to their defeat but are we hearing the usual platitudes? "We need to listen...blah blah", "We need to engage yadda yadda..." "Must be grown up about this snurt snurt snurt..."

[snowychap]

BTW, I haven't read the reactions to their defeat but are we hearing the usual platitudes? "We need to listen...blah blah", "We need to engage yadda yadda..." "Must be grown up about this snurt snurt snurt..."

Very much so.

'We will work hard for hard working families' blah, blah.

'I feel their pain' blah, blah.

Excerpt from the Beeb:

Earlier the prime minister said: "I think what people want to know is that we understand and we hear their concerns.

"People are worried every time they go to the petrol station for fuel and worry about the costs... These are concerns that are happening in every other country.

"My whole focus and whole task is to take people through difficult times..."

He added: "We've got to listen and hear people's concerns and that's exactly what we are doing."

Mr Brown also said: "I'm getting on with the job. My task is getting on with the job. It's exactly what people want me to do."

[tonyh29]

It's exactly what people want me to do."

Have another guess , Gordon

[Gringo]

3 terms of the conservatives and then the merry go round starts again ??

at least two at any rate. Seems fairly obvious where the next GE is heading, labour chaps might as well prepare for Opposition as soon as possible.

We've just had three terms of conservatives.

Would the real Labour Party please stand up.

[snowychap]

Would the real Labour Party please stand up.

After reading that I just couldn't get the idea of Eminem singing it out of my head!

Would the real labour party please stand up, please stand up, please stand up...

[ianrobo1]

3 terms of the conservatives and then the merry go round starts again ??

at least two at any rate. Seems fairly obvious where the next GE is heading, labour chaps might as well prepare for Opposition as soon as possible.

We've just had three terms of conservatives.

Would the real Labour Party please stand up.

I think that could be possible, hopefully not as extreme as in the early 80's but a party promising to break down some of the free market ethos would be welcome, that os why I am still a memeber the core support believes in that

problem is Gringo you would never win an election like that