Ouch
Enough of politics over here; let's go across The Pond and see what's going on, shall we?
The United Kingdom has been in the viscid grip of the Labour Party for about twenty years now, but since the last few years of Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister the Conservative Party has been making gains. Now, with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, things have only gotten worse for Labour.
First, there was the recession fueled by a collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the failure of a couple of major banks.
Then there came the Expense Scandal, which so far has claimed several members of the Labour Cabinet. Now, the scandal has so far hurt all of the four major parties, but the party in power always gets kicked hardest because they are in power. Several in the Labour Party, from the backbenchers in the House of Commons to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, have called for Brown to resign as Prime Minister and call for a new general election.
So far Brown has resisted this.
He may not be able to resist it any longer, or ignore the growing calls for him to resign.
The reason?
Well, let's start with the local council elections in England. According to these figures, the Conservative Party gained seven councils and 244 councillors; Labour lost 4 councils and 291 councillors. This is not good.
What's even worse is the polling for seats in the European Parliament. There, the Conservatives gained a seat while Labour lost 5. In the unkindest cut of all, Labour came in second in the voting to the UK Independence Party, and the anti-immigration right-wing British National Party acquired two seats in Strasbourg.
Taken together, things don't look good at all for the Labour Party. I'm not inclined to handicapping non-US elections, but I personally give Brown another three months before he gives in and calls for new Parliamentary elections.
The United Kingdom has been in the viscid grip of the Labour Party for about twenty years now, but since the last few years of Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister the Conservative Party has been making gains. Now, with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, things have only gotten worse for Labour.
First, there was the recession fueled by a collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the failure of a couple of major banks.
Then there came the Expense Scandal, which so far has claimed several members of the Labour Cabinet. Now, the scandal has so far hurt all of the four major parties, but the party in power always gets kicked hardest because they are in power. Several in the Labour Party, from the backbenchers in the House of Commons to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, have called for Brown to resign as Prime Minister and call for a new general election.
So far Brown has resisted this.
He may not be able to resist it any longer, or ignore the growing calls for him to resign.
The reason?
Well, let's start with the local council elections in England. According to these figures, the Conservative Party gained seven councils and 244 councillors; Labour lost 4 councils and 291 councillors. This is not good.
What's even worse is the polling for seats in the European Parliament. There, the Conservatives gained a seat while Labour lost 5. In the unkindest cut of all, Labour came in second in the voting to the UK Independence Party, and the anti-immigration right-wing British National Party acquired two seats in Strasbourg.
Taken together, things don't look good at all for the Labour Party. I'm not inclined to handicapping non-US elections, but I personally give Brown another three months before he gives in and calls for new Parliamentary elections.
posted by Walt at 1:56 AM
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