Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

[T_i_B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8672859.stm

Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader.

Mr Brown, prime minister since 2007, said he wanted a successor to be in place by the time of the party's conference in September.

Mr Brown announced his intention to quit in a statement in Downing St in which he also said his party was to start formal talks with the Lib Dems. The Conservatives won the most seats and most votes in the election and have been in talks with the Lib Dems.

Mr Brown said no party had won an overall majority in the UK general election and, as Labour leader, he had to accept his part in that. He said he had no desire to stay in his position longer than was needed to form a stable government, and that he would ask the Labour Party to set in form the process of a leadership contest.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Good riddance

to bad rubbish.

[Hopeless Romantic]

2. Be fair to the guy, He was well intentioned...

He was just completely unsuited to the job.

And not very likeable.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Indeed

:rofl:

[LeftishBrit]

5. More likeable than Smarmy Dave or Traitor Tony, anyway

It was time for him to go, and I'm glad he did; but he's better than some of the alternatives.

Of the likely replacements, I'd prefer Johnson or perhaps Balls; not Miliband or (pleeeease not!) Harriet Harman. But any of the possibilities would be better than Dave, and MUCH better than Dave's more right-wing handlers.

[dipsydoodle]

8. I think they said earlier on the news that Harriet

said she wouldn't comment and Balls said too soon for him or words to that effect. It's fortunate that Mandleson isn't eligible. Its Moribund Major who has his sights on the prize - another of the original liars club.

[LeftishBrit]

4. Wow. Keeping fingers tightly crossed

for maybe not-getting-the-Tories-after-all

Give Brown some credit for being prepared to sacrifice his ego for his country. If Blair had done the same, earlier, we might not have been in quite the same mess.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. I hope that the Lib Dems, and now Labour, are taking advice from their European partners

on how to run negotiations for coalitions. Of course, the Tories said goodbye to their reasonable centre-right European partners, and are now stuck with a smattering of RW loonies for allies, and so can't get such advice. Serves them right.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

7. Brown was better than any British PM since Wilson

Although Attlee aside, post-war British PMs have been a sorry bunch. So that's not really saying much.

It makes you wonder how different things would have been if Blair stood aside in Labour's second term. We would still have probably gone into Afghanistan and had the neoliberal shite that Blair brought us, but if Brown had kept British forces out of Iraq (showing neutrality or Harold Wilson-style diplomatic support for the US) Labour may well have had a bigger majority in 2005 than what Blair achieved. Without the rot from the Iraq War, Labour could have achieved a working majority this time (perhaps under 30) due to the strange allocations of first-past-the-post.

I suspect that history will be kinder to Gordon Brown than his contemporaries. He's still responsible for the New Labour project, but he was a better, more realistic leader than Blair, but lacking the latter's PR-friendly (but insidious Messiah-complex) approach.

[fedsron2us]

9. My personal belief is that Brown was a better PM than Chancellor

He is culpable for some of the financial mess that is impacting the UK and the rest of the world by not regulating the City of London as tightly as he should. However, during his premiership he has actually done not too bad a job in very difficult circumstances. We could have had a lot worse leaders in this period. I am actually rather worried that who ever replaces him as PM regardless of party will not be able to provide the weighty presence at core of government that Brown managed. Cameron and Clegg might wind up finding him a harder act to follow than they imagine.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Agree with both you and Anarcho-Socialist

I didn't like Brown as Chancellor, and when he got to be PM, I thought he'd be better on foreign policy, but similar on domestic policy, to Blair. He's been better than I expected!

[dipsydoodle]

10. Don't let there any doubt

that this Mandelson and Campbell's work. Both nasty POS's.