Would you be OK with Tony Blair losing next year even if the Tories won?

[bluestateguy]

Poll question: Would you be OK with Tony Blair losing next year even if the Tories won?

The British are holding elections in the Spring. I think it's safe to say that most folks here prefer the Liberal Democrats, as do I, but we have to be realistic and remember that thet are a third party.

Would you all be satisfied if the Conservatives (Tories) won and kicked Blair out of office? Mind you, I'm not asking if you'd be pleased, but would you be content with that outcome?

[blm]

1. The sooner the Tories get in, the sooner global Fascism begins in earnest.

Sorry, but, I'd rather have the flawed Blair in there.

[UdoKier]

34. It's already well under way.

Bush's poodle makes no difference one way or the other.

[rurallib]

2. He's as much of a dick as ****

Also borned again. Musta fucked it up the first time.

[Anakin Skywalker]

6. This Born-Again Stuff Has Been Exported???

It used to be just an American thang.

[nine23]

3. Yes. He needs his boney ass kicked...

[Walt Starr]

4. Yep, I'd take the Tories over Blair

If I lived in an area of Britan and could vote, I would take a Tory over Labor in order to help get rid of Blair. I would be ABB there as I was ABB here.

[InvisibleBallots]

25. didn't the Tories endorse Kerry?

One of the top Tories called Kerry "our kind of conservative" during the election.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. One of them did - Alan Duncan

but he is a bit of a maverick at times (for instance, he is openly gay, the first, and possibly still the only, such Conservative MP, though they do have other candidates who are gay). The other Tories were more equivocal. Howard, the leader, was apparently told by Karl Rove that he'd never get invited to the White House, because he criticised Blairs' conduct in the invasion of Iraq; but another rumour says that Rove is going to help the Tories in the next election.

Certainly the Tories are not as extreme as the Republicans.

[passy]

5. And what, have Michael Howard as PM who must be kidding me.

I wouldn't say that Howard is a fascist to the same extent as Rumsfeld is but maybe on par with * Senior. Intelligent and ruthless.
But somehow the likelihood that the Brits want to revert to a conservatives govt is very little.
The only way it can happen is if Rupert Murdoch gets fed up with Blair, or if Blair doesn't do as he says. The man got him there he can get rid of him just as easily.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. There's an important lesson that Blair and all politicians need teaching

and that is that it is completely unacceptable to lie in order to take the country into an illegal war, and to hand over your foreign policy to a country run by a self-aggrandizing junta.

This means I'm willing to put up with a Conservative government. It's true that they might have behaved as badly as Blair, if they had had the chance; but we can't tell that. You only send people to jail if they've actually done a crime, not if you think they would if they had the chance (well, thinking about it, that's another reason for getting rid of Blair ...)

[passy]

10. the Tories voted to go war along with Labour.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. But they didn't manufacture the evidence

It's like the difference between Bush and Kerry. One did the lying; the other was lied to.

[Taxloss]

33. Not only would the Tories have taken us to war,

they wouldn't have bothered TRYING to convince the country, so their would have been no dossier, true, but they also wouldn't have bothered trying to get the UN on board. That would be better ... how?

At home, Labour has achieved so much that the Tories would take great pleasure in destroying. Letwin is still talking about tax cuts. We can't vandalise that just to get short-lived feelings of revenge on Blair.

[tjdee]

8. No no no. Blair is hitching his train to us, and that's his fault, BUT

The Tories, people?

Honestly? So people would essentially be British Nader voters?

I don't know much about Brit internal politics, but as far as the US goes, I think everyone thought better of Blair when he was Clinton's friend.

He is just trying, in my limited perception, to hitch his cart to the US rather than the rest of Europe and the EU. It's a gamble, sure.

But the Tories? The Tories?

[passy]

9. The Liberal Democrats are somewhat bigger than Nader and the Greens.

[tjdee]

11. Yes, but it is similar.

As far as I know, the Liberal Democrats will probably not win the prime ministership. Therefore, Michael Howard is the probable alternative.

And that's not cool with me.

[passy]

13. They could become larger than the Tories at least.

As long as the Tories keep choosing party leaders that the people hate. Kenneth Clark would have attracted more people; is he still pro-Europe or has he drowned in his whiskey?
And if the lib-dems talked about legalizing cannabis they would get the youth vote.

[TyeDye75]

12. Thankyou...there is another choice people!

Vote liberal democrat

The liberals have outperformed the Tories in several recent by elections and even if they cant realistically win the election, they could very realistically over take the Tories as the official opposition.

However I still takes Blair over the Tories anyday, Blair should be punished but electing the Tories would be imposing a collective punishment on our entire country.

Remeber Micheal Howard also supports the war in Iraq.

[sweetheart]

14. So DU is not that liberal after all

A bunch of closet tories! LIBDEM is the party that did not vote
for war. Torys are an ugly bunch just like the theocons. It seems
once the liberals cross the atlantic, they support theocons!!.. oh
dear.

It seems y'all are on-with american-neo-imperialism, by wishing back
the tories who want to pull britain out of the EU and divide europe
for american advantage. The tory party are bush-lite spoilers and
voting for them is like voting for moderate republicans, as a protest
over disliking clinton. You "yes" voters should be ashamed, you've
freeped your own poll.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. The lib dems aren't in the explicit options

Given the choice between the centre right liar Blair, and the right wing potential liars the Tories, I think we need to send a message of just how despicable Blair has become. Remebmer, Blair is bush-lite too ...

[sweetheart]

17. Yes, bliar needs to get a message of > NON

Whether that be by electing wreckers, I am less convinced....
however i accept the poll is rigged towards the right.

In real policies, however, blair is not bush-lite. His government
is as liberal as the american greens. Universal healthcare,
green energy quotas, corporate death regulations, not selling
knives to under 18's, total gun control, armed services that accept
bullying complaints and working time limits, downgrading cannabis
and... with charles clarke's appointment (as you mentioned) he
himself (the top cop in britain) smoked cannabis in his youth and
supports medicinal use.

Lying to iraq for the glory of statesmanship, is bliar's equivalent
to blunkett's expediting visas for his lovers nanny. It seems
corruption and hubris bring them all down off their pillars after all.

[Jack_DeLeon]

18. Blair needs to go.

The sooner he is out, even if the tories get in, then that is just the sooner the tories will get kicked out too.

[rurallib]

19. Amen

first they kick out Blair, then they kick out Howard. Send a message

[Michael_UK]

29. THE TORIES WERE IN EIGHTEEN YEARS

EIGHTEEN YEARS, EIGHTEEN BLOODY YEARS

Honestly, if Howard is voted in, then we're stuck with him for at least four years.

[DS1]

20. Face, meet severed nose

:-(

[desi826]

21. You have left out the actual situation as an option

Polls have already shown that the Brits want to hang on the the Labor Party, but get rid of Blair.
That's why the Labor Party is starting the paperwork to impeach Blair. They realize they don't need him anymore to remain in power.
Why wasn't this an option? That's what's actually happening over there.
Des

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. It's not Labour MPs who are trying to impeach Blair

It's others (especially the Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties).

http://www.impeachblair.org/

No Labour MPs have signed the impeachment motion; the nearest is Peter Kilfoyle, who sort of kicked the whole thing off by confirming with the parliamentary officials that impeachment was still a legal possibility (this was then written about by Dan Plesch, and the Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price picked it up from there); Kilfyole then said:

Peter Kilfoyle has become the first Labour MP to openly call for the Commons to be allowed to debate the impeachment of the Prime Minister for misleading Parliament and the public over the Iraq war. The Merseyside MP was a strong opponent of the war and has openly criticised the Prime Minister for not resigning over the failure to find WMD.

Peter Kilfoyle MP said:

"Impeachment should only be used as a last resort, because the convention is that ministers will behave as "honourable gentlemen" if they have misled the Commons.

"That the prime minister has misled the Commons is not in doubt in most people's minds."

http://www.plaidcymru.org/press040831.html

but Kilfoyle has not signed the motion.

Unfortunately, no-one in Labour has come straight out with "let's get rid of Blair".

[oblivious]

23. What greater crime for a leader thanto lie his country into an illegal war

In a democracy, can there be anything worse? If you let a leader get away with that, then what good is democracy! What good are laws! What good are the people! What good is the country!

[fujiyama]

24. It depends

If the Tories were to commit themselves to pulling British troops out of Iraq, I'd vote for them.

Domestic politics in Britain has no effect on me. I just want to see a defeat for neo imperialism. If the Tories were to pull troops out IMMEDIATELY, then there isn't a question.

[hfojvt]

26. you missed an option

Blair has always been considered a faux-Labour PM by those on the left. He is to Labour what Clinton was to the Democrats.
Is there any way for Labour to dump him the way the Democrats dumped LBJ in 1968 because of the war?
As far as I can tell, the Tories are already in power with Blair as PM.

Would you be happy if Zell Miller was President?

[Michael_UK]

28. Those of you choosing the Tories

would rather have the Chimp as president than Hillary Clinton, just because she's a moderate democrat.

Sheesh!

[mmonk]

30. Hard question

Maybe Labour could win without Blair but quite a risky situation. Without Blair though, the real isolation the US is in could finally be driven home to Americans in denial.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. In July, Blair was an apparent drag on Labour

Mr Blair may feel that it is his personal political reputation rather than that of the Labour party which has suffered most from the continuing row over the Iraq war. This month's poll provides further fuel for that analysis, as it shows that Gordon Brown would more than double Labour's lead to 11 points over the Tories if he were Labour leader.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1265009,00.html

There may be a more up-to-date poll available - I'm not sure.

[Taxloss]

32. A Tory win would be a horrible disaster.

Just inconceivable. It must not, and will not, happen.

Labour needs a third term to make the Tories realise that the political ground has shifted, and that the 1980s are dead and buried. The social revolution Labour has unleashed - minimum wage, tax credits, Sure Start, New Deal, rights for contract employees, national literacy and numeracy drives, etc, etc, etc, has to be driven into permanence.

Edit: I should add that if you hate Blair because of his alliance witrh Bush over Iraq ... HOW would that have been different under IDS?