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04/25/2010: "Election - The labour party are preparing the removal of Gordon Brown"
removal of a party leader is never easy, nor is it often popular.
those that support the outgoing leader battle for years with the new leader, behind the scenes and occasionally, in public.
it provides opposition parties with an open wound for years afterwards, to put salt on and use as a reference to justify a political argument.
we have seen blair being undermined for years, without pointing to one single occurance, the sheer weight of evidence from books, articles, speeches, etc, all point to it happening.
by no means is this limited to the labour party - margaret thatcher is a prime example, after one particular demanding cabinet meeting, in which thatcher got her own way in the end, her old stalwart willie whitelaw came out of downing street and told a reporter, off the record, that she won the day but would not fight another election as leader of the conservatives.
within 18 months, she had been forced out.
labour, historically, do not remove their leaders, they resign
rather than have another person standing to replace their leaders, they have always preferred the other option, to undermine the leader so much, it makes their position impossible.
onto the 2010 general election campaign, lurking in the background is mandelson, now a converted gordon brown friend, their falling out has been well documented, but then all of a sudden, mandelson is brought out of the shadows, into government via an unelected peerage, and given half the jobs in the cabinet.
alastair campbell, spin doctor who bullies the media, left tony blair's side in 2003
Campbell resigns story
but is now back in the background.
looking at the way this campaign has gone now we are entering week 3, its hard to see how gordon brown's position as leader can remain.
the longer the election campaign goes on, the more it looks like his position is being undermined.
- why would the party machine leak to the public, that party activists and the press that were following his campaign, were complaining about the party leader only meeting party activists and not the general public?
- having an elvis impersonator in your campaign is bad enough, but to have them sing "suspicious minds" and "the wonder of you" in front of the world's media - after all the taxpayer money being spent on presentation by the prime minister - is bizarre!
- no sitting prime minister has ever agreed to and taken part in, a live tv debate with other leaders, there have been many calls for it, but think about it, gordon brown by his own admission has a face for radio, he is not slick, he is not able to present himself well in the spotlight, yet he is advised to accept it and put his face directly to the public on live tv, for more than four and a half hours over three weeks?
i would seriously question gordon brown's judgement.
labour's big guns, advisors, mandelson etc, were all in it with blair, upto their necks.
they disappear from view and leave, blair is briefed against until blair leaves.
gordon brown is then faced with more pressure behind the scenes, as his cabinet ministers resign, his supporters (in parliament and the voters) dwindle in numbers and his position is within weeks of a resignation - enter the big guns, now magically his best friends... a quick fix to save his position, they now have the control and power without having to face a vote from the public.
there is something bigger going on in the labour party at this election - some of the things that gordon brown is being advised to do, just dont add up, it looks like he is being edged towards the exit door by those behind the scenes and a successor is being lined up for a token leadership ballot and smoothly into the position of labour leader, regardless of the outcome of this general election
