tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31588679.post967956216774585751..comments2023-10-21T16:25:58.899+01:00Comments on Three Score Years And Ten: What If Gordon Brown Went Under A London Bus?Harry Barneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01600933854461096745noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31588679.post-9724418261391307002007-05-30T11:29:00.000+01:002007-05-30T11:29:00.000+01:00Jon Cruddas? Don't get me started.....anti Trident...Jon Cruddas? Don't get me started.....anti Trident, yes to more council housing and Party democracy, then he fails to nominate John McDonnell, the candidate who supports his policy platform. He's a disgrace and I'm sick of reading about his "left" credentials. At least Blears is an honest Blairite. If Gordon fell under a bus we would have to have a General Election pretty sharpish - and I can't see Cruddas winning that.susan presshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14184296742644071259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31588679.post-30344859447617834442007-05-30T10:26:00.000+01:002007-05-30T10:26:00.000+01:00Bob,The matters you raise are important, but they ...Bob,<BR/><BR/>The matters you raise are important, but they aren't in front of us at the moment. We do have a vote for the Deputy Leadership and I don't see why we should add to the long list of patronage. The great strength of Jon Cruddas is that he won't take the job of covering for Gordon in his absences nor take a Ministerial post, so he can concentrate on party matters. I merely wished to point out that this stance is also his greatest weakness.<BR/><BR/>Elections for the Shadow Cabinet can't be all they are cracked up to be either, as I finished second off bottom the only time I stood!Harry Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01833380054575757928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31588679.post-18709612400611125452007-05-30T09:07:00.000+01:002007-05-30T09:07:00.000+01:00"Would Party members be happy with, say, Jack Stra..."Would Party members be happy with, say, Jack Straw becoming the interim Prime Minister, without them having had a say in his election?"<BR/><BR/>Harry, the Party members don't get any say on any of the other positions of patronage handed out by the Prime Minister, why would they get exercised over this one?<BR/><BR/>Personally I think the most progressive step the Party could take under the new PM would be to strip him of his baronial powers of patronage. If elections by MPs are good enough for the Shadow Cabinet, why not for Government? At the moment we give the same powers to a Prime Minister to appoint his Ministers, Bishops and Lords as some medieval monarch... and to make matters worse, we've just had a coronation too.Bob Piperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13792439016502695274noreply@blogger.com