is clearly in a bit of a lairy mood today. He is defending Jane Kennedy, who this morning became the latest minister to quit Gordon's "government". It is far from a subtle dig, but seeing as he only has his seat to lose, rather than a government job, why doesn't he just go in for the kill?
The SNP beat Labour on his home patch last night and Harris is clearly playing the long game in raising his public profile through his blog this could be a bit of a problem. Come on Tom you might win some much needed support back home if you just come out and say what everyone knows you want to!
Or is there still some sort of secret brotherly code in the Scottish Labour Party?
"It is patently obvious that the BNP are racist but that doesn’t mean all the votes they receive come from racists; their message of protectionism, of support for a larger state, of restricting free trade is a classic mixture of left-wing politics. Not only have Labour let down the country with their mishandling of the economy, their sustained attack on our freedom and constitutional vandalism, they have let the left wing down by not fighting the BNP on political grounds. We should all fight the BNP but Labour have to wake up; the BNP are left wing and are taking Labour votes."
In the late 1970s the National Front peaked during the dying days of a Labour government, in 2009 the Labour Party lose two seats to the British National Party. Even the normally lefty loving
Independent
argue that Labour are to blame.
Hang your head in shame, get in the car, go to the palace and never come back.
Another day and another anticipated wait for the election results that could see our dear leader brought crashing down. There is plenty going on tonight and TB will be taking part in these two events:
Click for details.
TB is a bit of a bear with a sore head this afternoon after CF deputy Chairman Christian May's birthday last night. Chatham House. Sorry. Much fun had by all. Taking it easy this afternoon and waiting for things to kick off - will be a very late one.
Just watching the dear leader talking to the last remaining Labour supporters in the country with Harman and Mandy. Mute the TV and
Gordon's desperate reshuffle is unraveling quicker than one of his budgets. Sources have let it be known that Harman came very close to quitting and was prepared to walk if Gordon had made Mandy Deputy Prime Minister. The idea of this was openly discussed and Harman got her claws out.
Hence why they went with the slightly greyer title of First Secretary of State.
So let's get this straight. Brown couldn't move his Chancellor, he couldn't move his Foreign Secretary and he couldn't even create a deputy. Let it ring out loud and clear. We have a lame duck Prime Minister. Brown's fate is no longer in his hands.
Yesterday Tory Bear mentioned the anger he had picked up when talking to Labour grassroots activists about the behaviour of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Though many of them hate Gordon with a passion, after they had slogged their guts out for days on end at the stump, they felt deeply betrayed by the plotters actions. Here's what one Labour PPC said to TB:
"It was a crippling blow and quite frankly a slight on those who have been working their bollocks off. It was a real slap to make everything you've done meaningless, but we don't agree, we errr still believe."
And still believe they do. The Labour grassroots seemingly "get it" in a way that Gordon and his cronies never will. This video surfaced yesterday over at the greatly improved, dare TB say it, independent
LabourList:
Well one thing is for sure, the grassroots are a damn sight more effective at conveying their message than Gordon Brown. The video was apparently knocked together in less than 24 hours with activists hitting the Blackberries and emailing their footage to
Stuart MacLennan
and
Blackburn Labour
bloggers. The music choice is inspired and, if anything, the bad sound quality adds to the true amateur grassroots feel to the whole thing.
Let's have a look at some of those who featured:
(Top left to right) Good to see one of TB's favourite Labour drinking buddies Ross Macrae, big on the Edinburgh student politics scene. Wouldn't like to stand against him. Next up Julie Milligan a North West activist. Dean Carlin the Chairman of Labour Students Scotland, quite what an ultra-Brown loyalist feels about the underlying message of the video remains to be seen. Ken Macintosh MSP, Jack Straw and Jim Murphy better look out for flying Nokias coming their way in the next few days.
(Bottom left to right) Stuart MacLennan, one of the creators of the video, followed by some token window dressing, followed by a mad lady with some warped ideas that Labour can stop the BNP (despite the fact it's the Labour vote bleeding to the BNP huh?) Next its Alex Smith the new editor of LabourList, and last but not least it's Laurence Durnan from Blackburn Labour.
Finally, and possibly the most impressive thing about the video was the fact they managed to get Michael Foot's evil twin Brian to appear:
TB despises their politics, and no doubt Peter Oborne would have a screw-the-political-classes-field day with this post, but credit where credit is due. It's a great idea and goes strongly against the current controlling Labour machine. It is purely grassroots driven and damn sight better than anything Gordon has Youtubed, despite the massive budget he has. Maybe those with the right ideas to take our country forward should get our own version going.
keeps the pressure on our friend from the north for Saturday:
"A detailed analysis of Mr Brown's expense claims also reveals that the Prime Minister claimed £30 on his office expenses for the cost of hiring a bagpiper to play at a ceremony for veterans.
...
Mr Brown flipped the designation of his second home from London to Scotland 10 days after Tony Blair announced he would be stepping down. It meant he was able to carry on claiming a second home allowance after he moved into Downing Street."
What a day. The map says it all. Britain is sick to the back teeth of this broken and bankrupt government and has spoken. They don't want Labour and they don't want the Lib Dems (except in Bristol, but they are all a bit odd there.) Just when it looked like Gordon was going to get away with it, another resignation throws the whole thing into turmoil once again. He may have bought a stay of execution, but, the noose is very much around his neck still. The euro results on Sunday night could make Monday evening's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party one heck of a blood bath.
Thank you to the thousands of you who have popped by in the last few days and the hundreds who have taken part in the live chats. TB will be taking part in the Conservative Future election night coverage, so do come along to that! (See ad below.)
What a great day for the Conservative Party - we have wiped out Labour in the counties. The top two stories on the BBC website are calling for Brown to go and reporting the stunning electoral success of the Conservatives. Many a Tory have waited many years to see such an image. A special congratulations to Conservative Future Student Life big wig Paul "Bells" Wells, a long time friend of the bear and drinking legend who took the Tories from third place to win his ward and become the first Conservative councillor in Norwich South in nearly a generation.
On that note TB feels it would only be appropriate on an evening such as this to get hooned, for want of a better phrase.
The Queen has accepted the following resignations:
Cabinet resignations
The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP The Rt Hon John Hutton MP The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP The Rt Hon James Purnell MP The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
Other resignations
The Rt Hon Tony McNulty MP The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP The Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP
There is only one resignation that the Queen should be happy to see.
For some reason that quote from The Matrix came to mind:
"Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"
Hat-Tip:
@chickenyog
for the pic. The letter:
Dear Gordon
I believe the achievements of the Labour Government to date have been monumental and you have played an immense part in the creation of those achievements. However, I am extremely disappointed at your failure to have an inclusive Government. You have a two tier Government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet. I have the greatest respect for the women who have served as full members of Cabinet and for those who attend as and when required. However, few are allowed into your inner circle. Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing. I am not willing to attend Cabinet in a peripheral capacity any longer. In my current role, you advised that I would attend Cabinet when Europe was on the agenda. I have only been invited once since October and not to a single political Cabinet – not even the one held a few weeks before the European elections. Having worked hard during this campaign, I would not have been party to any plan to undermine you or the Labour Party in the run up to 4 June. So I was extremely angry and disappointed to see newspapers briefed with invented stories of my involvement in a "Pugin Room plot". Time and time again I have stepped before the cameras to sincerely defend your reputation in the interests of the Labour Party and the Government as a whole. I am a natural party loyalist. Yet you have strained every sinew of that loyalty. It has been apparent for some time that you do not see me playing a more influential role in the Government. Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for Europe attending Cabinet. I served six years as a backbencher and, therefore, I am not unhappy to be able to devote myself to promoting my constituency's interests and to support the Labour Government from the backbenches. This is a personal decision, which I have not discussed with colleagues. Yours Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP
TB has got that feeling that there is something more to this story that we are yet to find out. Watson praises Gordon no end and then bows out because; "I feel that the time has come, at the reshuffle, for me to return to the backbenches and to my constituency. The pressure on my young family has been painful and I do not want to ask them to endure it any longer."
So the classic family pressure line huh? OK granted that Watson will have a bit of struggle to defend his seat, especially after her was name checked in the McBride/Draper emails, but, could there be something else that is yet to come out that would potentially damage Watson and Brown were he to remain a high profile government figure and thus a target?
Could who knew about, or even registered, the Red-Rag website have something to do with this?
The two problems TB has with yoof politics is the lack of accountability and a lack of humour - TB intends to kill, or at least wound these two birds with one stone. editor@torybear.com
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