Dave Looks to May 2 at PMQs
Yesterday Guido pointed to the 42-days vote as the post May 2 battleline for the PLP:
Surpisingly today Dave didn't go off on the local elections, he challenged Gordon to make the 42-days vote a confidence vote. Gordon swerved the opportunity.
A line of questioning from Dave perhaps aiming to sow a thought in the restless collective mind of the PLP...
UPDATE : Ben Brogan is thinking along similar lines. He gives Dave no chance of "getting the ball rolling on the next rebellion".
Guido believes that constitutionally and practically it is too late to mount a formal leadership challenge to Brown's under Labour Party rules in time for the September conference. So it would have to be by non-constitutional means that he is dragged out of Downing Street - Jack Straw no doubt will be at the back of the delegation doing the dragging. Another option is to make the 42-days vote effectively a confidence vote. Since the opposition will unanimously vote it down, it will be up to Labour backbenchers if they want to get rid of their unelected leader.
If Gordon kicks 42-days into touch it will signal his fears of the consequences...
Surpisingly today Dave didn't go off on the local elections, he challenged Gordon to make the 42-days vote a confidence vote. Gordon swerved the opportunity.A line of questioning from Dave perhaps aiming to sow a thought in the restless collective mind of the PLP...
UPDATE : Ben Brogan is thinking along similar lines. He gives Dave no chance of "getting the ball rolling on the next rebellion".
19 comments:
It's win-win for Cameron: if Brown backs down on 42 days he looks bad, if Brown holds firm and his party rebels he looks bad, if he whips his party firmly and they push it through he looks bad and damages this country a bit more.
What a blunder by Cameron!
Letting Labour run planted local election tributes to themselves, letting Brown score the runs. Quite a display in "real politics".
Cameron , in my view, by choosing the Westminster political set-piece, chose badly.
Cameron should articulated the indignation of the down-trodden electorate over the tsunami of cost increases drowning households in debt.
He flunked it and will not have communicated with the disaffected. He cannot afford these tactical errors and is underestimating Labour.
Sky is headlining yet another stealth tax extension to older cars and what did Cameron do? Very poor.
Surely 48 days as you pointed out`by you Guido and Gordon when he 'mis spoke' at PMQ's.
I heard it, didn't you?
Leave Gordon alone!
Isn't it enough that he's been crying....
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/04/30/108053/children-with-learning-disabilities-stories-made-gordon-brown-cry.html
Whoever unties the Gordian knot will be the next king.
A bold stroke is needed.
No, I am with Guido on this one. 10p and petrol will be on people's minds when and if they vote, and Dave having Punch and Judy on it would do no good. Much better to push at something that might lead to political action - hopefully downfall. Leaving the vote of confidence till his last question indicated to me that Guido is exactly on the money.
Totally disagree with post no 2 - this was strategic thinking of a kind NuLabor can only pray for! Questiontime today was too late to affect the local elections and Cameron can now afford the luxury of kicking Gordon where it hurts - where he has staked his manhood! (personhood?)
Like others I don't think Cameron made the best of his opportunities today at PMQs. The 42 day matter just didn't resonate today - and I say that as somebody who is opposed to this extension of the authoritarian state - Gordon Brown's "safeguards" - I don't trust them one inch.
Brown showed his lack of interest in the disabled and those incapacitated by his premptory dismissal of Bill Wiggin's question concerning a steep RISE in some fees for the disabled as part of this government's caring (there's a joke) budget.
The sooner we have a new PM the better for the country.
Surely this must be a mistake!
Gordon Brown at PMQs
"I knew nothing of these loans,"
If it is proven otherwise, Gordon is History. Will Lord Levy rise to the bait?
The sub-prime minister will soon go the same way as the sub postmasters, and good riddance when that happens
Was it a mere slip of the tongue, but Gordon did refer to '48 Days' - then amended it to '42 Days'
Does this mean that the labour leader (un-elected) also reads Labour Home.
Anon 2:56 PM
"Does this mean that the labour leader (un-elected) also reads Labour Home"
Well, perhaps he writes it.
Gordon says it is 48 days on
His website
I like the now current description of Gordon's followers as brownies - when it comes to voting for a new PM will they turn out to be floaters? Kevin-I-am-NOT-GAY-either-McGuire seemed pretty lukewarm to me, today!
F*CKING H*LL!
Nick Clegg not only makes the mistakes that Neil Kinnock made but Clegg is even imitating Neil Kinnock. Looks like we will have to cal Nick Clegg - Nick Pillock from now on!
All we need to do is rig up a poster of Kinnock changing into Clegg and that is that W*nker sorted!
dave is becoming more forensic in his approach.
note to cameron: you say that you would never sanction a budget that increased the tax burden of the poor. never mind all that bollocks dave; the question is will you sanction a budget that decreases the tax burden of the working poor?
stop fucking about dave. this is the easiest decision you will make in your life. and it is ofcourse the correct policy.
Gordo has been a 10 year disaster, but Cameron is like Heath without the sporting or musical abilities. Cameron promised to pull the Tories out of the EPP in days - he lied. The economy is getting worse and Cameron shows he hasn't the balls to fix it, unlike Thatcher.
I think the 42 days was the right thing for Dave to lead on, because most people don't care about PMQs so he was concentrating on trying to convince the labour backbenchers to get rid of their leader instead.
But he could have done better, I'm sure he must have known about the "48 days" on the labour websites, so he could at least have said something like "how many days do you want to lock uncharged people up for this week then? 28 days, 42, 48, 90? forever? you still don't seem to have decided on a figure let alone put forward a logical argument for it."
Dave definitely should have caught him out on the car tax lies because that was just a deliberate lie rather than obfuscation.
Also he could have led on the confidence/competence issue, ie GB openly admitted that by doubling the lowest tax rate he didn't foresee that it'd effect people on low incomes; that's something that should lead to an immediate vote of confidence initiated by all sides because it's an admission that GB himself made that he's incapable of understanding basic maths/logic.
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