Not a Gordon Brown fan? See within...

[Arcolite]

On Wednesday October 10th during Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown said that only 26 people have signed a petition calling for an election on the Downing Street website - "and not one of them are on the Conservative front bench" he smirked.

Well after the BBC posted the link to that petition on the Daily Politics website, the number of signatures has increased to over 13,000.

If this petition hit's over 33,000 signatures then it will appear on the list showing the Top 5 most active petitions.

If you feel passionate about this subject and would like to see if we can make the current government take note after they fumbled the Election then you can sign the petition here...

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Hold a general election in 2007"

[marcode]

i prefer brown to cameron. the orange faced twat.

[burner1]

i prefer brown to cameron. the orange faced twat.

Got to agree, Cameron's got 'creep' written all over him and sounds as convincing as the Iraqi Information minister did. Brown reminds me of my dad; a grumpy old fucker with no sense of humour and sometimes pisses me off (And my dad is Scottish lol) but had my best interest at heart.

[Mule]

The top petition with 158,000 signatures is to 'Allow the Red Arrows to Fly at the 2012 Olympics' I think that illustrates quite well what a heap o' shit online petitions are.

[Argyll]

I agree. Brown doesn't have the charisma of Blair but he's a clever man and I believe he will make an excellent Prime Minister. I would rather drive six inch nails through my scrotum than vote Tory. I remember the miners strike and the Timex factory fiasco in Dundee to realise Tory are bad news.

[BBK]

The country needs a change, 4 terms in power would be really bad I fear. Lets face it, they're all as bad as one another, all three leaders are dicks as far as I'm concerned, but Labour have had too long now, let Brown do the final 2 years and then lets have a change.

[Argyll]

What's the point of having a change for change sake? Don't you remember the interest rate rise when the tories were in power? The four million unemployed.

FFS man if the Tories get back in then the country's fucked. The problem is labour has been in power that long now people forget how bad the opposition were! Keep labour in, we've never had it so good.

[4me2]

What's the point of having a change for change sake? Don't you remember the interest rate rise when the tories were in power? The four million unemployed.

FFS man if the Tories get back in then the country's fucked. The problem is labour has been in power that long now people forget how bad the opposition were! Keep labour in, we've never had it so good.

Im not so sure because Labours policies are conservative policies and have been ever since Blair got elected. Labour used to be for the working man but those days are long gone.

[BBK]

What's the point of having a change for change sake? Don't you remember the interest rate rise when the tories were in power? The four million unemployed.

FFS man if the Tories get back in then the country's fucked. The problem is labour has been in power that long now people forget how bad the opposition were! Keep labour in, we've never had it so good.

ALl I can say to this is how much poorer I have become year in year out since Labour took over. The cost of living in this country has sky rocketed, "stealth" taxes have increased and increased and increased. Labour have also taken us into a murderous war that has seen this country living in a state of fear, and as for social values - well, the last 10 years has seen this country fall deeper and deeper into the shit, gun crime has escalated, knife crime has escalated, crimes on children have escalated. Lets also look at the immigration which seems to be the cause of so many issues for so many people, lets look at the situation with regards housing (no council houses, basic starter flats down here cost £130,000). Hospitals have closed, schools have closed, local post offices have closed, political correctness has taken a malicious hold ...... and oh look, surprise surprise, unions have started bringing the country to its knees again. Remind me how much post you've had in the last week?

Saying that Labour have been in power so long now that the country have forgotten really is a tad hypocritical. Do you not remember the "winter of discontent" under the PREVIOUS Labour regime? Bodies weren't being buried FFS, rubbish wasn't collected from the streets. Now, I am fortunately too young to really remember this, my earliest political memory is probably Thatcher coming to power (and the Goodies sketch that went alongside it).

Now, don't think I am ignorant enough to lay all the blame at the feet of Labour. I do remember the miners strike (though it has no effect on me at all down here, nor indeed most people in the south). I was a participant in the demonstrations against the poll tax, and I still believe that privatisation of the utilities / rail service was possibly one of the the biggest disservices a government has made to its people in living memory. However, my worry is that the same thing has happened with Labour that happened with the Tories under Thatcher. Whats the expression - power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. And power certainly corrupted Tony Blair, of that I have no doubt whatsoever. Its one of the very few things American politics has got dead right - maximum of two terms per presidential incumbent. Imagine if Bush and his cronies had 4 terms in government - the world would be a very, very dangerous place to live.

A change in government takes away this "absolute power" immediately. If the Tories come in then in 5 years there's really nothing they can do, 5 years is not enough time. If they show positive signs then great, the people will re-elect them. If not, Labour will get another go. The difference between all three parties now is completely negligable, personally I struggle to see ANY difference, especially this week when Labour effectively steal published Tory budget ideas for their own Pre Budget. Labour are now totally central, all the left wing ideals of before have gone, and the Tories are so not right wing now - and so it comes down totally to the personalities of the leaders. Let me stress again, I think all three leaders are useless incompetents, but this country needs refreshed, and it needs to have this "total mandate" that four terms would bring banished. 19 years of the same government (which by my poor maths is what it could potentially become) is something to fear.

[4me2]

BBK, mind you dont slip getting down from that soapbox.

[bomberman]

Brown is only in that seat by default! his just a squatter....Who voted him in? Does anyone know who much money has left the country since Labour have been in? Remember some years ago when Brown sold over half of our gold stock to make his poor budget look good on grow and borrowing......

The yellow bellies are out, to old to be PM and wont commit to a policy.

The blues, well his slimy, slow on the uptake but hey he had a good policy last week........

B

[Argyll]

The point I was making was towards the statement "this country needs a change". I've heard this many a time and people generally do not know about who they are voting for just that they vote for the other party!

I'm too young to remember the winter of discontent but that was a different Labour party so thats not a good comparison. However the Tory party is still the same. When i bought my old house in South East London it cost me £59,000, and the interest rate was 7% this was a year after Labour came to power. The year before it was valued at £120,000 and the interest rate was 13% or something ridiculous as that.

The proof is in the pudding in my eyes. I'm not saying New Labour are the best but they certainly are the best of the bunch. I agree with you on immigration but I'm not convinced any other party would be any better on that issue as these policies are made in Europe and not here.

I firmly believe we are certainly better off under New Labour that any other party. And I'm not just saying that because of personalities I'm saying that because I've read manifesto's (boring as fuck). New labour gave a kickstart to this country and I'm convinced it would be a lot worse if the Tory's had stayed in power.

I'm off for my coffee as I've just woken up.

[BBK]

Had the Tories stayed in power you are undoubtedly correct, things would almost definitely have gotten worse, and I for one voted for Labour in the 95 election. Not that it made any difference where I live, they were still the third party, but I felt better certainly. However, at the end of the current term Labour will have done 14 years (assuming May 09 as the election date now), and that is too long for any party to have total control, they get ideas above their station, there is effectively no control on them, as they have the mandate.

Interestingly, what is your house worth now? I bought my house in 1999 for £205,000. 8 years later and its valued at approximately £400,000. Double the price in 10 years. Under the previous Tory government a cousin of mine bought a house (house, not flat) for £28,000. Nowadays who can afford to get a new house on their own? Not sure about the prices where you live, SE London is probably now even MORE expensive than suburban Surrey, but you are looking now at over £100,000 for a studio flat, and against the original Labour principles the housing market is controlled by the "buy to let" market, effectively meaning "the rich" are the only ones who can afford to buy and "the poor" have to rent.

Regarding immigration - I just want to stress that I personally believe immigration is a positive step forward, but only for those who NEED it, not just those looking to make money to send home. This country is full to bursting (evident in the housing situation AND the roads), but it is important that we as a "safe haven" provide shelter for those who need it. And anyone who can bring a benefit to this country is more than welcome, I'd rather have 100 immigrants who wanted to work than 1 lazy fucker scrounging off the social, something else Labour have seemingly allowed to get way out of hand.

Re: voting patterns. I completely agree with your statement there. I have always found it incredulous that people vote for the same party irregardless of the policies they espouse. I know people who have been "card carrying members" of the Labour party for years - but how can you support a party so blythely that has changed so much in character since the Foot then Kinnock years? The entire party stands for something totally different now. I have always voted on policies, but I'd love someone to tell me what the differences are now between the three main parties, because I'm buggered if I can see any!

At the end of the day the reason I want to see a change is to prevent us becoming an effective dictatorship. It seems to me that we have almost stopped becoming a democracy now.

[MsDG]

I think this whole thread has gone off track. The point is NOT really who should be voted in... its about having an election.

Personally, I think the whole system needs a shake up.

1) Elections should be set at exactly 4 year intervals. With possibly special dispensation to alter the date slightly (2 weeks) just in case it clashes with something else.

2) If a prime minister steps down, that should be an automatic re-election. (Some might say that nothing has changed because you voted for the party and the Labour party are still in power. However, Brown came in and has started doing things completely differently to Blair so it has bloody changed!

3) Elections should be on the weekend. A lot of working people now work bloody miles from their house and a lot a households have two working parents. Closing schools completely fucks up their day as well (especially when teachers craftily tag on a training day the next day as well). People who work 40 miles from home don't have the opportunity to vote... after an 8 hour day with a 90 min commute they just don't want to vote at 8pm!
Everybody else has to work weekends and late nights, so why the fuck can't the modern voting system?

[4me2]

moving to world news and politics section.

[Argyll]

Why fix something that ain't broken! We've never had it so good! Ok things aren't perfect but they would be a damn sight worse under any other party, I'm convinced of that.

I left SE London back in 2000 and I got a measly settlement figure! But my ex sold it around 2003/4 for £350,000! and that was in Catford which is not very affluent.

My only opinion on immigration is this. Bring in people that we need like doctors, nurses, dentists etc and threw the rest out. They have nothing to offer this country and we are not responsible for them. I worked in the prison service up until last year and we were over run by immigrants committing crime because it's easy pickings! Australia, US etc only allow you in to the country if you have something to offer, why should we be any different?

There are layabouts in this country that's a fact too be honest my own father is one! he hasn't worked for about 25 years and uses the bad back excuse but the truth is he's just bone idle! But there's only so much the government can do. If you have verification from the doctor that you are incapacitated then your covered, regardless of who's in power. What they want to do is be more pro active with these lazy fuckers and catch hem out playing football or spending half the day in the pub when the say they are housebound. I know lots of people that haven't worked for years and there's nothing wrong with them. And yes before you ask I do challenge them quite frequently actually but that's another story.

[Arcolite]

I think a lot of people are stuck in 1980. Cameron has changed Tory politics. The days of Labour being Far Left and Tory being Far Right are over, all three parties now fight over the Middle ground.

Gordon Brown has been a position of power within the government for 10 years. During those 10 years not once was the "Death Tax" changed, yet he was the man in power to make that change. Suddenly, when the Torys come up with a great policy, Labour pinch it. He's not doing what's best for the country. He's doing what's best for his ego and PR.

I'm not saying I think Cameron is the man for the Job, or even that Tory sould be the party in power (personally I'd prefer Lib Dem, but we all know that's a pointless vote). I just don't like that fact that we don't get a choice who leads our country.

The 2007 Election hype was started by the Labour party in the first place. As said by the Shadow Chancellor during the same PMQ's, Gordon Brown is the first Priminister to gaff an election he thought he was going to win.

[Fusen]

you vote for the party, not the leader