Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'

[_Belial]

So he does have some balls afterall, shame it's a bit too late to show them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...10/8672859.stm

Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader.

Mr Brown, prime minister since 2007, said he wanted a successor to be in place by the time of the party's conference in September.
Mr Brown announced his intention to quit in a statement in Downing St in which he also said his party was to start formal talks with the Lib Dems.
The Conservatives won the most seats and most votes in the election and have been in talks with the Lib Dems.
But Mr Brown's statement will be seen as a move to smooth the way to a deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats to form a government.



Voters' judgement

Mr Brown said Britain had a "parliamentary and not presidential system" and said there was a "progressive majority" of voters.
He said if the national interest could be best served by a coalition between the Lib Dems and Labour - he said he would "discharge that duty to form that government".


I will play no part in that contest, I will back no individual candidate


Gordon Brown



Lib Dems seek more Tory details

But he added that no party had won an overall majority in the UK general election and, as Labour leader, he had to accept that as a judgement on him.
"I therefore intend to ask the Labour Party to set in train the processes needed for its own leadership election.
"I would hope that it would be completed in time for the new leader to be in post by the time of the Labour Party conference.
"I will play no part in that contest, I will back no individual candidate."

Formal process

Lib Dem leader Mr Clegg had requested formal negotiations with Labour and it was "sensible and in the national interest" to respond positively to the request, Mr Brown said.
He said the Cabinet would meet soon and a "formal policy negotiation process" would be established.
It emerged earlier that the Lib Dem negotiating team, who have held days of talks with the Conservatives, had also met senior Labour figures in private.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said one of the stumbling blocks to any Lib Dem-Labour deal had been Mr Brown himself.
John Mann, the first Labour MP to call for him to go after the election result, said Mr Brown had made a "wise and brave" decision.
The Tories secured 306 of the 649 constituencies contested on 6 May. It leaves the party short of the 326 MPs needed for an outright majority, with the Thirsk and Malton seat - where the election was postponed after the death of a candidate - still to vote.
Labour finished with 258 MPs, down 91, the Lib Dems 57, down five, and other parties 28.
If Labour and the Lib Dems joined forces, they would still not have an overall majority.
With the support of the Northern Irish SDLP, one Alliance MP, and nationalists from Scotland and Wales they would reach 328, rising to 338 if the DUP, the independent unionist and the new Green MP joined them.

[Roach-Rampino]

Jumped or pushed?

I perceive it to be an attempt at luring the Lib Dems away from the Tories.....it might just work.

[Nikki]

I think its bit of both, pushed and also in back of his mind knows he may be defeated anyway

[_Belial]

so we're going to be left with potentially someone else in charge which the people didn't vote for

[Nikki]

so we're going to be left with potentially someone else in charge which the people didn't vote for

Yup looks that way until they can sort it out.

The queen ought to step in and sort em out lol, as we dont want the country in even more dire straights

[4me2]

so we're going to be left with potentially someone else in charge which the people didn't vote for

We have a party who came 3rd dictating the terms all round now so why not ?

[CzarJunkie]

Cameron has shit it. His political career has just ended.

[CzarJunkie]

so we're going to be left with potentially someone else in charge which the people didn't vote for

There was no majority, so whoever gets the top job will be unelected.

[super mike]

Jumped or pushed?

As long as he's gone, I don't care.

[lithho]

As long as he's gone, I don't care.

can i ask why you think this? do you feel the camaron will be a better prime minister? hope you dont like the nhs or need any help from the state at any point

[evilsatan]

Hopefully this will be a step towards electoral reform, whoever gives clegg what he wants will be the new leader. This situation is ridiculous, it has been a mess from start to finish. Not allowing people to vote who had been queuing for some time before the deadline of 10PM is shocking, but for the most popular party to potentially miss out is just insane. I didn't vote for conservatives btw but IMO if the country decided they deserve the vote then they should be in power as they won with a large gap.

I don't agree with our current electoral seat system though...

[jacko1]

Hopefully this will be a step towards electoral reform, whoever gives clegg what he wants will be the new leader. This situation is ridiculous, it has been a mess from start to finish. Not allowing people to vote who had been queuing for some time before the deadline of 10PM is shocking, but for the most popular party to potentially miss out is just insane. I didn't vote for conservatives btw but IMO if the country decided they deserve the vote then they should be in power as they won with a large gap.

I don't agree with our current electoral seat system though...

The problem for the tory's mate was they never got a majority, That means they would struggle to get anything through parliment, The upshot to this will be another general election in the next 12 mths and lets hope labour have their act together by then.

[B.I.G.]

The problem for the tory's mate was they never got a majority, That means they would struggle to get anything through parliment, The upshot to this will be another general election in the next 12 mths and lets hope labour have their act together by then.

Or forget getting their act together and just go for a charming,Charismatic and photogenic leader instead.

[TwoPlAnKs]

so we're going to be left with potentially someone else in charge which the people didn't vote for

This opinion fucks me off. We do not have a presidential system, we are not America. You vote for the party, the party votes for the Prime Minister. Usually that is the leader of the party, and the whole problem we have just now is that forming a minority government when you don't have enough people in your own party to vote you in as Prime Minister is really difficult.

We elected 649 MPs with one more on the way. They will decide who runs the country now, the actual prime minister is not decided by us. It never has been, and this time is no different.

An interesting theory was raised on The One Show tonight, this could lead to the rainbow coalition with all the parties siding against the conservatives and if that happened as a direct result of Gordon Brown stepping down then his legacy would be the reform of our political system.

A sad day though, a brilliant politician pushed out of politics because he didn't look good in a suit. He took all the bullets for the tax rises and work that Tony Blair did to lead the country through 11 years of prosperity and he kept us going much better than a lot of other countries through the recession in his time as Prime Minister. Heralded as a genius by economics experts across the world for his ability to lead the entire planet out of recession. I hope he goes on to a good job somewhere else, he'd do well leading a team in the UN or something.

[4me2]

LABOUR'S LORD ADONIS, TRANSPORT SECRETARY


"I hope those discussions are successful and it is possible to form a coalition government between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Ideologically and in policy terms we are very close together... This would be a partnership of principle.
"I believe it has the capacity to form a strong, stable government, able to take on Britain's economic and political challenges and we will go into those negotiations determined to make them succeed on behalf of the British people.
"No one party can command a majority in the House of Commons. Fifteen million people voted for Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined, last Thursday. Only 10 million people voted for the Conservative Party last Thursday.
"There would be absolute democratic legitimacy behind an arrangement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. But obviously there are a lot of negotiations to come."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...10/8673599.stm

[flumperino]

In 4 years time, we will have a Liberal Democrat government.

The Lib Dems will get some small measure of power now, and push through some sort of voting reform, so the system will change. Their popularity will increase during the course of this current government, then in 4 years time they will be a real player with a new system, and people will vote for a change to the Con & Lab tennis that has taken place for decades, and the Lib Dems will get in properly.

[Raptor]

Conservative 10,683,787
Labour 8,604,358
Lib Dems 6,827,938

Conservatives should govern its as simple as that.

[MsDG]

A sad day though, a brilliant politician pushed out of politics because he didn't look good in a suit. He took all the bullets for the tax rises and work that Tony Blair did to lead the country through 11 years of prosperity and he kept us going much better than a lot of other countries through the recession in his time as Prime Minister. Heralded as a genius by economics experts across the world for his ability to lead the entire planet out of recession. I hope he goes on to a good job somewhere else, he'd do well leading a team in the UN or something.

A brilliant politician? WTF? Anyway, hopefully he will now fuck right off back to Scotland. You seem to love him so much and you are very welcome to him. Hopefully devolution won't be far behind!

[4me2]

Conservative 10,683,787
Labour 8,604,358
Lib Dems 6,827,938

Conservatives should govern its as simple as that.

I disagree and welcome the chance for much needed voting reforms.

It can't be that Libs get 1% more votes than they did in 2005 but lose 6 seats, that's a fucked up system.

They also need to look at the basics in polling stations.

Why go to the trouble to issue voting cards and check people's IDs then make them vote using a bloody pencil ?

conservative = 10,706,647 votes getting 306 seats = ~35000 votes per seat
labour = 8,601,441 votes getting 258 seats = ~33000 votes per seat
lib dem = 6,805,665 votes getting 57 seats = ~120000 votes per seat.

If you voted Lib Dem your your voted only counted a quarter of the value of people who voted Labour or Cons. That is wrong plain and simple and needs to be put right immediately.

[4me2]

A brilliant politician? WTF? Anyway, hopefully he will now fuck right off back to Scotland. You seem to love him so much and you are very welcome to him. Hopefully devolution won't be far behind!

Have you ever contributed anything of value to any political debate on DF ?