Friday, March 16, 2007

Labour's NEC to decide Blair exit timetable

Well according to the BBC that is here.

the only problem is this, no one other than Blair can decide when he is going. The rules of the Labour party make it very very difficult to unseat a sitting Labour Prime minister.

You would need 70 MP's to sign up to a leadership challenge, which would then need a conference to be organised and a vote held. That is of course before anyone has had a chance to run for the post if all that works.

It won't happen, and it certainly won't happen quickly. What is more with Tony Blair's vague promises to leave of his own accord before the next conference there is no appetite to force him out.

However all I have heard Blair say is that he will not be Labour leader at the next labour conference. That means that he can resign first, as leader and stay on as PM until after the conference. He probably will not, but he could and stick to his promise.

So the NEC trying to decide any kind of timetable, except in the loosest possible terms, is just silly.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"So the NEC trying to decide any kind of timetable, except in the loosest possible terms, is just silly"

The timetable decided by the NEC is just about the leadership process and how long their parts should last. They can easily do it next week, no matter what when Blair resigns.

Benedict White said...

Andrea, yes, they can decide how long after Blair resigns this or that happens, but not when he resigns.

Rather more interestingly when he resigns may affect the time table set!

Anonymous said...

The NEC do what they are told, my guess is this is authorised.

Benedict White said...

Frankie, maybe maybe not. You have to remember that there are some members of the awkward squad now in the NEC.