Sunday, May 06, 2007

John Reid to stand down as Home Secretary!

John Reid has just given an interview on the BBC's Politics show and announced that not only is he not going to challenge Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership, but he is also going to stand down as Home Secretary.

Stunning news. Looks like Gordon Brown has managed to deal with all his potential rivals before a leadership bid, as I have predicted in the past.

Clearly many Labour activists are going to feel robbed of a choice. There will be trouble for Labour as disillusion sets in. After another severe kicking in the locals this will not help them keep or build their activist base.

Now all Gordon needs to do is make sure neither Meacher or McDonald stand, and then I get to take £20 off Mike Smithson!

The BBC has this.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Think you might win your bet because as Reid noted, there is no appetite for a leadership challenge in the Parliamentary party.
I don't think that either Meacher or McDonnel will get the nominations to mount a challenge.
Still can't believe that Brown is going to become PM with out a leadership contest or a GE election victory.
I still think that he needed a proper contest at the very least to give him a mandate to form his own government. The Labour Party might not agree but I think the voters might just feel that they were cheated by the whole Labour party on this?

Benedict White said...

Thanks for the correction in spelling that name!

No, I don't think there is an appetite for a contest in the PLP, but their defiantly is in the wider party as long as it is with reasonable contestants and Meacher and McDonel don't count as that!

Will the public feel cheated? Possibly, but the Labour party will look tired and bankrupt and will be briefing against itself from the off.