Robinson's curse
- 12 Sep 08, 06:48 PM
The curse of Robinson has struck. No sooner had I penned a piece saying the threat to Gordon Brown had receded than the first call came from within the government for a leadership contest.
Siobhain McDonagh is the first government member (now ex) to call, in effect, for Gordon Brown to go, She is not, though, the first Labour MP to do so and others look set to follow. What no-one expects is that there will be the 70 necessary under Labour's rules for a contest.
The piece I wrote was based on extensive conversations with critics and backers of Gordon Brown's at the top of the party reflecting the view that now is not the time for a putsch.
Today's news is a useful reminder that sometimes it is the peasants that revolt. It was, after all, Sir Anthony Meyer - the obscure Tory backbencher - who first stood against Margaret Thatcher. It was relatively junior members of the Lib Dems who ed the revolt against Charles Kennedy. The same was true of the autumn push two years ago against Tony Blair. If there were a couple of dozen Siobhain McDonaghs that would make Gordon Brown's position difficult whatever the rules said.
Tomorrow, a group of backbenchers have penned their own critique for Progress magazine of Brown's leadership although they don't call for a contest.
Team Brown must now await nervously to see what happens next. One of them has expressed his hope that I do not turn out to be the Michael Fish of the political world!
07:15 PM UPDATE
The article written by a dozen Labour backbenchers, including former Health Secretary Pat Hewitt, is a no-holds-barred critique of the way Gordon Brown is leading the party.
It says that Labour has "no explanation yet" as to how it will "steer the economy through the troubled waters ahead" claiming that "one-off taxes and pay-outs, no matter how justified in their own terms, do not amount to a strategy." There is a "yawning chasm" which the Labour party needs to fill, or the government will suffer a "hammer blow".
They suggest the government needs to be better at communicating what it's "going to do about the things that affect people day to day", noting that Harold Wilson's "pound in your pocket" and Thatcher's likening of the economy to a household budget may have been "derided by the pundits" but "understood by the public".
The MPs label recent policies to deal with the crises of 10p tax and the housing market "defensive" and suggest instead Labour needs to be "championing change", "leading the debate about new ideas" and "renewing confidence in our economic competence".
Some of the 12 authors are known critics of Brown's. They all claim that their thoughts are unconnected with calls for a leadership contest although they know that their views will make one more likely.
