Nick Robinson's Newslog

Clarke correction

• Nick
• 13 Sep 08, 02:23 PM

I've been taken up on the claim that it was Charles Clarke who stopped the routine sending out of nomination papers. His recollection is that this nomination process started before Labour came in to government, ie before 1997 and well before he was Party Chair in 2001-2.

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Rebel tactics

• Nick
• 13 Sep 08, 09:45 AM

Under Labour's rules the hurdle facing those who want to force their leader out is very high. They have to get 70 Labour MPs to sign the nomination papers for a rival candidate. They cannot merely ask for a leadership contest or cast a vote of no confidence in their current leader. So, what's going on?

A small group of Labour MPs have grown frustrated that the party's leadership - in the Cabinet and the unions - cooled on the idea of a coup over the summer. So, they are trying to create momentum for a contest which will either flush out a rival to Gordon Brown or force him to call a "back me or sack me" contest.

Their tactic - for now - is to demand that the party sends out leadership nomination papers to all Labour MPs rather than just those who request them. Brown's aides claim - with some glee - that it was plotter in chief, Charles Clarke, who stopped the practice of circulating them when he was Labour Party chair.

They know that they don't currently have 70 Labour MPs willing to trigger a contest or agreement on who they should nominate to succeed. However, they also know that many MPs share their doubts about Brown and were waiting to see which the wind blew. Finally, they know the lesson of recent history (during the attempted coup against Tony Blair two years ago) that if enough people kick up a fuss they can force change whatever the rules say.

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