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Old 06-03-2009, 07:09 PM   #1
NorthernSanctuary
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Default British govt is on the verge of collapse

BRITISH GOVT IS ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE- RUMOURS ARE WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT
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-Brown faces e-mail plot to oust him as Hazel Blears joins ministers deserting his collapsing government-

* Hazel Blears is fourth minister to resign in 24 hours
* PM now faces 'e-mail plot' from Labour MPs who want him gone
* Cameron says his authority has 'simply disappeared'
* Even the left-wing Guardian says he must go now

Gordon Brown was on the brink today after Hazel Blears resigned with a jibe at his leadership and desperate Labour rebels started an e-mail campaign to oust him.

The Prime Minister saw his position become even more perilous with the Communities Secretary's departure on the eve of key local and European elections and ahead of his Cabinet reshuffle.

She followed Jacqui Smith to become the fourth Government minister to quit in 24 hours and left with a bitter parting shot that Labour must 'reconnect' with the public.

As if to ram her point home, she wore a broach emblazoned with the slogan 'Rocking the Boat' as she told Mr Brown in a face-to-face meeting this morning that she was going and beamed for photographers as she left Whitehall.

With the Prime Minister still digging in his heels, rebel Labour MPs have started an e-mail campaign soliciting signatures calling on him to quit.

They believe they will have 70 to 80 backers for the no confidence motion by the end of the day and could hand it in as early as tonight.

If he was to admit defeat by Monday, Labour could have a new leader elected and in Downing Street by the start of July.

The latest resignation came just hours before Mr Brown had to face David Cameron at question time and was carefully timed to inflict the most damage to his attempts to cling on to power.

The Prime Minister frantically tried to blame the havoc on the expenses crisis, which he took care to stress had affected every single party, but the Tory leader said he was 'in denial'.

Miss Blears' decision was a 'direct challenge to his authority', Mr Cameron declared. 'If this was about expenses, the Communities Secretary would have resigned weeks ago.'

Allies were hailing the minister the 'iron chipmunk' after it emerged she confronted the Prime Minister yesterday for branding her expense claims 'totally unacceptable' and then leaving her hanging.

With Miss Smith and Beverley Hughes having resigned yesterday, there were claims the Labour 'sisterhood' were wielding the stiletto to bring down his leadership.

Both Miss Smith and Miss Blears are close friends of Europe Minister Caroline Flint, raising the prospect she too may be preparing to stand down.

Mr Cameron told the Commons that Mr Brown's command over his 'dysfunctional' Government had 'simply disappeared'.

'He told us he had the right team to take the country forward, that team is now deserting him. The Government is collapsing before our eyes. Why doesn't he take the one act of authority left to him? Get down to the palace. Ask for a dissolution. Call an election,' he said.

Mr Brown retorted that 'once again, he proves to the whole country there is absolutely no substance in anything he says' and claimed his ministers were sorting out the expenses crisis and the economy.

'This party opposite has absolutely no policies to deal with it. It's words, words and words. We'll get on with the action,' he insisted, amid rowdy scenes.

But there was no let-up as he was twice challenged to say if Alistair Darling, another minister damaged by expense revelations, would keep his job as Chancellor.

The Prime Minister insisted Mr Darling 'is leading the rest of the world in taking us out of recession' but refused to answer the question.

Miss Blears had been under growing pressure over her expense claims despite repaying £13,000 for capital gains tax she had avoided on the sale of her second home.

She had been widely expected to lose her job in Mr Brown's last-ditch reshuffle after he branded her expenses 'totally unacceptable'.

He was also enraged by her public attack on his bungled YouTube address detailing reform to the expenses system.

But her decision to pre-empt the reshuffle and go now, after such a devastating day for Mr Brown yesterday, appeared a deliberate attempt to undermine him still further.
She told him she was standing down at a face-to-face meeting this morning after reportedly being furious that Downing Street blamed her for leaking Miss Smith's resignation.

In her resignation statement, Miss Blears issued a carefully-worded attack on how far Labour have sunk under Mr Brown's leadership which pointedly avoided any tribute to the leader.

'The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people,' she said. 'I am returning to the grassroots, to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate.

'Most of all I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too.'

Downing Street said the Prime Minister 'respects and understands' the resignation and he paid tribute to both Miss Blears and Miss Smith in the Commons.

But behind closed doors it appeared a different story.

No sooner had the minister stepped down than it was claimed she was leaving because the Cabinet Office had discovered she avoided CGT on not one but two properties.

A friend of Miss Blears questioned why the details had emerged today and branded it a 'classic smear campaign'.

Her spokesman added that it had 'nothing to do with her decision to leave' because she had made clear on May 15 that her repayment covered tax for two flats.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson urged Mr Brown and the whole Government had to 'keep our nerve' in what was a 'genuine crisis in our politics'.

But in question time, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: 'We can now see the Government is in total meltdown. The Prime Minister is thrashing around, fighting for his own political survival.

'The country doesn't have a government, it has a void. Labour is finished. The only choice now is between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.'

Shadow leader of the House Theresa May added: 'I think the game is up for Gordon Brown.'
The administration was already being accused of entering its 'death throes' after Miss Smith became the biggest casualty of the expenses scandal yesterday.

She had told friends she could not stand the pressure on her family over revelations that her husband's porn films were charged to the taxpayer.

The minister told Mr Brown of her decision two months ago, who asked her to keep it secret until he finalised the Cabinet shake-up but, in a sign of his waning authority, it leaked out early.

She insisted this morning: 'It is nothing about my view of the Prime Minister which remains one of the utmost respect' and said Mr Brown should remain as leader.

However, with Miss Blears now also going, the feeling Mr Brown may not survive the expected carnage at the polls tomorrow will only increase.

The party is braced to lose its four remaining county councils and see the collapse in its vote open the way for Britain's first Euro MPs from the BNP.

Westminster is awash with rumours of plots to install Alan Johnson in No.10 if Labour is routed.

On top of a mutiny in his own party, Mr Brown will have to face an opposition day debate next Wednesday calling for Parliament to be dissolved and a general election to be called.

With more MPs indicating they intend to join the exodus from Parliament by the day, the case for an election is growing ever stronger.

Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson and Children's Minister Beverley Hughes joined Miss Smith in leaving the Government yesterday.

Two other MPs, David Chaytor and Patricia Hewitt, said they would stand down at the next election and four were barred from standing again over their expense claims.

A backlash was also growing against the prospect of Ed Balls replacing Mr Darling as Chancellor, who is another minister expected to face the axe in the upcoming reshuffle.

Transport Secretary Mr Hoon is also under pressure after admitting an 'inadvertent' overlap which meant he was claiming expenses on two properties at the same time.

Allies of the Prime Minister have tried to put a brave face on the chaos, arguing that Mr Brown now had a free hand to carry out a wide-ranging shake-up of his Cabinet.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman insisted today that there was no doubt about Mr Brown leading the party into the next general election.

'He is the person with the vision to take us through these very, very difficult times and I also think he is very resolute and he knows what his responsibilities are,' she said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward added that it would be the 'height of lunacy' to give up and call an election now.

But one Cabinet minister told the Daily Mail that if Labour's support in the EU poll tomorrow slumped below 20 per cent, Mr Brown's position would be 'serious'.

'If we drop below 20 per cent in the elections that would be very bad,' the minister said. 'That might be the trigger for people to act on the leadership - but it needs someone to step forward and tell Gordon it's time to go.

'Alan Johnson would be the obvious choice. He's a good communicator, likeable, easy-going. But people do wonder if he really wants to be Prime Minister.'

Some backbenchers have approached Mr Johnson, the Health Secretary, to urge him to move against Mr Brown, although there has been no indication that he is ready to do so.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband was said to have indicated to Mr Johnson that he would not stand against him if the Prime Minister was forced out.

Mr Brown was wounded further today when the left-wing Guardian newspaper, the most widely read in Labour ranks, called for him to go.

It argued in a devastating two-page editorial that 'there is no vision from him, no plan, no argument for the future and no support'.

'Labour faces its worst defeat in its history on Thursday, but the prime minister does not recognise his direct responsibility for the mayhem.

'The prime minister demands loyalty, but that has become too much to ask of a party, and a country, that has was never given the chance to vote for him.'

It concludes: 'Several ministers would make a better leader than Mr Brown, and want to stand. They should say so early next week. Labour has a year left before an election; its current leader would waste it. It is time to cut him loose.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-quitters.html
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Old 06-03-2009, 08:00 PM   #2
Northern Boy
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Default Re: British govt is on the verge of collapse

The rats are leaving the sinking ship it seems
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Old 06-03-2009, 09:51 PM   #3
Swanny
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Default Re: British govt is on the verge of collapse

Good riddance
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