Tony Blair's Departure
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Anyway, Tories will be praying for Blair to hang on a long as possible, looking forward to a whole 9 months of 'side-splitting' blood letting within the Labour Party.
For those involved in the financial/managerial aspects of defence, it might pay to ponder whether the latest shifts in power will have any effect on the end game of the Comprehensive Spending Review, concluding in Spring 07. While this was always heavily under Treasury control, there may be now be no impediment to Brown 'rebalancing' resources for the next 3 years towards hardworking-families in Labour marginals rather than squandering it on carriers, DAS and mine-proof vehicles. Should make STP08 and 'SDR Chapter 3 - Now do it with even less money' interesting...
Regards
Blunted
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Hey Phoney Tony,
People die in wars. The muslims don't worry so much about it, that's one reason they are likely to win. That and the pansies on our side. Yes, I might be talking about you. If the shoe fits wear it.
You won't complain so much if the muslims win. That's not because you will be happier. It's because you will either keep your mouth shut or be dead.
God bless Tony Blair, one of the last men left in Europe.
People die in wars. The muslims don't worry so much about it, that's one reason they are likely to win. That and the pansies on our side. Yes, I might be talking about you. If the shoe fits wear it.
You won't complain so much if the muslims win. That's not because you will be happier. It's because you will either keep your mouth shut or be dead.
God bless Tony Blair, one of the last men left in Europe.
They wont win, i wouldnt be happier under muslim control as i dont beleive in religion. I would rather die in freedom than live a lifetime in captivity mate...
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I am certainly not a supporter of Tony Blair and will be more than pleased to see him go. However I think it was totally wrong to get or encourage school children to jeer and barrack him as reported by the BBC. Who ever encouraged or allowed that to happen should be ashamed of themselves.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5324608.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5324608.stm
Rebel PPRuNer
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BellEnd
you're coming over all Neil Kinnock there...
you're coming over all Neil Kinnock there...
"If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday, I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, and I warn you not to grow old."
The visit from the men in grey suits, a bottle of Brandy and the pearl handled revolver would seem to be an excellent exit stratgey. Offer the same deal to Gordon as well. Always did go for the economic version two for the price of one.
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Telegraph Leader, 8 September 2006
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Telegraph front page).
So, two lame ducks for the price of one?
As for Mr Blair, there will be many who think he should be put out of his misery as quickly as possible. If he survives the Labour conference in Manchester this month – and it is a big "if", given the fevered condition of the party – he will then introduce a new legislative programme in the Queen's Speech which, on his own admission, he will not see through to the Statute Book. Is it really appropriate for the Queen to be involved in such a charade? The weakness of Mr Blair's position will become painfully apparent well before that. He travels to the Middle East this weekend on a "peace mission". What weight will Mr Blair's words carry now on the international stage when the world knows where the real power lies in the Labour Government?
President George W Bush's spokesman, Tony Snow, emphasised Mr Bush's continued support for the Prime Minister. "Don't count Tony Blair out," said Mr Snow. "Tony and the president have a lot of work to do. He's still the Prime Minister of Great Britain, he's a valuable ally."
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Steve Bell - Guardian
In his brief statement, made during a visit to a London school, Mr Blair said: "I think what is important now is that we understand that it's the interests of the country that come first and we move on. I would have preferred to do this in my own way but it has been pretty obvious from what many of my cabinet colleagues have said earlier in the week.
Cunning Artificer
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'rebalancing' resources for the next 3 years towards hardworking-families in Labour marginals
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Jackie Ashley - Comment, Guardian, 8 September 2006
But he (Blair) has been forced to shift not because of a revolting chancellor, or cross groups of fat men in suits brooding over their bitter, but because of utterly obvious, plain-as-a-pikestaff facts in the real world: first, the continuing world-scale disaster of Iraq, which is now dragging George Bush down into the mire of public anger too; second, the crumbling of his real parliamentary majority as MPs refuse to back him on key reforms; third, the inevitable sense of boredom and disaffection that accompanies any leader who has been as omnipresent for as long as him; fourth, the effect of all this on the polls, which are now terrible for Labour; fifth, and finally, the feedback effect of the polls on the mood on the Labour benches.
The prime minister has delayed and fudged and struggled to stay on despite it all - not, I think, merely to pass some abstract hurdle, such as spending more time in office than Margaret Thatcher, but rather because he has hoped that something would turn up. There would be an upsurge of good news - Osama captured, perhaps, or a great international crisis to be dealt with, after which, he dreamed, his stock would rise again and he could leave on an "up". As the weeks have continued to deliver downer after downer, his amazing resilience has kept him going, to the increasing despair of ordinary mainstream MPs around him.
To blame this week's events on (Gordon Brown plus supporters') treachery, therefore, is just like blaming the Tories for getting rid of Thatcher in 1990, or the Liberal Democrats for hounding out Charles Kennedy last year. Thatcher went after her cabinet and many Tory MPs demanded that she go, true. She wasn't happy about it. But her ministers acted not because they were innately treacherous but because Europe was ripping the Conservatives in two and because - after the political disaster of the poll tax - the party was crashing in the polls. A sane reading of events and an instinct for self-preservation were behind that "coup", just as they are behind yesterday's drama.
Similarly, as Greg Hurst's new biography demonstrates, the moves against Charles Kennedy (ex leader, Lib Dems) were the reluctant acts of men and women driven to despair by his drink problem. Elected politicians act in their own interest: they want to keep their seats and they want their party to win. If, in some parallel universe, Gordon Brown did not exist, then this would still be happening.
The prime minister has delayed and fudged and struggled to stay on despite it all - not, I think, merely to pass some abstract hurdle, such as spending more time in office than Margaret Thatcher, but rather because he has hoped that something would turn up. There would be an upsurge of good news - Osama captured, perhaps, or a great international crisis to be dealt with, after which, he dreamed, his stock would rise again and he could leave on an "up". As the weeks have continued to deliver downer after downer, his amazing resilience has kept him going, to the increasing despair of ordinary mainstream MPs around him.
To blame this week's events on (Gordon Brown plus supporters') treachery, therefore, is just like blaming the Tories for getting rid of Thatcher in 1990, or the Liberal Democrats for hounding out Charles Kennedy last year. Thatcher went after her cabinet and many Tory MPs demanded that she go, true. She wasn't happy about it. But her ministers acted not because they were innately treacherous but because Europe was ripping the Conservatives in two and because - after the political disaster of the poll tax - the party was crashing in the polls. A sane reading of events and an instinct for self-preservation were behind that "coup", just as they are behind yesterday's drama.
Similarly, as Greg Hurst's new biography demonstrates, the moves against Charles Kennedy (ex leader, Lib Dems) were the reluctant acts of men and women driven to despair by his drink problem. Elected politicians act in their own interest: they want to keep their seats and they want their party to win. If, in some parallel universe, Gordon Brown did not exist, then this would still be happening.
"Tony and the president have a lot of work to do. He's still the Prime Minister of Great Britain......"
Who is - the poodle or Bush?
Who is - the poodle or Bush?
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"We now have a situation where America is so unpopular overseas that even in countries like Egypt and Jordan our approval ratings are less than 5 per cent. It is a shameful and pitiful state of affairs and I hold your British prime minister to be substantially responsible for being so compliant and subservient"
Former US President Jimmy Carter.
Former US President Jimmy Carter.
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Not Fit For Purpose
I feel quite frankly appalled that while this country's servicemen and women are fighting wars and laying their lives on the line (and sometimes losing them), Labour politicians are squabbling like kids. And as for a grinning Gordon Brown leaving Downing street yesterday.....
'Not Fit For Purpose'- the lot of 'em.
'Not Fit For Purpose'- the lot of 'em.