More On Brown's Spending Brownie.

The attached videos from Channel 4 show how big Brown's Brownie during PMQ's etc was.


This second video shows Jon Snow nailing Andy Burnham on the Brownie's.


And finally we have this report from tonight's Question Time

Another guest, Ruth Lea, the former head of policy at the Institute of Directors, criticised Mr Hain's response. "When I hear all this about Tory spending cuts... They are all in Alistair Darling's report," she said.

The audience joined in criticism of the government's position in the spat. A heckler shouted: "Labour is not being honest with people."

The man who posed the initial question told Mr Hain: "Your answer just lost my vote."

Spelman concluded by accusing Gordon Brown of misleading the House of Commons during Prime Minister's questions yesterday.

"He trotted out figures of billions without adjusting for inflation, without costing in the benefits for the people we do need to pay. I want a Prime Minister that will come clean with me," she said.

Both in the media, on the internet and just in general conversations people are now laughing at Brown's lies, He is a figure of fun not just in Parliament but also amongst the general public. How much more does he have to do to convince Labour MP's that he is a millstone round their necks pulling them further and further into the abyss.

FFS Gordon just Go Now

PoliticsHome | News | Spelman and Hain continue spending row

More Brownies on Spending Cuts

Lots more Brownies have been apparent during the past couple of weeks as our idiot Prime Minister lives in fantasy island where there is still no boom and bust. During PMQ's and last weeks press conference we had the huge Brownie that there were no spending cuts. Lets look at the truth and not the Brown fantasy

Here we see that whilst total spending is not cut, all front line services are cut, as most of the "extra" spending is being used to service our huge debts. Factor in that Andy Burnham has explicitly told us there are no NHS cuts and then the total cuts to other services are around 10%, much the same as the proposed Tory figures.

The problem is that Gordon, in his fantasy island, wants us to understand that only Tories do cuts, whilst his true genius allows us, during the worst recession in living memory, to continue to spend, spend spend. This is now revealed as a complete "Brownie". Lets look at what Brown has said

‘Public spending is rising every year; just be absolutely clear about that. Public spending is due to rise every year… The public spending in our country is rising and it’s going to continue to rise’ (Gordon Brown, Number 10 Press Conference, 5 June 2009)

‘The only party that’s proposing a cut in public spending is the Conservative Party.’
(Gordon Brown at PMQs today)

“Public spending this year is 621 million. It rises next year to 672 million, that’s this financial year, then to 702, then to 717, then to 738, then to 758.” (Gordon Brown at PMQs today)

Then have a look at the tables above and see the reality. Listen to the words of your own chancellor Alistair Darling:

‘I have cut overall public spending’ (The Today Programme, 23 April 2009)

BROWN IS LYING yet again. This is the man who says he said in his latest press conference

“To be honest, when I look at this expenses crisis I remember the words of my father and I remember what he told me: always be honest.”

This is the man who wants to "reform" government to be more open and transparent. The only people being honest and transparent are the tories who are telling the public what is likely to happen.

His grip on reality has disappeared, his grip on his cabinet has disappeared, his grip on Government has disappeared, he needs to disappear.

FFS Gordon just Go Now.

The truth about 10% spending cuts - thetorydiary

Why I lost my loyalty to Gordon Brown

Sally Keeble MP for Northampton North, a former International Development Minister, and a member of the Treasury Select Committee has said

I am withdrawing support from Gordon Brown as Labour leader.

In an open letter to her constituents she says

Gordon Brown was the obvious successor to Tony Blair. Both were architects of New Labour. Gordon's command of the economy underpinned the achievements of the Blair governments and rightly won him international stature and acclaim. He will always deserve our respect for that.

The transition from chancellor to prime minister was not an easy one, and when Gordon said in the autumn of 2007 he wanted more time to put ­forward his vision, that seemed fair. However, 18 months on, it is painfully clear that time has really run out.

First, the vision has not materialised. The economy is the most important factor, and he was the right man to deal with the crisis. But people look to their prime minister for more than that. ­People in Northampton work hard, pay their way, and look after their families. They look to the government for high quality public services, and a sense of purpose and direction for the country. The prime minister has to articulate that and, sadly, it hasn't happened. Not that there is an alternative on offer from the other main parties. David Cameron's vision would quickly become a nightmare, while Nick Clegg's is multi-focal.

Second, recent events have shown that Gordon Brown has not been able to manage relations within his government. Admittedly, some ministerial behaviour has been appalling. Whatever the disagreements, resigning just before council elections can only be topped by talk of window-dressing. However, the person at the top has to forge a group of strong politicians into a united, coherent team to provide stable ­government. And that has, painfully, not happened either.

In my first political job, I was a press officer at Labour HQ during the 1983 general election campaign. It was a searing experience. The public did not see Michael Foot as a credible prime minister. The electorate had its say – Northampton roundly rejected us then – and it was another 14 years before we recovered. Meanwhile, the public paid a massive price in jobs lost, communities laid waste, lives ruined. I'm not prepared to let that happen again.

The reason for writing this letter is that the UK is a parliamentary democracy and Labour is a democratic socialist party, not a Trotskyite cell.

The government depends on retaining the confidence of MPs, so the debate taking place among Labour MPs is vitally important. It has profound implications for the day-to-day lives of my constituents, jobs, homes, schools, hospitals, all the things that touch us most. So the debate has to be public, it can't be some private Westminster coup – in the Pugin room with an ice-pick.

By the next general election, the Labour party needs to put forward a coherent vision with a credible team. We need to say what kind of country we want Britain to be: whether we're going to encourage innovation and enterprise, or cap it with tax increases; invest in public services or cut them to close the fiscal gap; how we're going to give people a say in our country's progress and realise the aspirations that my constituents and I share. There has to be consistency and credibility, not just a statement of values but an explanation of how they will be put into practice.

To achieve that we need a leader who can articulate that vision and let our country and the party move on. I want my constituents to have the best that Labour has to offer.The challenge to the cabinet is how that will be achieved.

Getting the message Gordon.

FFS Go Now Gordon

Why I lost my loyalty | Sally Keeble | Comment is free | The Guardian

Please Gordon Read the Papers

Please Gordon read the papers this morning and take the hint.

FFS Go Now

Newspaper Front Pages On June 8, 2009 | UK News | Sky News

Fight Fear with Fear

Paul Flynn Labour MP for Newport West blogs about the uncertainties and fears going on in the Labour Party at the moment. In his blog he has this to say

On Monday a decision on the leader of the party must be made.To sign or not to sign the round robin. The wrong move could lead to political suicide. All evidence points to electoral advantage if Alan Johnson replaces Gordon Brown. Tonight’s Channel Four poll claims that 54% of the usually loyalist Labour Party members favour a change. The local election results confirm some of the warnings of collapsing Labour support. If the party comes third or fourth in the Euro polls, a shudder of fear will convulse the Parliamentary Labour Party.

So we see we have fear in the Labour Party of the EU election result, at best they will get third and it looks quite likely that they will only manage fourth, a result so bad that any normal leader would immediately do the right thing and resign. But Labour do not have a normal leader they have Gordon Brown a man who only knows one thing, and that is, that he is right, even when millions have told him that he is wrong.

Paul then goes onto say

The likely outcome is that a delusion of optimism will rule. That's how Michael Foot avoided being replaced by Dennis Healey in 1983. Although all rational evidence is that Labour is heading towards an electoral abyss, manic optimism will persuade some that a bridge across it will magically appear. In its fragile mental state the PLP will seize at comforting delusions and the Labour sect may opt to advance towards political suicide.

That’s the way it’s going.

He is right, it is this amazing ability that Labour have, to believe that somehow there will be a wondrous rescue. They need to look out into the real world and to accept that there will be no rescue for Labour, they have done it yet again, brought our country to a deep abyss and forgotten the rope to get us out. All they can do for us is to get rid of Gordon and turn to the country who can then elect the Conservatives who will have, yet again, to start from the depths of a Labour abyss to recover our country.

Many Labour MP's are starting to get the idea, but many are still thinking about their jobs and their hopes rather than looking at the country as a whole, a country they promised to serve when they became MP's.

I can only hope that Labour MP's will tomorrow night begin to figure out how bad things have become under Gordon and that they are not going to get better, they can then, for once, do the right thing and get rid of Gordon. Paul Flynn seems to have got the message, he needs to pass it on to some of hois colleagues.

FFS Gordon Go Now

Paul Flynn - Read My Day: Fight fear with fear

Blair on Brown

A devastating article in the Sunday Mail. According to it

The Darkness in Gordon's Heart and his lies will bring him down.

The article also says

Friends of Mr Blair say he has been 'saddened' by Mr Brown's performance and believes that he has failed to show the necessary leadership or policies.'Gordon's performance has confirmed Tony's reservations about his suitability to be PM,' said one source.'He hoped he would be a success and has tried to support him and offered what advice he can. But he always feared Gordon may not have the right temperament or character to do the job and that's how it has turned out.'Another source close to Mr Blair claimed Mr Brown's wounds were 'self-inflicted'. He added: 'Tony's view is that Gordon has brought this all on himself. He spent years plotting against Tony and is in no position to complain now that it is happening to him.'The people trying to get him out learned how to do it from Gordon's people. It takes a moment to inject the poison, but years to drain it.'

This is just one of a series of articles in many of the papers indicating that the whole Cabinet is fighting and briefing against each other. Total chaos is reigning and yet our Prime Minister keeps insisting they are getting on with the job. In fact it is a living death, a cabinet of zombies, paralysed by fear and loathing of each other.

FFS Gordon just Go Now.


Blair: The darkness in Gordon's heart will bring him down | Mail Online

The Drip Drip Drip Water Torture of Gordon Brown

The Drip Drip Drip Water Torture of Gordon Brown is continuing. Already tonight we have this story of a series of leaked emails sent by Lord Mandelson, he reveals:

• Gordon will lose the next election.
• the PM cannot do "X-Factor politics" of his predecessor Tony Blair.
• he slams his leadership style.
• Brown is "complex", unable to hide his insecurities and too self-conscious.
• voters are put off because they think Brown is "angry".

The devastating comments were sent in emails to disgraced former spin-doctor Derek Draper, the man behind the "Mcbridegate" smear scandal.

Next we have this story, again in the News of the World about senior cabinet Ministers facing election under Brown and Labour.

ICM polled in the parliamentary seats of the Cabinet - and in Gordon Brown's back yard.

This is the first poll to show how voters in crucial seats will behave in a General Election.

And the poll shows these previously loyal voters - in previously safe loyal seats, want Brown out.

A massive 12% from Labour to Tory will unseat many of Brown's most senior Cabinet Ministers.

That would unseat SEVEN Cabinet Ministers - the same as Labour managed to kick out when they beat the Tories in 1997.

Chancellor Alistair Darling, Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Work and Pensions Secretary John Denham, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and Scottish Jim Murphy will all lose their seats.

We also have reports that Harriet Harman was not happy. Tory Bear says

Gordon's desperate reshuffle is unraveling quicker than one of his budgets. Sources have let it be known that Harman came very close to quitting and was prepared to walk if Gordon had made Mandy Deputy Prime Minister. The idea of this was openly discussed and Harman got her claws out.

What more torture can we expect for Gordon today, whilst he is away in France lauding Obama and being booed by Veterans.

Peter Mandelson tells closest former aides that Gordon Brown cannot win the next General Election | News | News Of The World

Flipping Trougher Brown

How convenient the Telegraph has this to be buried tomorrow.

Mr Brown, who "flipped" the designation of his second home before moving into Downing Street, submitted an estimated electricity bill for his home in Fife which partly covered a period when his London flat was his designated second home.

He also claimed for council tax and service charge bills for his London flat which included periods when his second home was in Scotland.

In total, Mr Brown appeared to make claims totalling £512 for the "wrong" properties.

As the Telegraph says

It is a humiliating blow for the Prime Minister, who publicly rebuked Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, this week for doing a similar thing.

It would have been even more humiliating if had been released before the elections.


mps expenses: Gordon Brown billed taxpayer for two second homes - Telegraph

The peculiar irony of New Labour's endgame

Marina Hyde writes an interesting article in the Guardian today, which reflects on the fact that

The peculiar irony of New Labour's endgame is that it was all foretold by an accidental prophet named Tony Blair. "My project will be complete," he once declared, "when the Labour party learns to love Peter Mandelson."

Today we saw Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool installed, in all but name, as the No 2 to Gordon Brown. Unfortunately he is surrounded in the Cabinet and his party by a bunch of Toadies, Has-Beens, Never-Beens, and those who have simply been promoted way beyond their capabilities. Truly a Government of absolutely no talent.

The article also reflects upon the issue that

"We are witnessing the final self-destruction of what those who ­created New Labour were given to calling 'the Project', apparently oblivious to the Orwellian overtones of the phrase. Then again, perhaps they weren't ­oblivious – after all, the Project appeared to be closely modelled on the Party, which, you will recall, 'seeks power entirely for its own sake'"

This is so true of Gordon Brown and his party who cannot see the damage they are doing to our country. They cannot see that they must, instead of trying to save their own skins, save our country from the abyss that it is rapidly descending into. They need to unite together and throw us a lifeline by getting rid of Gordon. As Marina says

The Project is complete. It was never about ideas, as became ­depressingly clear to many of us well before the 1997 election. The Project was the formal expression of the gut instinct for survival in power. Its sole aim was to make Labour ­electable, and the manner in which it realised that ambition has now left it even more ­unelectable than it was before its inception.

The problem is that not only is Labour unelectable, as has been amply demonstrated today, but that they are also not fit to Govern. When they rely on 7 Lord's a Leaping and a plethora of non-entities, all led by someone who has no aim but to further himself as a man of history, it is time to call for the Grim Reaper to dispatch this malfunctioning and self-destroying Government. As Marina Hyde says as the end of her article

Think not of it as a murder, but a fated suicide.

Let us only hope it is not a long-drawn out affair as our country is in need of change.

Misery. It's Gordon Brown as Kathy Bates. And Westminster as Lilliput | Marina Hyde | Comment is free | The Guardian:

Party First Country Second

George Osborne commenting upon the continuing disintegration of this Country's Government had this to say at lunchtime today.

The government is disintegrating, and accused Labour of acting in a “self indulgent” manner, putting the party’s interests ahead of those of the country.

“The real story of today, as well as the election result, is the meltdown and chaos in the Labour government.

He said Labour are acting in a “self indulgent” manner, “putting the Labour party’s interests ahead of the country interests”.

On Gordon Brown’s position he said, “if he survives this he will be in a desperately weak state. He won’t have the Cabinet he wants, he won’t have the Chancellor he wants.

“The British government is disintegrating in front of the eye of the British people. We need a strong and united government.”

FFS Go Now Gordon.

PoliticsHome | On Air Today

Lincolnshire Massacre for Labour

Conservatives in Lincolnshire gained a further 15 seats whilst Labour lost 17 seats. Labour overall vote dropped like a stone, nearly halving from 20.8% to 11.1%.

Lincolnshire is the county of my birth so it's good to see it contributing to the slow death of our Prime Minister Gordon Brown. If this is repeated across the rest of the results it will leave him with little choice but to scuttle along to the Palace and as David Cameron said

For the sake of the country, Gordon Brown must carry out the one final act of authority left open to him, go to the Palace and call the general election we have been demanding.

Go Now!

Results for the County Council Election 4th June 2009 | Lincolnshire County Council

Britain Needs Better - Go Now

Final thoughts of the night from David Camero.

First a Quick Video


Then some Quotes

• For the sake of the country, Gordon Brown must carry out the one final act of authority left open to him, go to the Palace and call the general election we have been demanding
  

• United government was needed to deal with the recession and political crisis. Instead we have a government falling apart in front of our eyes. Britain deserves better than this.

• the government is "falling apart" after the third resignation by a cabinet minister in three days.

Go Now!

BBC NEWS | Politics | Cabinet falling apart - Cameron

The half-dead prime minister - Polly Toynbee

Another killer blow from the Guardian and Polly Toynbee

Inside the party this is a miserable debate of the despairing, most of whom agree their prime minister is leading them to calamity. The dismal question is whether the chaos of a second regicide might bring yet worse voter revenge than soldiering on with a leader who rates lower than any other since polls began. For a while yesterday, Hazel Blears's selfishly-timed resignation with her rude "rock the boat" brooch send shudders of revulsion through some in the party. Was this a Blairite putsch? Purnell, as a second Blairite assassin, will not calm those fears among some.

Go Now!


The half-dead prime minister | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Gordon Brown: The endgame nears

Guardian says it is the endgame

"Any prime minister, however powerful, serves as a member of a cabinet. When that cabinet loses faith in him or her, and its members start saying so in public, the leader cannot stay. Gordon Brown must face this reality today, after losing three cabinet ministers in three days, attempting to terminate his chancellor's career in public and reportedly offering a series of posts to people who refused to take them. Tonight's dramatic resignation of James Purnell, the welfare secretary, was a massive blow, a deliberate full-frontal attack. Even a strong leader would struggle to survive it, and Mr Brown is not that."

When will he realise, he is past his sell by date. Three ministers already, Miliband rumoured, Burnham rumoured. More than 50 MP's rumoured to have signed the resignation letter.

Go Now!

Gordon Brown: The endgame nears | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian:

Rumours Andy Burnham will be next to go;

LabourList rumours that

Rumours are spreading within the Party tonight that Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, is likely to resign from the cabinet over the next few days. He would be the sixth minister in as many days to step down after Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell left the government tonight.

Meanwhile, Radio 5 and Sky News are both strongly hinting that David Miliband may also step down in the next few days.

Burnham and Miliband were both staunch Blairites during the 1990s.

Rumours Andy Burnham will be next to go; Reports Miliband could follow | LabourList.org

Why Purnell resigned

According to Fraser Nelson in the Spectator

"I can reveal that James Purnell was offered education, which he turned down, and decided to resign because he couldn't go on continuing to support a PM whom he'd lost faith in months ago.

It's an open secret that Purnell supported David Miliband for the leadership last summer. And reports of Miliband's resignation make sense - four resignations in four days.

If Purnell was offered education, that means Ed Balls has porbably been offered the Chancellorship. My hunch is that this was likely to be the trigger for Purnell and many other ministers.

Brown got rid of Blair by getting private secretaries to resign hour after hour. It seems Brown is going to go after ministers resign day after day."

Why Purnell resigned | Coffee House:

RUMOUR: David Miliband to resign Friday

The word on the street which I haven't confirmed is that David Miliband will go tomorrow.

RUMOUR: David Miliband to resign Friday | Coffee House

Guardian thinks it's all Over

Guardian says

But there is more to it than this. Purnell has long argued it is time to discard the old tropes of Brownite and Blairite.

And if Purnell has been talked about on the right of the party, then Jon Cruddas can be broadly defined as on the left. Cruddas is known to be in a quandary about how to respond to the Hotmail plot. However, in the last year, Cruddas has been very complimentary about Purnell – regarding him to be a Blairite the left could be able to do business with. Purnell's ascension to the backbenches will add to the many meetings Cruddas has been convening in the last few days to figure out what to do.

"This coup has no legs," said one Brown supporter yesterday. Purnell has given it very long legs.

How James Purnell's manoeuvre changes everything for Gordon Brown | Politics | The Guardian

A very British form of anarchy

A delightful read for a voting morning. Remember Vote Conservative!

The days when pretentious gits like me invoked tragedy in a Gordonian context have long since passed. Tragic heroism relies upon a certain largeness of spirit, or at the very least a sudden moment of self-knowledge so acute that it induces intolerable psychic anguish. Ajax slaughtered his sheep when made aware of his fatal flaw, Oedipus put out his eyes when faced with his. Despite his ocular head start in that direction, Gordon is as nugatory a figure as Nero, fiddling with ritualistic lines at yesterday's PMQs while his government self-immolates.

It's the smallness of the man, the lack of grandeur in his dreams, the pathetic dressing-up of rank self-interest in the translucent cloak of dutifulness, that makes guilt-free schaudenfraude less a temptation than a moral obligation. For this has become a morality play – specifically, the first morality high farce in politico-theatrical history - about a system so deranged in its complacency that it gifts such power to one whose personal ambition is surpassed only by his lack of talent, without any mechanism to remove him once that power has drained away.

H/T Mr Eugenides

Matthew Norman: We are witnessing a very British form of anarchy - Matthew Norman, Commentators - The Independent

Go Now Gordon -Don't sit about

The Telegraph asks if Gordon could sit this crisis out?

As it says

As Anthony King, constitutional historian and professor of government at Essex university, puts it: "No one alive can remember a crisis quite like this one. Prime ministers have been in deep trouble before – for instance, Sir Anthony Eden in 1956, and John Major a decade ago – but they have never been in such trouble in the midst of an economic crisis and when the legitimacy of Parliament itself was called in question. There is also no precedent since the 19th century for a government and a governing party disintegrating so publicly.

Let us hope he finally has the chair kicked out from under him by his spineless colleagues.

Gordon Brown: Even now, he might sit it out - Telegraph