Politics.....again

[gwh200]

So have I got this right....

Gordon quits, and labour get (another) unelected leader. The lib dems
who wanted to do what was best for national..not party politics. Then getinto bed with labour...like the political prostitutes they are. The lib dems want proportional representation so they might get into power...well after this disgusting, unconstitutional process eventually comes to an end, I hope they are in the political wilderness for ever. The bit dick clegg( not a typo) said about providing stability...you treacherous gimpoid. What's the dem in lib dem for, when you want to change the way we vote without recourse to the people( and the people have overwhelmingly rejected alternative voting time and time again).

Just disgusted with the lib dems...knew this would happen.

[Sancho]

Not quite right.

Labour get wind of the fact that Clegg and Cameron can't do a deal so tell Gordon to stand down as the last role of the dice. Clegg is now in a much stronger position with Cameron because he would be willing to team up with Labour so he can give Cameron a harder time. Cameron has to decide whether he's going to give in to Clegg.

Meanwhile Labour are on the phone to the SNP, Plaid, the Greens and a few weird Irish parties who all want the same thing trying to find enough support so that they would have a majority if the LibDems came to play.

Clegg will play both sides off against each other but neither wants to give him anything.

I'll probably end up with another election being called in a week's time or Cameron deciding to run a minority government.

The LibDems won't change the way we vote without recourse to the people - they were proposing a referendum on it, not an immediate change.

[Rustinho]

Who knows?! All will become clear in the coming days & weeks (months??!)

As for the next Labour leader - there will be a contest. David Milliband has already made his intentions clear (albeit not offically - might come back to bite him on the bum that one). Harriet Harperson will no doubt fancy her chances too. Ed Balls will probably take a shot at it too. Who knows who else might end up running.

As for the leader of a party being "un elected" via general election - that will almost always happen with every party. The big problem with comrade Gordon was that he engineered that he would be unopposed when he stood for election by the Labour party.

At least the days of leaders emerging from smoke filled rooms of men in grey suits have long since been consigned to the dustbin of history...

[Sancho]

Technically, Ed Balls isn't even a Labour MP so quite why he thinks he should be leader is beyond me.

[Bogus]

and the new labour leader will not be unelected. He will be a duly elected MP. and he will be elected leader by his party. When you vote in a general election you are not voting for who you want to be PM, even if you think you are, and even if the press make it look that way. You are voting for an individual MP for your constituency, thats all. They then are the ones who decide who gets to be PM. It could be that Tony Blair is PM when you vote for your MP in an election, and a few months later his party might decide they want Gordon Brown. ( wait a mo, that actually happened) and its got nowt to do with you or me.
Proportional representation sounds fair, its a hard one to argue against, but I cant help but feel that we would get a hung parliament at every election under PR.

Bogus

[Rustinho]

Technically, Ed Balls isn't even a Labour MP so quite why he thinks he should be leader is beyond me.

Technically nobody is an MP at the moment because they haven't been sworn in yet (at least - I think I'm right in that assumption). They have only been elected to serve as an MP. Ed Balls won the vote in his constituency - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/elect...tuency/c99.stm

There is also historical precedent for members of the house of lords being party leaders but not in recent history. I can't quite remember who the most recent example of this was but I think it was about 50 years ago and they stood down from the Lords, an MP stood down in a safe seat and the new party leader stood in the by-election in order to be elected to parliament.

*checks*

Yep - Alec Douglas-Home. And he was spanked at the ballot box at the next general election!

[Sancho]

Technically nobody is an MP at the moment because they haven't been sworn in yet (at least - I think I'm right in that assumption). They have only been elected to serve as an MP. Ed Balls won the vote in his constituency - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/elect...tuency/c99.stm

He did indeed, but he's not a Labour MP, he's a Co-operative Party MP.

[gwh200]

I beg to differ with the lib dem referendum/pr voting system. Nick clegg made it abundantly clear, even during the 2nd televised debate, and historically, that pr would be implemented. The utter hypocrisy of nick clegg is the big clunker for me. From wanting to do what was best " nationally" to just prostituting his party....which itself did rather badly in the election. We will see, im sure, the queens speech voted down.
And Alex. in our current media driven times, the vast majority of people direct their love or loathing at the head of the party in power. He/she after all, becomes the prime minister. Their position, persona and personal standing is fundamental to a party being elected. Some bloke, who wasnt elected as the leader of a partry, but becomes one by default...go figure. The electorate feels cheated. And pr...how many snp mp's and how many labour...and who's the boss ?

[Rustinho]

He did indeed, but he's not a Labour MP, he's a Co-operative Party MP.

We're both right:

http://www.edballs.co.uk/index.jsp?c=/p/about/bio/

"Ed Balls has been the Labour and Co-op MP for Normanton since 2005 and will be Labour’s candidate for the new Morley and Outwood constituency at the next election. He was appointed Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in June 2007 and was previously Economic Secretary to the Treasury."

[Rustinho]

Nick Clegg's hypocrisy doesn't start/stop there...

Millionaire, son of millionaire banker, pledges to clean up the banking system by introducing legislation to regulate banks having strongly lobbied against banking regulation while he worked for a european lobbying company after he quit as an MEP in 2005.

Pledges to clean up politics. To be whiter than white. Yet while he was an MEP openly admitted to claiming top £ for 1st class flights while flying economy & pocketing the difference.

Not that I think Cleggy is alone in his hypocrisy - just the subject of this thread!

[Apache]

I think its all hideous and an insult to the British people. I cant believe that two (or more, if Labour are to seize power) parties who DID NOT win an election can possibly end up running a country! It's just insane, and if we get PR (as Lib Dems want) we will have this ###### mess every time they need to make an important decision.

Unbelievable!

Brown, as far as I'm concerned is a ###### disgrace (always has been IMO) for dragging this out which is either a) he is totally deluded b) desperate to hang on to power at any cost. Thankfully the rest of his party have seen fit to stab him in the back for the sake of a last ditch grasp at power. They make me sick.

[Sancho]

So what would you have the do, Andy, given that no-one won the election?

[blackpoolsparks]

Technically speaking, the Queen can ask anyone she believes will be able to form a majority government to do just that.
BTW - Gordon is still the PM

[gwh200]

I just despair.

[John h]

Just when we were told that the dust will settle after the general election we have just been told to not send any more bids to Government Office and we have dates for another possible General Election !!! However the real bit that sticks in our gullet up here is; Doncaster council (no overall control) Now has a Labour majority ! Barnsley had a slim council labour majority of one seat Now we have a majority of 5? Vote for change ? when was that then ?