Labour MPs warn Blair of leadership bid from left (The Independent)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

Labour MPs warn Blair of leadership bid from left
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
16 May 2005


Tony Blair's hopes of an "orderly transition of power" to Gordon Brown are dealt a blow today with a warning by Labour MPs that there will be a challenge from the left.

Writing in The Independent, Alan Simpson, a leading member of the Campaign Group of Labour MPs, says: "Tony Blair's call for an orderly transition of leadership power is a plea for a change of leader without a change of direction. There will be no orderly succession in the leadership. One way or another, there will have to be a challenger from the left."

(snip)

He calls for a full-blooded left-wing agenda for the post-Blair era, including the renationalisation of the railways, higher progressive taxation, less means-testing of benefits, and measures to stop climate change.

(snip)

Labour dissidents will give full vent to their anger over Mr Blair's leadership tomorrow with the launch of 40 Bills for the next session of Parliament. The MPs are furious that Mr Blair is showing no let-up in his reforming zeal despite the "bloody nose" he suffered at the general election. Mr Hain made it clear that tomorrow's Queen's Speech setting out the programme will be used to drive forward the radical reforms. He said there would be "greater momentum, I think you'll see in the Queen's Speech, than we had after our 2001 victory when there was a period of hiatus".

More at: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=638648

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Blair's procrastinating about when he'll leave will probably lead to his own party ejecting him.

[Dirk39]

1. These evil leftwingers...

"He calls for a full-blooded left-wing agenda for the post-Blair era, including the renationalisation of the railways, higher progressive taxation, less means-testing of benefits, and measures to stop climate change."

Public(!) transport that belongs to all of us and even works in non-profit regions, where people depend on public transport, but there's no profit to make. More taxes for the rich! And they even want to stop climate change???

What a nightmare!

We need more Blairs to start wars, get more wealth to the wealthy, start more mindless privatisation-orgys, let us wait for busses and doctors that never come, while hurricanes entertain us.

Is this really true? The idiotic third-way New-Labourists don't speak of Gulags? They mention all these terrible things, leftwingers would do?

I just hope, he's right,

F*ck Blair,
Hello from Germany,
Dirk

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. I agree with your well-toned sarcasm

:hi:

[aneerkoinos]

2. And from the man himself:

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=638618

"The failure (or liability) is not Blair the person, but Blairism the project. It cuts across all areas of policy. To move beyond the war, we have to take ourselves out of the war zone. If today's market obsessions reduce people to commodities, we need to set out alternatives to these obsessions rather than call for a different figurehead to pretend that they work. If climate change is the serious priority of this parliament then it has to change policies far more profoundly than it changes leaders."


"New Labour was obsessed with bringing the private sector into public services. Now, real Labour must put the "public" back into public services. Bringing rail into public ownership is the easiest and most obvious starting point."


"Climate change, rather than leadership change, is the central issue. There will be no orderly succession in the Labour leadership. The press will want to run it as a titanic struggle between competing egos; who best should command the ship of state? The trouble was that the Titanic needed a change of direction more than it needed a change of captain. Britain (and Labour) does, too. This is the challenge that has to impose itself in what would otherwise be a faux and futile succession race."

[tjwmason]

4. The Labour Party used to be a democracy

Power was heLd by conference, BLair centraLised it in himseLf. It is not mereLy the Leadership which needs to pass on, but the whoLe decision making structure.

The sooner he's out of office and out of power the better for the Labour Party and for Britain.

[Gloria]

5. Labour MPs warn Blair of leadership bid from left--Independent/UK

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=638648

Labour MPs warn Blair of leadership bid from left
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor

16 May 2005

Tony Blair's hopes of an "orderly transition of power" to Gordon Brown are dealt a blow today with a warning by Labour MPs that there will be a challenge from the left.

Writing in The Independent, Alan Simpson, a leading member of the Campaign Group of Labour MPs, says: "Tony Blair's call for an orderly transition of leadership power is a plea for a change of leader without a change of direction. There will be no orderly succession in the leadership. One way or another, there will have to be a challenger from the left."

Asked whether he would run against Mr Brown, Mr Simpson refused to rule himself out. "All I can say is there will not be an orderly handover. There will be a challenge from the left and there could be a challenge from the right because they know their patronage will disappear."

He calls for a full-blooded left-wing agenda for the post-Blair era, including the renationalisation of the railways, higher progressive taxation, less means-testing of benefits, and measures to stop climate change.

MORE

[autorank]

6. Why wait! Challenge bLiar now! He'll be headed for the Hague soon!

Labour needs to redeem its integrity. bLiar has no excuse to be out of jail let alone be PM. Why do they have such trouble seeing this. If 34 MP's in Labour revolted, they could bring bLiar down now (he has a 66 majority). They wouldn't even have to form a block with the Liberal Democrats and Tories, they'd just have to threaten, their version of the "doomsday option."

Labour, why are you allowing bLiar to stay in power?

How will you live with yourselves, how can you live with yourselves by allowing him to rule?

[Melodybe]

7. Go get him labor, once Blair is gone Bush can't be too far behind.

[autorank]

9. Ditto! That's what I've said all along. He was the essential element

that provided Bush with cover, with his faux intelligence and persuasiveness conferred by the mistaken equation of certain British accents with intelligence, by too many Americans. I think bLiar was even more compelling as a rationale for war than the WMD because he conferred a mantle of 'reasonableness' on * and also supported WMD.
:grr:

[Spazito]

8. Good! Labour needs to go back to it's roots

blair subverted Labour and became a Thatcherite-lite, imo. It seems clear the British people voted for Labour and voted against Blair, that is the benefit of a Parliamentary system, imo.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

10. dupe

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1475806&mesg_id=1475806