Gordon Brown the new labour leader and PM from Wednesday

mike65

So then 13 years late (by his reckoning) Brown takes control of his party while the PMs position a technical formality on wednesday.

Will his tenure be very different and if so in which areas? On can only imagine
he's love to pull out of Iraq very quickly but won't while I can see him playing hard ball with the EU on the usual matters - tax, foreign policy etc. So buisness as usual there!

Domestically I don't know what might be in store.

Mike.

lostexpectation

who is going to treasurer (minister of finance )?

J.S. Pill

I came acroos this in the Guardian on Saturday (I was only reading it coz they didn't have the Daily Mail in the Cafe I was in). Voters seem to think that its going to be business as usual.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2109431,00.html

Fratton Fred

I can't see too much change, but I think the "City" my be interested in who the new chancellor is, much to everyone's surprise, they thought Brown was very good and gave them the autonomy they wanted. Unusual for a "Left Wing" government.

mike65

Brown will announce his first cabinet tomorrow it seems. Alistair Darling tipped for Chancellor as he has the required qualification - he's Scottish!

Mike.

Fratton Fred

mike65 wrote:

Brown will announce his first cabinet tomorrow it seems. Alistair Darling tipped for Chancellor as he has the required qualification - he's Scottish!

Mike.

you're not suggesting the Scots are rather prudent when it comes to money are you

mike65

Nope! Well yes. That and the fact that the UK has been subjected to a Caladonian coup in the last decade.

Mike.

Jimoslimos

Fratton Fred wrote:

I can't see too much change,

I dunno, if the falling support turns out not to be merely anti-blairism but anti-labour then they may be forced into change if they have any hope of holding on after the next general election.

lostexpectation

J.S. Pill wrote:

I came acroos this in the Guardian on Saturday (I was only reading it coz they didn't have the Daily Mail in the Cafe I was in). Voters seem to think that its going to be business as usual.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2109431,00.html

wonderful

How Alistair Darling voted on key issues since 2001:

* Has never voted on a transparent Parliament. votes, speeches
* Moderately for introducing a smoking ban. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for introducing ID cards. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for introducing student top-up fees. votes, speeches
* Strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for the Iraq war. votes, speeches
* Very strongly against investigating the Iraq war. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for replacing Trident. votes, speeches
* Has never voted on the fox hunting ban. votes, speeches
* Very strongly for equal gay rights. votes, speeches


ah this is networkrail man oh dear I remember him now.


ah yes I meant chancellor of the exchequor funny names they have over there.

odonnell

mike65 wrote:

Nope! Well yes. That and the fact that the UK has been subjected to a Caladonian coup in the last decade.

Mike.

Right you two thats enough of that sort of mince.....we are NOT frugal. We are just skint.

Regarding Brown - im pretty sure that for the past 4 or 5 years Brown has been the mind behind the Blair reign to a large degree on key issues. If this is true then im not sure what changes people could expect.

There is one thing that crosses my mind though - i wonder if Brown being Scottish will have any effect on Scottish policy, or UK policy toward Scotland. For example - will he fight harder than Blair did to ensure Scottish fishing rights in Scottish waters? There are coastal towns which have gone down the pan due to having their fishing severely limited, and whilst i know regulations are now in place to protect the dwindling cod supplies - that doesnt explain why there were Spanish trawlers in the water when villages 50 miles away economically starve. I would expect Brown to take a harder stance and protect the interests of Scotland a little more than Blair did.

Other than that - I wouldnt expect many changes...

Fratton Fred

Whenever I hear people talk about Darling, I keep thinking of Blackadder for some reason.

Maybe Gordon Brown should be nicknamed General Melchitt

odonnell

but then who would be baldrick?

Dublin's Finest

I see Shaun Woodward is the new NI Secretary. Anyone know anything about this punter? It'll be tough to follow Peter Hain.

gbh

I think Brown knows if he carries on in the same vein as Blair there is a good chance Labour will lose the next election. The troops will be withdrawn from Iraq before then and there will be a return to a concentration on domestic issues which Labour have a clear advantage over the Conservatives. Expect Brown to be conservative because he probably has learned that to take risks can backfire on you. So it is doubtful if there will be more foreign policy adventures or invasions.

E92

Brown will have little if any interest in all things connected to NI.
Apparantly under his tenure Labour will become a Labour party again, and with that they can look forward to being out of Government, though then again now that the Tories are no more Tories than the Shinners are maybe he will survive and lead Labour into Government for a 4th sucessive time.

Blair saw an opportunity and took it, and in fairness if you ignore Iraq Blair was a very good PM for Britain. If I lived there I would vote for them, Cameron(the Tory leader) is a fool, if I wanted a party that goes on and on about Climate Change etc I'll vote Green, on the other hand I want the Conservatives to be Conservative, I'm longing for the day the Tories Produce another Margaret Thatcher. She was Britains best PM ever by a mile, while many may not have liked her policies on NI or many other things, she did what she thught was right, she at least believed in something, was honest, and never gave into vested interests.

I think Brown is rather dull to put it mildly, a bit like Brian Cowen in terms of style. He doesn't have anything like the Carisma that Blair had.

DublinWriter

Dublin's Finest wrote:

I see Shaun Woodward is the new NI Secretary. Anyone know anything about this punter? It'll be tough to follow Peter Hain.

He was a big financial contributor to New Labour and was parachuted into the safe Labour seat of St.Helens for his services to the party in 2002.

Even then he had a property portfolio worth 10's of millions and several butlers on his staff.

DublinWriter

Jimoslimos wrote:

I dunno, if the falling support turns out not to be merely anti-blairism but anti-labour then they may be forced into change if they have any hope of holding on after the next general election.

I think Brown will call a snap-election later this year and win with a marginal majority.

At the moment, Cameron is no longer the Tory 'golden-balls' over his stance on Grammar Schools and his comical forcing of the Tory standing ovation in the House of Parliment.

Mingus Campbell was a very bad choice for the Lib Dems. They need a charasmatic leader badly right now.

odonnell

Brown has refused to talk about an election, pretty bluntly infact, saying it was furthest from his mind. Im not sure he WILL call a snap election as theres no guarantee he would get back in.

But aye - cameron is a bit of a numpty as have been the last few tories.

*whisper* is it no Menzies Campbell.....? One of the strangest names on the planet that... ming-uss....