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Britain
UK's Brown to quit in bid to keep Labour in power
2010-05-11
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he would step down this year, sacrificing himself to give his Labor Party a chance of forming a government with the smaller Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dems are already being courted by the Conservatives, who did best in an election last week. But Brown said in a statement in front of his official residence at 10 Downing Street that the Lib Dems now wanted to talk to Labor too.

The center-right Conservatives, led by David Cameron, won most seats in parliament but fell short of a majority.

Labor, in power since 1997, came second and the Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, a distant third. It is the first time since 1974 that a British election has put no party in overall control.

Brown's announcement could make it easier for Labor to lure the Lib Dems away from the Conservatives, since Clegg had signaled strongly during the election campaign that he did not wish to keep the unpopular Brown, 59, in office.

"Mr Clegg has just informed me that while he intends to continue his dialogue that he has begun with the Conservatives, he now wishes also to take forward formal discussions with the Labor Party," Brown said, adding that he would facilitate that.

"I have no desire to stay in my position longer than is needed," Brown said.

"As leader of my party I must accept that that (the election result) is a judgment on me. I therefore intend to ask the Labor Party to set in train the processes needed for its own leadership election," he said.
Posted by:Fred

#10  Didn't someone post here a few days ago that the Russians had put them off on a boat 200nm off shore with just oars?

An interesting interview. Thank you, Bulldog.
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-05-11 17:26  

#9  The Queen is smiling.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2010-05-11 16:01  

#8  David Cameron is the new Prime Minister
Posted by: tipper   2010-05-11 15:48  

#7  Brown resigns as British PM, Cameron to take over
Posted by: tipper   2010-05-11 15:06  

#6  This is extremely interesting in the same way those CSI shows are interesting: like a horrid, morbid car crash. My sympathies to our British cousins.
Posted by: Secret Master   2010-05-11 13:10  

#5  The BBC are claiming the nightmare scenario (my opinion, not theirs) of a Lib/Lab coalition is now dead in the water. Labour aren't mad enough to go along with the mad Lib Dems, so the Tories will probably have that pleasure. Unless they can escape the harlots' grip and go it alone.

Good grief, this election's been a horror, and the bitter medicine of fiscal discipline is still in the cupboard.
Posted by: Bulldog   2010-05-11 11:31  

#4  Ironically the best assessment/damnation of the Lib-Lab-Looney proposed Pact I've yet seen is here, being made dy a former Labour Big Beast. Well said, John Reid.
Posted by: Bulldog   2010-05-11 08:59  

#3  So we're now in a situation in future elections in which either Labour wins enough seats to govern on its own, or it fails to - but governs anyway with the cooperation of the Lib-Dems and minor parties, which are all further left.

Paradoxically, that actually means the better Conservatives do, the further left the eventual government will be, because Labour will have to lean more heavily on Lib-Dem support.

Stupidly, what would be in the best interests of the Conservatives, Labour and the country would be a Conservative government supported by the rightmost wing of the Labour party. But they're so locked into their two-big-parties-in-mortal-opposition mindset that that would be impossible. And it might fracture the Labour party anyway.

So, left wing government forever (or until the inevitable collapse), then? At least the Conservatives may realise that their only hope is to abandon centrist squishiness and chasing after Labour votes, and instead loudly proclaim strong conservative principles and hope enough voters eventually listen and are converted. They have nothing left to lose. And while they can't win, they want to lose big enough to minimise the harmful influence of the Lib-Dems.

Crazy.
Posted by: Solomon Snish5988   2010-05-11 06:13  

#2  "I have no desire to stay in my position longer than is needed," Brown said.

You should never have been in that position Mr Brown, you were never elected by the people

Fully agree with your assessment Bulldog . Its a mess and Browns decision to step down only compounds the problem .

As a think tank has suggested , Cameron fell short of an overall majority by about 16,000 votes , I think there should be a fair and transparent look in to why some overseas and postal voters didnt receive the chance to vote.

Also it is worth noting that Clegg said he would speak to the Tories first about a possible deal (which he has), saying that the party which won "the most seats and the most votes" would have the "moral right" to seek to form a government, either on its own or in coalition.
Posted by: Oscar   2010-05-11 03:28  

#1  It's looking increasingly likely that instead of a Con-Lib pact, or a Tory minority government, we'll get a Coalition of the Losers, ie the self-styled 'progressives' led by a zombie husk Labour, with the Lib Dems riding pillion and calling the shots, and all the tiny regional and loopy midget parties cheering along behind in a conga line. With the dumbstruck Tories comprising almost the entire opposition, on their own.

If that sounds stupid, it's because it is. And if it happens, the best we could hope for would be another election, very quickly.
Posted by: Bulldog   2010-05-11 01:58  

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