Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
.
.

Saturday 8 May 2010

Saturday muddle

It would seem that Mr Brown might have messed up his chances of dealing with Mr Clegg because, well, because they don't like each other.

Way back, when the party leaders were called in to be talked to about the expenses 'scandal', Mr Clegg was not amused by the way he and his party were expected to do Mr Brown's bidding. It was clear then that they could not work together and today, according to reports, this animosity has continued.

Earlier the BBC carried a report from Jon Sopel saying that a telephone call between Mr Brown and Mr Clegg was less than constructive. Mrs Rigby regrets not keeping a copy, because she can no longer find the article. It is, however, still in the Telegraph, which says,
The source told the BBC's Jon Sopel that during the leaders' conversation last night, the tone went "downhill" at the mention of resignation.

It was claimed Mr Brown's approach was to begin "a diatribe" and "a rant" and the source said the Labour leader was "threatening in his approach to Nick Clegg".

Mr Clegg was said to have came off the phone assured that it would be impossible to work with Brown because of his attitude towards working with other people.
Naturally this has been downplayed by Labour
describing the chat as "constructive"
Yes, of course it was, very constructive. Messrs Brown and Clegg are the best of friends.

Fast forward a bit to the VE Day ceremony in London, some noted that Mr Brown failed to sing the National Anthem.
"Nick and Dave both proudly singing the national anthem in harmony with each other; Gordo looking glumly on, sullen faced, silent."
Remember, Mr Brown is currently the Prime Minister of Great Britain - at least that's what he is claiming by remaining at Number 10. And it's a faux pas of the highest order, especially at a national event marking the anniversary of the end of War in Europe and honouring the lives of those who died.

Every picture tells a story, this says quite a lot. (From the Mail)
Also from the Mail
This from the Spectator

Somebody, probably a Constitutional expert, seems to have made a decision that placed Mr Cameron in in the middle. Possibly because it is the Conservatives who have the highest number of seats in Westminster - something Labour seems to have forgotten in their cries of, "But they didn't get a parliamentary majority". (They've also forgotten that the country has, politically, 'swung' the furthest since 1931, which is no mean feat for any political party.)

When laying their wreaths at the cenotaph all three party leaders stepped forward together - indicating that nobody is in control of government, and nobody is in control of Britain and nobody represents all of us.

And now, according to a 'tweet' from Iain Dale (via CF) Mr Brown has gone to Scotland.

This afternoon, with Mr Brown safely out of the way and therefore not even remotely involved, there's been a handy, hastily organised, little demonstration in London calling for a 'fair' voting system. It is truly amazing how they managed to get Police consent so quickly, when it can take weeks!

The demonstration was, seemingly, spontaneously organised by an apparently decent group calling itself 'Take Back Parliament' ... which appears to be linked to another 'campaigning group' which has the blessing of Communist Billy Bragg, who likes to call everybody "brother" or "comrade", and who Mrs R has mentioned before.

So, all those enthusiastic people waving their banners should be very careful what they wish for. They might think our voting system is unfair, they might not like FPTP as it stands and they could be right - because constituency boundaries do seem to have been drawn to favour just one party. But these demonstrators probably have absolutely no idea that they're being used by those with their own agenda, and whose agenda is not in the national interest.*

The most important thing at the moment is not the voting system and it is not the egos of politicians. The most important thing at the moment is the British economy.

Sterling and the FTSE have taken a dive, if there are no announcements by Monday things are likely to get worse. The rest of the world is looking, and the man who claims to hold the balance of power - because he can - has gone to Scotland.

The party leaders may have been granted an unusual 18 days to organise a coalition or power-sharing agreement, but the country cannot afford them to take so long. It is urgent, and it's important, it needs a quick decision.

Either that or let's have another election, and we will decide.

..........
*
Mrs Rigby notes that the demonstrators are wearing purple - the same purple as the ties Mr Brown seemed to prefer.
Coincidence? Chance? Or deliberate?
....

2 comments:

Quiet_Man said...

Deliberate, they are all mostly UAF/Socialist?Common Purpose clones, not a Lib Dem amongst them

Mrs Rigby said...

Yes, of course it was deliberate and carefully planned too, because they organised the demo so that no matter who 'won' the election they could take to the streets and demand electoral reform - Power2010 said it's 'what the people want', the vote was appropriately rigged.