Gordon Brown told it's time to go as hopes fade for deal with Lib Dems | Politics | The Guardian .
On Saturday I promoted the idea that it was best for Labour that they accepted the loss of this election and for the Lib Dems that they did not go in with the Tories. Minority government was the suggestion.
Yesterday on seeing the undoubted chaos in the Tories I wondered if it was best for Labour and Lib Dems to exploit this.
Candidly, I think that chance is over. Clegg gas flirted for too long with the Tories not to go with them now.
As the Guardian notes:
That is leading a growing body of older ministers to argue that Labour should now recognise this is a good election to lose, relinquish power and regroup with dignity.
So, back to plan A then.
But I fear the Lib Dems will pay a high price for this. I for one will find it much harder to ever vote for them again. The idea that they are progressive is being shattered, very fast. But it's quite good that Lib Dem support on the economy will make it very hard for Cameron to say we need the distraction of another election for a year or two - just long enough to prove how unacceptable what he's proposing is and not long enough to allow it to inflict too much harm.
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I see the approach in similar terms to you but with different parties.
Labour have set out their stall as being able to fix the economic mess without having to make cuts while filling the pockets of so-called hardworking and needy. But so have Tories and Libs.
As I believe that Labour are just as responsible for the financial crisis Britain faces through their mismanagement and spendthrift ways over 13 years, I would like to see them tidy up their mess themselves.
Based on their stewardship of the economy in the past, I imagine that Labour will be voted out and not to return for a long long time.
(the only proviso is that Brown and Labour be disbarred from selling state assets – we remember his skill in selling our gold)
Richard,
Can you stop using the word “progressive” so often? I really struggle to understand what it means other than “good stuff I agree with”. It is totally dumbed down: a bit like the way “liberal” in the US has come to mean “evil stuff I disagree with”.
If you mean “anti-Tory” say “anti-Tory”. But the idea of someone as virulently tribal as Ed Balls being “progressive” is counter-intuitive.