Given that the chances of Labour MPs voting out their own government are rather small, and that Brown clearly will not go for an early Election voluntarily, I asked whether it was time for a letter-writing campaign to Her Majesty asking her to step in and prompt a General Election. This is something that I've been pondering for a while. Such a letter would obviously have to stay away from partisan political attacks on Brown (as she ought to be above that) and focus on the constitutional position. To my mind, there are a number of points we could validly make on that score;
- that Brown has no personal mandate
- that there is no recent precedent for a stand-in PM remaining in post for so long
- that Blair's mandate was for a full parliamentary term hence Brown has no democratic mandate
- that we face a situation that is very different to 2005 in which new and very dramatic policies are being put into effect, and therefore there is no mandate for the use of those policies
- that the parties have different opinions as to how it should be handled, and that the final choice between them should be made by the people
Maybe this is the long-awaited campaign we could champion through House of Comments? It's a natural progression from 'This House Has No Confidence in Her Majesty's Government'...
ReplyDeletePetition Her Majesty!
Of course, I simply don't have the time right now. :-( Busy busy busy.
Not so fast. Let's go through the PMs we've had in my lifetime. First was Maggie, possibly the best post-war PM so far, then the Tory party fell out and ousted her and replaced her with John. John was sensible but unimpressive, capable but uninspiring. He did a good job but the people didn't appreciated him and they threw him out. Tony was charismatic but ultimately destructive.
ReplyDeletePeople itched to get rid of him, but look who we got instead! Gordon has been a disaster. Now we are begging him to step down, but the only realistic successors are Master Miliband or Miss Harman.
All I am saying is: be careful what you wish for.
I'm not looking for Brown to be sacked - I'm looking for Parliament to be dissolved to allow a General Election, not another internal Labour leadership election.
ReplyDeleteBlair was validly elected; I disagreed with his policies, but accepted that he had the right to govern. Brown had - at best - an interim right which has now expired imho. My missive to HM would be focussed on the non-existence of any democratic mandate.
An interesting discussion chez HG.
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, all correspondence to members of the royal family is intercepted, opened and vetted by a band of flunkeys and I therefore suspect that (even if the staff could be bothered to reply) the originators would merely get some sort of acknowledgement of receipt and nothing more. I suspect that none would land on HM's desk. To be more effective and emphasise the scale of the (protest?/ campaign?) it would be necessary for copies of all such letters to go to one or more national newspapers, especially those with the largest circulations.
Eventually somebody might notice a trend...
My thoughts exactly.
ReplyDeleteIf there is just one letter from me, no chance. And quite right - who do I think I am?
Many similar letters, from many people, might stand a chance.