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Blair Becomes Labour's Longest-Serving PM (Just how bad do British 'Conservatives' suck?
The Daily Telegraph [Sydney, AU] ^ | February 7, 2005 | Herve Guilbaud [Agence France-Presse]

Posted on 02/06/2005 10:38:58 AM PST by quidnunc

London – British leader Tony Blair today became the longest-serving Labour prime minister, holding down the top job for 2,838 days and with no intention of letting go just yet.

The record previously belonged to Harold Wilson, a giant of British post-war left-wing politics, who occupied Downing Street from 1964-70 and, after a Conservative interlude, from 1974-76.

Blair is expected to call a general election for May 5 – a day before his 52nd birthday – in hopes of winning an unprecedented third consecutive Labour mandate.

Opinion polls point to another Labour victory, although probably with a reduced parliamentary majority.

-snip-

He still has some way to go before he overtakes the 11 years and 209 days which Margaret Thatcher held sway as Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Given the feeble state of the Tories today, however, and the absence of a credible alternative on the British political scene, political analysts think Blair stands a good chance of leaping that hurdle.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailytelegraph.news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: labour; tonyblair
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To: hosepipe

The UK is not strictly a democracy. Our political system is a constitutional monarchy.

France is a republic, as is Germany. It's a very broad term.

>>a Banana republic (which is really a democracy)

banana republics are usually dictatorships, not democracies.

The CIA World Factbook lists the USA as 'Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition '


21 posted on 02/06/2005 3:00:37 PM PST by pau1f0rd (a British citizen)
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To: quidnunc
"As for the rest, The Princess Diana grief-fest, the irrational vendetta against fox hunting and decline of the Church of England into irrelevance tells us Americans pretty m uch everything we need to know about the state of British society."

I remember a similar grief-fest after John John tried to fly a plane with a broken leg and ended up in the bottom of the sea, along with his cokehead wife.

Why do you hate the little foxies?

22 posted on 02/08/2005 8:49:54 AM PST by jjbrouwer (Chelsea for the Championship!)
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To: jjbrouwer
jjbrouwer wrote: I remember a similar grief-fest after John John tried to fly a plane with a broken leg and ended up in the bottom of the sea, along with his cokehead wife.

That shut down one block of New York City for part of one day, not a whole country for three days.

Why do you hate the little foxies?

Haven't you read, they've become so thick in England that they're eating your moggies, and getting right brazen about it too..

23 posted on 02/08/2005 9:29:50 AM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: quidnunc
There are more efficient and humane ways of eliminating the the fox than having a pack of dogs ripping it limb from limb.
24 posted on 02/08/2005 12:03:20 PM PST by jjbrouwer (Chelsea for the Championship!)
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To: jjbrouwer
jjbrouwer wrote: There are more efficient and humane ways of eliminating the the fox than having a pack of dogs ripping it limb from limb.

The ban on fox hunting had nothing to do with animal cruelty and everything to do with class warfare.

It was the townsmen sticking it to the toffs in the countryside, pure and simple.

25 posted on 02/08/2005 12:17:21 PM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: quidnunc

They told you that? Or did you just read it in one of your Canadian newspapers?


26 posted on 02/08/2005 1:23:00 PM PST by jjbrouwer (Chelsea for the Championship!)
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To: jjbrouwer
jjbrouwer wrote: They told you that? Or did you just read it in one of your Canadian newspapers?

Nope, I read about it in The Telegraph and The Times.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/21/nhunt221.xml

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1055-1360709,00.html

27 posted on 02/08/2005 1:29:17 PM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: quidnunc

Peter Bradley - the politician who tried to wreck the anti-fox hunting bill - is hardly an impartial voice.


28 posted on 02/08/2005 2:02:25 PM PST by jjbrouwer (Chelsea for the Championship!)
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To: jjbrouwer
jjbrouwer wrote: Peter Bradley - the politician who tried to wreck the anti-fox hunting bill - is hardly an impartial voice.

That doesn't mean that he's wrong or untruthful.

Here's more by Mr. Bradley:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/21/nhunt221.xml

29 posted on 02/08/2005 2:25:26 PM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: jjbrouwer
jjbrouwer wrote: Peter Bradley - the politician who tried to wreck the anti-fox hunting bill - is hardly an impartial voice.

By your standard the BBC should not be heeded on anything they say about the Israel/Palestinian question or the Iraq war since they obviously are not impartial.

30 posted on 02/08/2005 2:28:16 PM PST by quidnunc (Omnis Gaul delenda est)
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To: jjbrouwer
There are more efficient and humane ways of eliminating the the fox than having a pack of dogs ripping it limb from limb.

Very true!

My, my.... you do have a heart.

Excellent.

31 posted on 02/09/2005 5:41:23 AM PST by beyond the sea (Barbara Boxer is Barbra Streisand on peyote ......and is the north end of a south bound mule.)
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