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Gordon Brown 'stepping down as Labour leader'
BBC ^ | 05/10/2010 | Staff

Posted on 05/10/2010 10:22:10 AM PDT by Dasaji

Gordon Brown has said he is stepping down as Labour Party leader - as his party opens formal talks with the Lib Dems about forming a government.

Mr Brown, prime minister since 2007, said he hoped a successor as Labour leader would be in place by September.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: gordonbrown; labour; notbreakingnews; uk; uk2010

1 posted on 05/10/2010 10:22:11 AM PDT by Dasaji
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To: Dasaji

Already in Breaking News.


2 posted on 05/10/2010 10:23:08 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod
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To: BlessedBeGod

This may not be good news. With a new labor leader they may keep the conservative from power.
It wasn’t just Brown that voters rejected..it was policy.


3 posted on 05/10/2010 10:25:21 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: Dasaji

In a way it’s a sad commentary for this man.

Blair promised to step aside for him and then broke that promise and stayed on for years.

He personally endured the tragedy of the death of a son, and now the loss of his eyesight.

Now this. He earned his defeat tho.


4 posted on 05/10/2010 10:37:16 AM PDT by Carley (WE CAN SEE NOVEMBER FROM OUR HOUSE)
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To: Oldexpat

It wasn’t just Brown that voters rejected..it was policy.


The voters rejected Labour, but didn’t accept the Conservatives. There were more votes (and MPs elected) on the left (ie, Labour and Lib-Dems) than on the Right. Cameron blew the election. He will be getting another chance soon. If he becomes PM, he will have the opportunity to show what he can do. Let’s hope Cameron doesn’t blow it a second time.


5 posted on 05/10/2010 10:38:11 AM PDT by RogerQ
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To: Dasaji

The worst kind of decision is INDECISION, and you get the Politicians you deserve.
Britain has been ambivalant. Instead of “Throwing the B******S out” they wrung their collective hands clinging to failed hopes and dreams, only to dig a deeper hole.
Personally i hope the Lib Dems do a deal to keep Labour alive, because the next time Britons vote, they will realise the betrayal of their electoral system and a political earthquake just might occur.


6 posted on 05/10/2010 10:53:56 AM PDT by MrDaddyLongLegs (You dont need any qualifications to be a Politician)
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To: RogerQ

Looks to me like Cameron will not be PM...Labour and LibDems will find a compromise PM to run a leftist coalition. Conservatives out-maneuvered yet again....


7 posted on 05/10/2010 11:16:42 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Times Square: A law enforcement success made possible by an intellingence failure.)
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To: Dasaji
Brown
8 posted on 05/10/2010 11:18:02 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: clintonh8r
“Looks to me like Cameron will not be PM...Labour and LibDems will find a compromise PM to run a leftist coalition. Conservatives out-maneuvered yet again....”

Maybe, maybe not. It might serve the Conservatives better to be the opposition for a few months. A lib-Con coalition would probably be doomed to failure. Better to let the lib-labs make themselves even less popular. Hopefully there will be another election in a few months.

Everyone took a con victory for granted, but gaining 117 seats aint easy under the best of conditions, especially with a three way split. Some people just like THIER MP.

9 posted on 05/10/2010 11:30:35 AM PDT by jpf (ME in 2012.)
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To: clintonh8r

Sounds a lot like Florida 2000 and what they tried to do in Ohio 2004. You just can’t defeat libs cleanly and expect them to go nicely.


10 posted on 05/10/2010 11:39:58 AM PDT by epluribus_2
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To: clintonh8r
Looks to me like Cameron will not be PM...Labour and LibDems will find a compromise PM to run a leftist coalition. Conservatives out-maneuvered yet again.

Sadly, that is probably for the best. Brits should get what they voted for and it would appear, despite everything, a majority are STILL voting for leftist parties.

We have reached a point where there simply may not be enough productive people remaining for conservatives to win elections in some Western countries. The US is close to that situation too.

As bad as things have gotten, and a majority of Brits still vote for the left? Quite a sorry commentary on the state of the United Kingdom really. If in 1979 Britain had the same population of people as it does today, someone like Thatcher could probably never have been elected.

11 posted on 05/10/2010 11:41:36 AM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: Longbow1969

“...As bad as things have gotten, and a majority of Brits still vote for the left? Quite a sorry commentary on the state of the United Kingdom really...”

Yes, it is a sad commentary. This short article at City Journal explains it quite well. http://www.city-journal.org/2010/eon0507td.html

Especially this line, which applies to both the Greeks and the Brits: “...It is true that the Greek politicians are much to blame for the current situation, and no doubt many of them are thieves; but their real crime was not stealing, but offering a substantial proportion of the Greek population a standard of living that was economically unjustified, maintained for a time by borrowing, and in the long run unsustainable, in return for votes...”


12 posted on 05/10/2010 12:01:55 PM PDT by Califelephant
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To: Califelephant

Sounds like the developing situation in California.


13 posted on 05/10/2010 12:41:02 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Longbow1969
As bad as things have gotten, and a majority of Brits still vote for the left? Quite a sorry commentary on the state of the United Kingdom really.

I'm something of an Anglophile and have been for years.I've traveled to Britain on a number of occasions and regularly read their papers and watch the Parliamentary debates..None of this makes me an expert (to say the least) but I'm somewhat acquainted with the country and her politics.Acquainted enough to declare that Mrs Thatcher could *never* be elected there today.Nor could Churchill.Hussein could...easily.Britain is a post- Christian,post-morality,post-"work ethic" nation.She is *thoroughly* European...in every sense of the word.

14 posted on 05/10/2010 4:33:07 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Host The Beer Summit-->Win The Nobel Peace Prize!)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Think about Britain before Churchill, it was just as messed up, with all of the kowtowing to Hitler.

Once the bulldog wakes up, however, watch out.


15 posted on 05/10/2010 4:35:07 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Gay State Conservative
I'm something of an Anglophile and have been for years.I've traveled to Britain on a number of occasions and regularly read their papers and watch the Parliamentary debates..None of this makes me an expert (to say the least) but I'm somewhat acquainted with the country and her politics.Acquainted enough to declare that Mrs Thatcher could *never* be elected there today.Nor could Churchill.Hussein could...easily.Britain is a post- Christian,post-morality,post-"work ethic" nation.She is *thoroughly* European...in every sense of the word.

Thanks for your comments. It saddens me to hear them, but I know what you say is true.

16 posted on 05/10/2010 5:44:23 PM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: Oldexpat

Good point.


17 posted on 05/11/2010 12:27:23 AM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is never "free")
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To: Gay State Conservative

“She is *thoroughly* European...in every sense of the word.”

No, we’re really honestly not.


18 posted on 05/11/2010 7:03:19 AM PDT by ToranagaSama
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To: RogerQ

“Cameron blew the election.”

Absolutely - it should have been in the bag and in the end it most certainly was not. Even with how badly Labour have done, he still couldn’t seal the deal.

I personally favour PR as the least-worst voting system, but I can’t see the LDs compromising on this, given that it’s one of their absolute core principals.

My prediction is Cameron as PM with a Lib / Lab / Other coalition. And the markets given Sterling a constant kicking, just for the hell of it and because they can.


19 posted on 05/11/2010 7:06:16 AM PDT by ToranagaSama
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2510487/posts


20 posted on 05/12/2010 8:01:11 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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