Syria and the Crown Prerogative

It seems I was wrong in my last musings and we are not to go to war in Syria, a bloody good thing if you ask me. But there are other really beneficial outcomes from Big Dave Cameron's major parliamentary blunder. The power of the Prime Minister now and in the future has been seriously undermined, as has the power of the Crown prerogative, because unless I'm seriously mistaken, (which has been known to happen), it will be virtually impossible now for the Government to exercise the Crown prerogative to take us unwilling into a foreign war without the consent of Parliament.

I'm very happy that, at long last, the back benches have found a bit of backbone and that they are starting, in some small way, to represent the views of the people who elected them to do just that.  Long may it continue.

Gordon Brown, the end is nigh !

You know that when you have lost control and discipline in your party then the end of your leadership is in sight. You also know that when junior ministers call for a leadership election to 'clear the air' you have lost control and discipline in your party. Siobhain McDonagh is only saying what the rest are thinking, but the real question is 'Who Convinced her to fall on her sword and what was she promised in return?'.

New Labour is not so much in meltdown as in self-destruct mode. How long can this lame duck Prime Minister soldier on?

My own opinion is that he will take the country into the next election, whenever that may be, and take the battering that Labour will get, so that the replacement dud will not commence the job with the stench of a massive defeat all over him. His Presyterian upbringing would ask that of him, but we'll see, soon.

The Coronation of Gordon Brown

There was no choir giving us 'Zadok the Priest', but the elevation of Gordon (the big clunking fist) Brown to the status of Prime Minister elect was something of a coronation.

The fact that a left candidate from within the Labour party couldn't even get on to the ballot paper surely tells us that any notional loyalty to the working class, which some Labour supporters were clinging to, has gone completely and forever. There is no way back from this that leads left, the bridge is burnt.

All those, like TKMax, who believe that, as puny district councillors in opposition, they can present any challenge to the inexorable rightward stampede of the Labour party are either liars, clinging to their Labour rosettes in the hope of being able to re-join the gravy train, or fools.

For better or worse we have got Big Humble Gordy, and he has much to be humble about when we consider the growing inequality he has created.

Douglas Alexander and Downing Street

Immediately following the Fiasco of the Scottish elections I tried to open a petition on the Downing Street e-petitions web site in the following terms : -

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove from
office with immediate effect Douglas Alexander MP following the
Scottish Elections fiasco

I deliberately worded this so that it promoted the interests of no particular political party and offered it merely as a plea from the people of Scotland for accountability in Government and for a higher standard of governance.

As we might have expected no criticism of Duggie, the golden one and future anointed, will be allowed on that site and the petition was rejected on the basis that it was 'party political'.

This only goes to underline the vacuous empty imitation of democracy we have in this country. The e-petition site was supposed to be there so as to bring public concerns to the attention of the Prime Minister. It was meant to be participatory democracy in action, but it turns out to be no more than a sham, another piece of Bliar spin which provided a sound bite at the time and little else.

This is not a party political petition, it promotes the views of all parties that we should have a system of democracy where people have a right not only to vote, but to have it counted. Duggie has denied that right to 140,000 citizens. He must go no matter what party he is from.

There is however some good news. There is a petition up and running at

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ScottishVoteScandal2007/

which I urge everyone to sign asap. There is a difficulty with the link, but if you click on 'Sign Petition' and then put 'scottishvote' in the mini search engine you will get to the page.

Sometimes I wish I was more technical, but it always passes.