JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE ........

Gordon Brown has plans to stay as Labour leader after the election even if his party is defeated according to The Sunday Times. He has told colleagues that he won’t stand down unless the Tories win a significant majority. He considers his enemies too divided to force him out. If the May election is indecisive and there is the possibility of a second election he believes he should lead them into it.

With many of his fiercest critics standing down at the election and others likely to lose their seats, he is optimistic that his plan can succeed. Friends of Brown believe he will want to remain if David Cameron’s majority is 20 seats or less. He is banking on a hung parliament or a small majority for the Tories resulting in a second general election within a short period. A hung parliament is looking increasingly likely with two polls this weekend showing a narrowing of the Conservative lead.

Brown’s critics reckon that his decision to remain is part of a plan to ease his friend Ed Balls into the party leader’s job. And Brown is supposedly opposed to Harriet Harman becoming a caretaker leader during any leadership contest, like Margaret Beckett did following John Smith’s death in 1994.

In recent weeks Balls has been courting Labour MPs, trade unionists and grassroots supporters at party events. It is a reasonable guess that if there is a rout, much of what remains of the Labour Party will be from the Left, which is Balls’ natural constituency. In opposition Labour chose their shadow cabinet by votes. However, these votes are traditionally rigged by the Whips and it is reckoned that, with Gordon Brown still in charge, Nick Brown, the chief whip, would use these tactics in Balls’ favour and against the likes of Harman and Miliband, leaving Balls with the coveted shadow chancellor’s job. This is a high profile position giving Balls the chance to shine savaging the Tories' financial policies.

It is fair to say that if the Tories form the next government, support for them could collapse once their plans to cut spending, however much they are trimmed back, start to be felt. The last time Labour left the country bankrupt, Thatcher came in with a drastic cutting policy. It hurt people badly and, had it not been for the Falklands Conflict and the short sharp win it afforded Britain, it is quite likely that she would not have won a second term.

Brown knows that more war is the last thing that the population wants now. Without a war victory to save him, Cameron’s time at the top may be very limited; a single term would be no surprise...and that is what Brown is counting on. We may not have seen the last of Prime Minister McCavity!

Update: Dean the Tory has a really funny clip of Cameron giving Balls a real put down at: http://new-right.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-love-cameron-for-this-alone.html

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