The election is over:now will the fight to redeem Labour begin?

[Ken Burch]

Will the effort to restore Labour as a fighting party of working people now commence?

Will Blair be allowed to stay on much longer, or will Labour finally give him the boot?

Is it certain that he'll be succeeded by Gordon Brown(who was Blair's partner in the "New Labour" project before the two fell out)or is it possible that other candidates could emerge?

Will the power of Labour's activists be restored anytime soon, or will the party remain under the heel of elite technocratic strategists and at the mercy of focus groups?

And will Jeeves get Bertie out of trouble yet again?

[D-Notice]

1. Answers

1. No, if the elction of Ann "Saddam has people-shredding machines" Clwyd is anything to go by.

2. Yes, until the Labour MPs are told to choose someone else

3. Probably. Who else gets the support of the left-wing backbenchers?

4. No - Alistair Campbell will remain in charge

5. Dunno

[T_i_B]

2. Blair has said before...

...that he will move aside during this parliament. It's a question of when really. Some people thought that he would hold a referendum on the EU constitution and resign when the inevitable "No" vote is announced but it appears that this referendum may not happen at all if France and the Netherlands vote no.

And as to Blair's successor, well many if not most people see Gordon Brown as the only plausable person to succeed Blair as PM.

[Vladimir]

3. Is Labour reedemable? I doubt it very much...

To your questions:

1) I don't think so, but if the campaign group and/or "Brownites" have a spine between them now is the time to show us.

2) Depends on Euro referedum methinks, but I can't really see Labour spilling Tony's blood over much in the Queen's speeech - they campaigned on that manifesto after all.

3) Sure its possible: Blunkett is a possibility, the campaign group have said there will be a left challenge, Prezza may even stand. The frontrunner always faces problems in this sort of situation, because almost the only way they can go is down.

4) What activists? The first thing Labour has to do is get some activists back, since most of the really good ones refused to campaign this time around (or indeed left the party) on account of the Iraq War. Maybe its a regional thing, but the Labour Party activists I met here in Oxford (and I am not saying that's all of them) are apparatchiks.

5) LOL