Jack Straw demoted as Blair

[malaise]

reshuffles following big licks in local government elections

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1768251,00.html

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/localelections2006/story/0,,1768386,00.html
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[leveymg]

1. Straw has been opposing Blair's line on Iran

Why is Blair still PM? What has gone so hideously wrong with the British Labour Party?

[SoftUnderbelly]

2. the labour party doesnt stand for anything any more

blair came to be leader of the labour party in '94. keeping in mind the thatcher legacy, blair saw the only way for labour to regain power was to abandon one of its guiding principles - clause 4 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clause_IV ). since then most labour mps have lost any sense of class or what labour stands (or stood) for. labour mps no longer come from working class backgrounds (miners, electricians, factory workers) and are lawyers and never done a days work in their lives. they are all chasing the mythical middle englander. tories are virtually indistinguishable from labour. labour has taken its working class vote for granted whilst moving to the right to capture tory voters.

even when blair has gone i cant imagine things changing that much. it needs to be down to grassroots constituency labour party members to ensure they select candidates with a spine and a set of beliefs and not these blairite clones.

[leveymg]

3. Hopefully, the DSM will do to Blair what the Plamegate is doing to Bush

Hopefully the next elections flush the neocons out of both systems for a while.

I know, I am terminally optimistic.

[myrna minx]

4. Welcome to DU, SoftUnderbelly.

:hi: I am so embarrassed that I was totally fooled by Blair. I really thought he was going to be a refreshing change for Brittan, but I was sadly mistaken. Where does Gordon Brown stand now? Is he still the heir apparent? I'm afraid that I haven't been following British politics as much as I use to.

[SoftUnderbelly]

5. thanks

brown is heir apparent, there really is no one else to take over. no one really knows for sure how big the rivalry is between blair and brown, but from the outside they look pretty bloody similar to me and dont expect any significant changes when (not if) brown takes over. im not sure when blair will go, but it will be before the next general election (which could be any time in the next 4 years!). i dont expect the parliamentary labour party to suddenly grow some balls and stand up to him before he chooses to leave...

[myrna minx]

6. Yeah...the key words are "when he *chooses* to leave"

and not because of a vote of no confidence. It is too bad that New Labour and the New Democrats in the USA are so far divorced from labor that it's almost Orwellian. I can't believe that Blair has been in power for nine years. It seems inconceivable. Nine years. Wow.