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David Milliband to PM on Monday 10th May 2010
- Thread starter Harty
- Start date
clippedgull
Hotdogs, extra onions
I believe Clegg will work with Brown if push comes to shove.
BUTTERBALL
East Stand Brighton Boyz
Milliband is odd's on to be the next Labour leader for sure but I still think Clegg might work with Brown. Let's get Cable in as chancellor!
Conkers
Well-known member
Funny you should mention that. I was looking on Betfair and he was 10/1 (Cameron being the obvious favourite).
Anything seems possible with this election... including Labour having the lowest % vote of the three main parties, but retaining the most seats, and Gordon Brown clinging on as PM bolstered by Clegg and Cable in his cabinet.
The worst of both worlds... but at least it would put an end to Labour's 'support' for alternative voting systems
The worst of both worlds... but at least it would put an end to Labour's 'support' for alternative voting systems
So lets get this straight-
Labour and the Liberal Democrats form a coalition straight away after the election. Plausible. Nick Clegg says you must sack Gordon Brown and install David Milliband (Blairite) straight away without a leadership vote and straight after the country has voted the Conservatives as the most popular party. Errr rather unlikely......
Lord Bracknell
On fire
The Leader of the Labour Party is a different position from the Prime Minister.
I'm absolutely certain that the Labour Party has a spin doctor who is capable of selling this message to party members and a waiting nation. David Miliband, Ed Miliband, the Steve Miller Band, or anyone else can be PM and Gordon Brown can carry on as party leader. "We're doing this in the national interest, folks".
I'm absolutely certain that the Labour Party has a spin doctor who is capable of selling this message to party members and a waiting nation. David Miliband, Ed Miliband, the Steve Miller Band, or anyone else can be PM and Gordon Brown can carry on as party leader. "We're doing this in the national interest, folks".
Two Professors
Two Mad Professors
Even Miliband the embryo would be better than Broon 
simonsimon
New member
- Dec 31, 2004
- 692
Alan Johnson would be the choice of the Party Members?
Don Quixote
Well-known member
- Nov 4, 2008
- 8,362
The thing is they are the same thing! It would be impossible to have the leader different from the PM. That would be mental. It would mean the leader would have more power within the party than the prime minister. It would be so crazy it would never happen.
Don Quixote
Well-known member
- Nov 4, 2008
- 8,362
No way! It would be Dave or Ed deffo not Johnson.
BensGrandad
New member
Lets hope that it doesnt come to this as the Lib Dem have always been undecided about their aims and intentions so hopefully one party or another will have sufficent seats as to not need these middle of the road no hopers to have any say.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 35,826
clegg is closer to cameron than brown, ideologically.
West Hoathly Seagull
Honorary Ruffian
That is absolutely true, but the spin doctors aren't necessary. Legally the Queen can choose anyone to be PM, but in practice will choose the person in the strongest position to form a Government. This has always been the leader of the winning party in a General Election, but if, say, the Lib Dems publically say they will back a Miliband/Johnson/whoever-lead Government but not a Brown-lead one then Brown will not be asked to be PM.
He can however continue in the figuehead role of leader of the labour party. In reality he will resign, write his life story, and earn millions from company directorships and after-dinner speaking.
Last edited:
Half Time Pies
Well-known member
I really don't know how you have come to this conclusion? The Lib Dems are the only party who are willing to adopt a position on many of the key issues. The other two parties have adopted policies which appeal to either the swing voters in key marginals or their main party funders.
The Lib Dems are the only ones advocating real change to the political system, are prepared to sort out the banking system, have a clear pro EU policy but will commit to a referendum and will move the tax burden from the poorest sections of society to the richest. Hardly middle of the road.
Goldstone Rapper
Rediffusion PlayerofYear
It has happened before. Ramsey McDonald's National Government.
Hunting 784561
New member
- Jul 8, 2003
- 3,651
Clegg - I will not prop up Brown
Nick Clegg: I will not prop up Gordon Brown - Times Online
NICK CLEGG has declared that he will refuse to prop up an “irrelevant” Gordon Brown even if Labour secures the largest number of seats in a hung parliament.
The Liberal Democrat leader is ready to tear up the rulebook and oust the prime minister if there is no decisive result on May 6. In a Sunday Times interview he warned that Brown’s position would be untenable if Labour got a low share of the popular vote but still ended up as the biggest party in the Commons.
“I think it’s a complete nonsense. I mean, how on earth? You can’t have Gordon Brown squatting in No 10 just because of the irrational idiosyncrasies of our electoral system,” Clegg said.
The latest YouGov poll for The Sunday Times last night put the Lib Dems in second place, on 28%, with the Conservatives on 35% and Labour trailing in third place on 27%. This would make the Conservatives the largest party in a hung parliament, with 285 seats, while Labour would have 243 and the Lib Dems would have 90. A separate poll conducted in marginal constituencies confirmed that Britain was on course for a hung parliament.
Related Links
Nick Clegg: The interview
Dangers lurk behind Lib Dem charm
Clegg ahead ... but he’s beginning to grate
Clegg said the election was now effectively a two-horse race between the Tories and the Lib Dems. “Labour is increasingly irrelevant. The question now [about what would happen] is one in which the Labour party plays no role,” he said.
Senior Lib Dem sources have revealed that if the party secures a high share of the vote in the election, it will demand equal status in any coalition. Regardless of the number of seats it wins, it will open negotiations with a demand for half the seats in cabinet. “If more and more people support the Liberal Democrats, clearly that gives us a really powerful legitimacy to push for the things we want,” Clegg said.
As Labour tried to revitalise its flagging campaign with a new strategy involving the prime minister meeting more members of the public, disillusioned cabinet ministers began plotting to find some way of salvaging the possibility of a deal with Clegg.
Yesterday there was mounting evidence that senior Labour figures are ready to force Brown to quit immediately after the election in the hope of securing a pact with the Lib Dems.
One pointed to an obscure clause in Labour’s rulebook which states that if the sitting prime minister becomes “permanently unavailable” for any reason, the cabinet has the power to appoint a temporary successor. This “interim prime minister” could lead for several weeks until a permanent replacement is elected by the party. Alan Johnson, the home secretary, is regarded as the favourite for this post, although Harriet Harman, the deputy leader, would also be keen to assume the role.
However, with the Tories rallying in the polls, it now appears more likely that Clegg’s party will help to prop up a minority Conservative government.
In the Sunday Times interview, the Lib Dem leader revealed that he would support the Tories if they won the largest number of seats and largest share of the votes. This would defy the constitutional convention which would give Brown first call on attempting to form a government.
“I tie my hands in the following sense: that the party that has more votes and seats, but doesn’t get an absolute majority — I support them,” Clegg said.
The biggest sticking point in any deal with the Conservatives will be electoral reform. Cameron yesterday refused to rule out discussing voting reform with the Lib Dems. The Tory leader is deeply resistant to changing the system, fearing proportional representation could prevent his party from ever again winning an outright majority ever again.
Clegg made it clear that a shake-up of the voting system remained a top priority — saying Cameron would be making a “massive strategic error” if he insisted on defending the “clapped-out political system”.
“If they want to position themselves as a roadblock to political reform, that’s their choice. They would be condemning themselves to a cul-de-sac, of defending the past, the indefensible, rather than moving with the demand from millions of people to do something different in politics,” Clegg said.
Senior Tory insiders say that if Cameron is in a strong position in a hung parliament on May 7, he will ask Clegg to support him on a “confidence and supply” basis — meaning the Lib Dems would back his Queen’s speech and support him in votes of confidence, but retain their independence to vote against legislation.
If Cameron is in a weak negotiating position, however, there are signs that he could give some ground on changing the electoral system, possibly by supporting a referendum on a version of electoral reform known as the alternative vote.
In an interview yesterday, the Conservative leader refused categorically to rule out negotiations with the Lib Dems on voting reform.
However, he said: “I want us to keep the current system that enables you to throw a government out of office.”
In a new policy designed to show he is willing to make some reforms to the political system, the Tory leader yesterday announced that a future Conservative government would ensure that all prime ministers have to be elected. Under his plan, if the ruling party changed leader mid-term, a general election would have to be called within six months.
Nick Bourne, the Conservative leader in the Welsh assembly, broke ranks with party policy, saying proportional representation should be considered as part of any deal with the Lib Dems. “We have had coalition politics in Wales and an element of PR,” he said.
“We have done well out of it. It would be unwise to ignore the electorate.”
Nick Clegg: I will not prop up Gordon Brown - Times Online
NICK CLEGG has declared that he will refuse to prop up an “irrelevant” Gordon Brown even if Labour secures the largest number of seats in a hung parliament.
The Liberal Democrat leader is ready to tear up the rulebook and oust the prime minister if there is no decisive result on May 6. In a Sunday Times interview he warned that Brown’s position would be untenable if Labour got a low share of the popular vote but still ended up as the biggest party in the Commons.
“I think it’s a complete nonsense. I mean, how on earth? You can’t have Gordon Brown squatting in No 10 just because of the irrational idiosyncrasies of our electoral system,” Clegg said.
The latest YouGov poll for The Sunday Times last night put the Lib Dems in second place, on 28%, with the Conservatives on 35% and Labour trailing in third place on 27%. This would make the Conservatives the largest party in a hung parliament, with 285 seats, while Labour would have 243 and the Lib Dems would have 90. A separate poll conducted in marginal constituencies confirmed that Britain was on course for a hung parliament.
Related Links
Nick Clegg: The interview
Dangers lurk behind Lib Dem charm
Clegg ahead ... but he’s beginning to grate
Clegg said the election was now effectively a two-horse race between the Tories and the Lib Dems. “Labour is increasingly irrelevant. The question now [about what would happen] is one in which the Labour party plays no role,” he said.
Senior Lib Dem sources have revealed that if the party secures a high share of the vote in the election, it will demand equal status in any coalition. Regardless of the number of seats it wins, it will open negotiations with a demand for half the seats in cabinet. “If more and more people support the Liberal Democrats, clearly that gives us a really powerful legitimacy to push for the things we want,” Clegg said.
As Labour tried to revitalise its flagging campaign with a new strategy involving the prime minister meeting more members of the public, disillusioned cabinet ministers began plotting to find some way of salvaging the possibility of a deal with Clegg.
Yesterday there was mounting evidence that senior Labour figures are ready to force Brown to quit immediately after the election in the hope of securing a pact with the Lib Dems.
One pointed to an obscure clause in Labour’s rulebook which states that if the sitting prime minister becomes “permanently unavailable” for any reason, the cabinet has the power to appoint a temporary successor. This “interim prime minister” could lead for several weeks until a permanent replacement is elected by the party. Alan Johnson, the home secretary, is regarded as the favourite for this post, although Harriet Harman, the deputy leader, would also be keen to assume the role.
However, with the Tories rallying in the polls, it now appears more likely that Clegg’s party will help to prop up a minority Conservative government.
In the Sunday Times interview, the Lib Dem leader revealed that he would support the Tories if they won the largest number of seats and largest share of the votes. This would defy the constitutional convention which would give Brown first call on attempting to form a government.
“I tie my hands in the following sense: that the party that has more votes and seats, but doesn’t get an absolute majority — I support them,” Clegg said.
The biggest sticking point in any deal with the Conservatives will be electoral reform. Cameron yesterday refused to rule out discussing voting reform with the Lib Dems. The Tory leader is deeply resistant to changing the system, fearing proportional representation could prevent his party from ever again winning an outright majority ever again.
Clegg made it clear that a shake-up of the voting system remained a top priority — saying Cameron would be making a “massive strategic error” if he insisted on defending the “clapped-out political system”.
“If they want to position themselves as a roadblock to political reform, that’s their choice. They would be condemning themselves to a cul-de-sac, of defending the past, the indefensible, rather than moving with the demand from millions of people to do something different in politics,” Clegg said.
Senior Tory insiders say that if Cameron is in a strong position in a hung parliament on May 7, he will ask Clegg to support him on a “confidence and supply” basis — meaning the Lib Dems would back his Queen’s speech and support him in votes of confidence, but retain their independence to vote against legislation.
If Cameron is in a weak negotiating position, however, there are signs that he could give some ground on changing the electoral system, possibly by supporting a referendum on a version of electoral reform known as the alternative vote.
In an interview yesterday, the Conservative leader refused categorically to rule out negotiations with the Lib Dems on voting reform.
However, he said: “I want us to keep the current system that enables you to throw a government out of office.”
In a new policy designed to show he is willing to make some reforms to the political system, the Tory leader yesterday announced that a future Conservative government would ensure that all prime ministers have to be elected. Under his plan, if the ruling party changed leader mid-term, a general election would have to be called within six months.
Nick Bourne, the Conservative leader in the Welsh assembly, broke ranks with party policy, saying proportional representation should be considered as part of any deal with the Lib Dems. “We have had coalition politics in Wales and an element of PR,” he said.
“We have done well out of it. It would be unwise to ignore the electorate.”