A party of cowards

How to describe yesterday.  It was fun, it was gripping, it was absorbing, it was unpredictable.  There will probably never be another election day like it.  One event spoilt it.  No, it wasn't the appointment of Glenys Kinnock, although I did wonder if Brown had already told her when when he made the panic announcement.  You have guessed it, what spoilt it was Brown’s press conference.  Not so much that he gave it, but the fact he lied about wanting to move Darling.  It was shameful.  The day had turned full circle and Brown’s reputation was back where it was 24 hours before.  Caroline Flint’s hissy fit was the icing on the cake.

The Labour party still doesn't get it.  It has a leader without credibility and authority (further demonstrated by his reshuffle) who will do anything to undermine the members of his party no matter if they are friend or foe.  This even extends to HMQ.

From where we stand this morning there is a likelihood that Brown will limp on.  He and Mandy are now bullying the party that if Brown was overthrown there would be a messy leadership election and an immediate election.  What rot.  There is mechanism for a bloodless coup.  All a new leader would have to say once elected is an election would be held in three to four months and name the day.

Labour MPs may not want an early election for reasons of self-preservation, but they also have a duty to their party.  If the local elections results are any judge, Labour is being destroyed at a local level, which will take years to rebuild. Limping on with Brown means electoral oblivion.  Replacing Brown gives them a chance to narrow the Tory lead.

The weekend will be full of rumours and likely plots.  What the Labour party has got to do on Monday is act.  If the complicit Cabinet will not do the deed then MPs should rise to the occasion.  What do they have to lose?  Many are not standing at the next election.  They may be hanging on for a redundancy package they may never get if the rules are changed by Spring 2010 as surely they must.

Blair once described Major as weak, weak weak.  Today it is the Labour party that is weak and full of cowards.  They can’t even organise a coup without cocking the whole thing up.

What Labour MPs have to ask themselves this weekend is do the they carry on with a failed leader who has no credibility or authority and who the country has stopped listening to.  You only had to watch his pleading for time at the press conference to appreciate Brown’s desperation.

Let us hope Labour MPs have the courage to act early next week.  The country deserves a credible leader until such a time when we can all pass judgement at a general election.

The country also deserves to represented by HMQ today at the D-day commemorations rather than by a self-serving failed prime minister.