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emad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-11-08 06:46 AM
Original message
Livingstone to oust Gordon Brown?
Edited on Sun May-11-08 06:47 AM by emad
Watch out for an opportunist by-election for Red Ken's return to the House of Commons followed by a challenge for the PM's job.....

Fanciful?

William Hill quoted odds of 7/1 yesterday.
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T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-11-08 06:52 AM
Response to Original message
1. Yes, fanciful.
Livingstone is no spring chicken himself and he still has quite a few enemies in the Labour party.

Which brings us back to the old problem that the Labour left appears to have little or no new champions in the parliamentary party. Livingstone isn't a fresh face by any stretch. It's one of the reasons why he lost.
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LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-11-08 11:34 AM
Response to Original message
2. Unlikely, though stranger things have happened
But I think that, if he were going to make a run for PM, he'd have done so already. And unfair as it may be, the fact that he's just suffered a high-profile defeat would probably go against him; after all, if Brown does get ousted, it would be because Labour think he's likely to lose the next election and would want someone who looks like an election-winner. And no, I can't think at the moment of who that could be.
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-11-08 12:00 PM
Response to Original message
3. Meh - not even mentioned in their list of 'next Labour leader'
Edited on Sun May-11-08 12:00 PM by muriel_volestrangler
From 10th May:

WILLIAM HILL: NEXT LABOUR LEADER ODDS: 5/2 D MILIBAND, 5/1 E BALLS, 6/1 J STRAW, 7/1 A JOHNSON, 10/1 J PURNELL 14/1 A BURNHAM, 14/1 J DENHAM, 16/1 D ALEXANDER, 16/1 E MILIBAND, 16/1 H BENN, 16/1 Y COOPER, 20/1 H HARMAN, 25/1 C FLINT, 25,/1 D BROWNE, 25/1 R KELLY, 33/1 A MILBURN, 33/1 C CLARKE, 33/1 J SMITH, 50/1 A DARLING.

http://www.williamhillmedia.com/index_template.asp?file=10031


And from 4th May:

Brown 6/5 Not To Lead Labour Into Next General Election

William Hill are now just 6/5 that Gordon Brown will not be the Labour leader at the start of the next General Election and offer 8/13 that he is leader. "The news just gets worse for Gordon Brown. When he took over we were 20/1 that he would not lead Labour into the next Election, a price that has plummeted all the way to 6/5. David Miliband is the favourite to take over from Gordon but there is a fair amount of smart money that Jack Straw will be the next leader on the assumption that Labour will struggle the next time they go to the country," said Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.
...
WILLIAM HILL: NEXT LABOUR LEADER ODDS:
2/1 D MILIBAND, 5/1 E BALLS, 7/1 A JOHNSON, 10/1 J PURNELL, 10/1 J STRAW, 14/1 A BURNHAM, 14/1 J DENHAM, 16/1 D ALEXANDER, 16/1 E MILIBAND, 16/1 H BENN, 16/1 Y COOPER, 20/1 H HARMAN, 25/1 C FLINT, 25/1 D BROWNE, 25/1 R KELLY, 33/1 A MILBURN, 33/1 C CLARKE, 33/1 J SMITH, 50/1 A DARLING.
...
Ken Livingstone to be prosecuted for failing to pay the congestion charge in 2008 - 66/1
...
Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone to both be contestants on the next series of Celebrity apprentice - 50/1
Ken Livingstone to get a full time job as a bendy bus driver - 200/1
...
http://www.williamhillmedia.com/index_template.asp?file=9999

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non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-11-08 03:03 PM
Response to Original message
4. Not a snowball's chance in hell.
The Skin
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emad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-12-08 04:28 PM
Response to Original message
5. 7/1 odds for £100 bet at William Hill Mayfair branch, 48-50 Shepherd Market,
London W1.
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Traps Donating Member (122 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-13-08 12:53 AM
Response to Original message
6. Horrible!
What Labour needs is someone the punters can identify with - leave Ken to his gardening :

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/traps/2008/05/12/gordon-brown-and-the-labour-of-love/
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non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-15-08 10:04 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Just what we need. Another Boris Johnson fan.
(sigh)

The Skin
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LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-15-08 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. Interesting article, but I disagree,
We have already had the person who was elected with few specific policies, but the ability to 'fake warmth and sincerity'. That was Tony Blair. He brought his country and party to near-disaster; or perhaps we could leave out the 'near'.

Gordon Brown seemed for a while to be someone who, though almost as right-wing as Tony, was at least less of a spinner and more competent and attentive to detail. Unfortunately, his reputation for competence has been tarnished by some recent episodes; and he has pursued some very unpopular policies.

But I don't think that going back to Blairite spin and posturing is the solution.
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non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-15-08 05:37 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Exactly.
And I don't think that linking Johnson and Obama together makes a lot of political sense either.

If there was ever a man who was all style and no substance, it's Johnson. I have no illusions about Obama but I think there's more to him than just razzmatazz.

The Skin
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T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-16-08 02:59 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. "Style" is the totally wrong word for Boris
You could however say that he has "likeability".

However, there are other reasons then personality as to why Boris won (could it have happened without the Evening Standard's daily anti-Ken gumph for instance?) And therein lies the main thing, Policy. The abolition of the 10p tax rate has been a far bigger vote-loser then Brown's personality. And that's what IMHO the government needs to look at, improving it's policies.
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non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-16-08 11:44 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. I could say he has likeability ...
... but I don't.

The Skin
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