10:04pm Saturday 6th February 2010
By Chandni Dhanak
Challenge to Gordon Brown’s leadership, a storm in a teacup, a storm nonetheless.
As the dust settles after the fleeting political storm caused by senior Labour backbencher’s Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt on the 6th January 2010; the power of hindsight reveals that the secret ballot plot may not have been a total failure after all.
For Hoon and Hewitt it was time to ‘sort the matter out once and of all,’ especially after Hoon claimed a number of unhappy MPs had approached him on the question of Brown’s weak leadership.
Overshadowed by haste, no forecast into the damage by the two has dented the party image and put serious doubt into public minds as to the creditability of Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party and of the country. A sore reality falling public opinion polls indicate as Labour increasingly lags behind a united Conservative Party. Even the handful of MPs who have declared their allegiance to Gordon Brown as the ‘right man for the job’ have come under attack from critics. The Milliband brothers in particular; while David Milliband has been questioned for his weak show of lukewarm support, Ed Milliband has been criticised for his more stronger display; a move critics believe to expose himself as a credible candidate for the leadership position. The picture in any case for the Labour Party is grim. Had the coup succeeded and a new leader been declared the impact would have been detrimental. However, though the plot failed in essence, Gordon Brown and the Party are a reflection of weakness months before the general election.
Thus, ‘the storm in a teacup’ fiasco that Brown so simply concluded the Hoon-Hewitt plot to be has been more significant than accounted for. The political drama may have been momentary but as the general election draws closer the storm was a storm nonetheless, repercussions and all.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/trade_directory/