Hazel Blears Quits British Cabinet

Britain must hold a general election no later than a year from today. Tomorrow, the nation will vote in local and European elections. Things don't look good for the ruling Labour government if the opinion polls are accurate. However, the resignation of communities secretary Hazel Blears from the cabinet earlier today has opened up the question of the party's future leadership. It may well be that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was right when he said, “Labour is finished.”

Ms. Blears is in some trouble over £13,000 in expenses she has had to repay. While she denied any wrong doing, Prime Minister Gordon Brown described her claims as “totally unacceptable.” A year ago, she was part of a cabal of 5 senior Labour politicians who threatened to resign to pressure Mr. Brown to step down. The threat never materialized, but Ms. Blears is an unreconstructed Blairite and is uncomfortable with Mr. Brown's leadership.

This resignation is one of four in the last 24 hours. Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, quit yesterday to try to save her Commons seat. Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, and Tom Watson, the Cabinet Office minister, also announced their intention to leave the Government yesterday. Insiders say that one more resignation might just force Mr. Brown to call an election. Rumors of a cabinet reshuffle next week still persist, but with Labour looking at a disaster in the local elections, he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Calling a general election after losing the locals would be awful for Labour. Finding cabinet ministers willing to serve after the coming loss is equally nasty.

The Guardian reports that a rebel bloc of Labour backbenchers is circulating a letter calling on the PM to resign himself. They expect to collect up to 80 signatures, almost a quarter of Labour's MPs. No hard copy of the letter exists, but “Instead of an actual letter, an email address is being handed out to which sympathetic MPs send an email that they support a single sentence statement that they would like Gordon Brown to stand down.” Welcome to the 21st Century.

The next week will be incredibly important to the survival of the Labour government, and right now, the smart money has to be moving away from Mr. Brown. The sad truth is he was a better Chancellor than he has been a Prime Minister. If he wants to spare the country and his party any further aggravation, he should seriously consider a September election. He would most certainly lose, but it is hard to see things improving for Labour in the autumn. What he can't do is hold his government together for another year. He shouldn't try.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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