Britannia Radio

This morning's astonishing statement by Gordon Brown takes the 
biscuit!  We have effectively no government at all,  for nobody will 
take responsibility for anything,  and all expect a reshuffle after 
the June 4 polls.  There is paralysis on the economic front and and 
as our European partners expect his ultimate defeat they are taking 
no notice of him in Brussels.  The only logic is that he is trying to 
put off the poll until after Ireland votes thus causing trouble for 
Cameron over a Treaty referendum.

To let parliament - even under a new Speaker - fester on unpurged for 
another year is criminal vanity. An infection untreated gets worse 
and spreads.  He is trying to leave a wasteland behind him.

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Whoops! It has been pointed out that in my "McBride still at the 
heart of Labour" I wrote about Douglas Hogg's 'mote' .  Clearly 
Ashley is always in my mind but that should have, of course, been 
"Douglas Hogg is resigning after admitting that his claims were 
excessive but he is known for his moat!  The moat was a fiction but 
it makes a very good photograph."
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BBC NEWS 19.5.09 at 18:24n UK
Cameron: We need a new parliament as well as a new Speaker

. David Cameron MP, Leader of the Opposition
. BBC News, Sky News

Mr Cameron said that the resignation of Michael Martin and the 
reforms announced by the Prime Minister were not enough to assuage 
public anger of the expenses scandal, and called for a general election.

"If we're going to actually allow the public to express their anger 
about politics and politicians and parliament they want to do that in 
a general election. That's what needs to happen now," he said

"We can have all the change in the rules, all the money paid back in 
the world but the public want to say who represents them in 
parliament. They want a new parliament with a new Speaker"
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CONSERVATIVE HOME Blog 19.5.09
Editorial
Cameron should move a motion of no confidence in Labour
At the moment there is a danger that politics will be seen as a 
choice between the established parties (mired in sleazy expense 
claims) versus protest parties (who pretend they are whiter than white):

That's not good news for the Conservatives.  It's vital that we 
address expenses-gate  but in terms of electoral advantage the most 
important thing is that we frame the next election as a choice 
between Labour and us:

I think that was Cameron's intention yesterday with his call for a 
petition for an immediate General Election but a better device would 
be a motion of no confidence in the Government (as proposed by 
Benedict Brogan).

Cameron would undoubtedly out class Brown and over two or three days 
of high drama (announcement, actual debate, reflection) it would re-
focus the public's attention on Labour's failures on the economy, 
immigration, crime and social justice.  When the Commons returns from 
yet another break David Cameron should move that motion.
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EVENING STANDARD 20.5.09
Blog by Paul Waugh
Gordon rules out snap general election
Gordon Brown has just given a market-moving interview with GMTV.

For some reason, attention has focused on Gordon Brown's pledge to 
clean up Parliament, but by far and away the best story from his sofa-
side chat is him ruling out a snap general election.

Brown rejected calls from the Tories - and some Labour MPs - for an 
immediate general election. But it is his phraseology and reasoning - 
that to have a poll would cause "chaos" - that will have many rolling 
in the aisles. 'How could our politics be embroiled in more chaos 
than it is at present?' some may ask. It seems Brown's strategy is to 
present himself as the Father of the Nation again, just as he did 
during the crises over flooding and foot and mouth early in his reign 
and during the Lehman Brothers collapse last autumn.

Here's his words:
"Do you really want to see tomorrow in the midst of the recession, 
while the government is dealing with this, the chaos of an election? 
What you actually want is to get on with the job of sorting out the 
problem.
"The problem is high unemployment, that we are dealing with, mortgage 
problems that people have that we are dealing with, small businesses 
in difficulty that we are dealing with. There will be an appropriate 
time to have an election but at the moment people want us to get on 
with the job."
"Most of my job is to get on with getting this economy back to work, 
making sure we can come through this recession."

The Prime Minister admitted he was "appalled" by the scandal but 
insisted he was unaware of what had been happening.  He even pointed 
to the recent figures showing repossessions had not risen as much as 
some feared.

It could be his only hope of avoiding election defeat - look like you 
are cleaning up politics while getting the economy back on its feet.