Hazel Blears' resignation leaves Gordon Brown's premiership in crisis
Communities secretary's surprise announcement emboldens Labour rebels collecting signatures for letter calling for PM to resign
Hazel Blears, who today became the fourth member of the government to declare they no longer want to serve under Gordon Brown. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Gordon Brown was fighting to save his premiership today after Hazel Blears emboldened Labour MPs demanding a leadership election with a resignation statement timed to inflict maximum damage on the prime minister.
Blears made her surprise announcement this morning – 90 minutes before prime minister's questions and only a day before the local and European elections – and she explained her decision in a statement virtually accusing Brown of being out of touch with the British people and their values.
Her departure will encourage Labour rebels who had already started collecting signatures for a round-robin letter calling for Brown to resign.The Guardian revealed today that some rebels believe they can persuade up to 80 MPs to sign the demand, which is crucial because 70 – or 20% of the parliamentary party – is the threshold needed to trigger a leadership election.
Labour's opinion poll ratings have recently hit a record low and the party is braced for disaster in tomorrow's elections. Brown was already planning a reshuffle, and now his hopes of survival could depend on his using the unveiling of a new team as an opportunity to stifle dissent.
Blears is the second cabinet minister in 24 hours – and the fourth member of the government in total – to declare they no longer want to serve under Brown. Her move suggests she is confident his leadership is plummeting.
2 comments:
What is the matter with the Liberal Democrats?
Did you see this James?
ctvmontreal.ca
MONTREAL -- Former federal Liberal executive Benoit Corbeil is the first political figure to plead guilty in the federal sponsorship scandal and he's suggesting he might name other figures involved in his influence-peddling plot.
Corbeil entered pleas to fraud and influence peddling during an appearance Wednesday morning at the Montreal courthouse. A third charge of conspiracy was stayed.
The influence peddling happened while Corbeil was a Liberal organizer in 1997 and he engaged in fraud while serving as director of the Liberal party's Quebec wing in 2000.
Blowing the whistle?
A judge ordered a pre-sentencing report for early September. The Crown wants Corbeil to do jail time but Corbeil's lawyer says he should stay out of jail because he never made a penny from the fraudulent transactions.
However, Corbeil says he will reveal who profited from the scam, suggesting more names will come out in connection with the scandal that helped to bring down Paul Martin's minority Liberal government in 2006.
Two separate scams
In 1997, Corbeil took a $50,000 Liberal donation from a businessman south of Montreal on a promise to clear up red tape in a complicated land deal. The businessman had wanted to expand a quarry in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
The fraud charge stems from Corbeil signing for Liberal bills that he knew were fake and then funneling $117,000 to companies owned by the late Joe Morselli, a onetime Liberal organizer. Corbeil was arrested and charged in April of last year.
A public inquiry found the sponsorship program gave $150 million to Liberal-friendly ad agencies in Quebec for little or no work while the Grits were in power.
Several guilty pleas
Several ad executives at the centre of the scandal have already pleaded guilty including Groupaction president Jean Brault, who conspired with the head of the sponsorship program to inflate contracts and pocket the difference.
The bureaucrat, Chuck Guite, has also pleaded guilty in the case.
Brault also blew the lid off of a wider conspiracy, admitting to skimming money off the top of the federal program to funnel to the Liberal party's Quebec wing in exchange for sponsorship contracts.
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