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Meaning what? That we should have a General Election? Not part of our "deomocracy". We have a party political system not a presidential one - therefore we don't elect a Prime Minister we vote for individual MPs who may/may not represent a political party.
Added to that is there is no requirement for the Queen to ask the leader, of the party with the most seats, to form the Govt...
I think we should have to right to at least vote on people from the elected party to rule. Like a public choice of labour candidates.
Christ dude, how much time do you want to spend voting?
I don't know how Gordon Brown will be. All I know is, he can't run the Government the same way he ran the Treasury. He can't control everything in government, no matter how hard he tries. I've found his reshuffle to be encouraging, and am glad that he forced out Patricia Hewitt. However, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. I'll come back to this question in a couple of months. If there's still no sign of improvement, his hopes of winning any General Election will be toast.
The man had been PM for over ten years. He won three straight elections, he is the first Labour leader to ever have been returned to office.
Right or wrong policy, for those achievements alone he deserved the ovation.
The standing ovation in the commons was no way stage-managed. Nobody in the commons was forced to stand, however 99% of people beleived he deserved a standing ovation and done so because they felt he deserved it.
Keeping in mind all Blair's faults and whatever you dislike about him, as MoK said, he was the most sucessful Labour Leader ever, and someone the Tories just couldn't beat.
I think it was very sensible of the tories to give Tony Blair a standing ovation, after 10 years in opposition, and four leaders later,they know better than anyone what a clever politican Tony Blair is.
:thumb:
Blair didn't get booted out, he left on his own accord. Of course there was pressure on him but he didn't suffer nearly as much revolt among the back benchers and cabinet alike as Thatcher did.
Three successive elections, again how many others have done the same?
Given that she was stabbed in the back by her own party and was forced to leave, rather than going of her own accord, they departures are hardly comparable.
NB Last standing ovation was for John Wakeham, do you know what he had done...?
As a guess was it when he returned to the Chamber after being seriously injured in the IRA bomb at Brighton?
Yep, he got an ovation for not dying in a bomb blast and returning to work.
Blair runs the country for ten years and SG thinks it's a little OT for parliament to recognise that...
Dude, you really must live in some kind of bubble.
In huge swathes the answer is yes.
But he won three elections (and won them well), avoided any disasters with the economy, he's made some pretty fundamental constituional changes (and we won't know for years the impact that will have), done more for Africa than most PMs, was instrumental in stopping killing in Kosovo before it got to genocidal proportions.
Time will tell how history judges him, but my guess is that it will be a balanced judgement. If he's not a Churchill he's not going to be a Marquess of Bute either.
yeah man it is a better country, hell we aint dead,
:yes:
without doubt the country is much better off than 10 years ago.
(2) Gordon Brown's decision to give independence to the Bank of England to set its own interest rates is the biggest factor of all here. All credit to him for that. Just about everything else with the economy is pretty much outside the Government's control.
(3) Yep. And all of this without bothering to consult anyone first. Typical of the man.
(4) Really? Why is the genocidal maniac Robert Mugabe still in charge of Zimbabwe? If Blair gave two hoots about Africa, he would have deposed him a long time ago. But of course, there's no oil in Zimbabwe, is there?
(5) The only one in the list which I give huge credit to Blair. One of few times when he showed true leadership and courage, whilst most of the world just sat on its hands.
*yawn* He's the first Labout leader to have ever done that, he's the first to maintain economic stability and show that Labour can be "trusted" with the economy. He chose to go and wasn't outsed etc. We've had this discussion.
Remind me, who was PM? Who sets the policy? Who has ultimate say?
Failed to consult? Perhaps you weren't old enough to read the 97 manifesto. He actually didn't go as far as he promised.
Interesting response. So he should invade, but in a situation when he did - a deposed a despot - it was wrong?
Forgetting Ireland, minimum wage, more university places, more graduates, no 36 hour waits in A&E, I could go on...
Of course, no one (except SG) is suggesting there hasnt been improvements, but at what cost? The PFI is running at about £100bn worth of debt, our civil liberties continue to be erroded, social mobility has ground to a halt...