UK politics; Enlighten me

[Guest]

Sorry I've been away so long everyone.

Since I know there are brits here, maybe you can help me understand the news. I see that Blair is going to be stepping down, but all the brit news reports seem to assume the readers know what is going on.

For a dumb American, can someone please explain why he is leaving? (i.e. What's the whole situation in context)

[Road Runner]

Hello Grunyen,

I'll try and keep this as short as possible  -  but in so doing I know many will disagree with my version.

Tony Blair (Labour = sort of socialist but more like a left wing Democratic party) originally was elected with less than 40% of the total of registered voters.

This was mainly because of two factors.
Of the two other main parties one (Conservative = Republican) was unpopular having been in power for a long time and the the other (Liberal = sort of like your Democrats) is too small to get enough seats.  Also Tony Blair at that time was the only one of the three party leaders that seemed credible as Prime Minister.

The UK Labour party is usually split into about 3 factions.  The left - you would call them socialists.
The right  -  pretty close to the US Democrats and finally the bunch in the middle who will join up with which ever side looks like they will win.

Tony Blair is from the far right of the Labour spectrum maybe more to the right than most of your Republicans.
To become Labour party leader he had to negotiate the support of the left wing of the party and thus collect the middle on the way.
Part of the deal was that he got lumbered with John Prescot as Deputy Prime Minister -  a sort of non-job.
He also got Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer -  he runs the Treasury and will be Blair's replacement.

Although he is popular outside the UK  -  Blair has been unpopular with about 50% of the UK public for most of his term.
Most of the time he has been supported by the left wing of the party and the media  -  especially Rupert Murdoch who until about 3 years ago was giving Blair good press in his papers and on SKY TV.
Now the left has withdrawn its support and Murdoch and the rest of the media are giving Blair negative publicity.

There are lots of reasons for this.  The Iraq war is a major factor  -  it was not popular here before it started.
It is not the only factor though and there is too much to cover in a short post.  Also people here are looking for a change.

The left wing of the Labour party hope that by getting rid of Blair now and getting their own people in place they will be in a strong position for the next general elections.

RR.

[Snick]

I thought it had something to do with gay midget sex...or am I getting John Browne confused with Gordon Brown....as it seems you are too !!

[Road Runner]

Hello Snick,

I was going to write about John Brown - he was the Labour leader before Tony Blair but died prematurely of a heart attack.

I missed changing the name in the re-write - just edited it now

RR.

[Tomcat]

Blair has been discoverd to be another Champagne Socialist as are many of his co-horts like Lord Levy etc etc. He actually craves money and monied people and is a real hyprocrite....

The real people who need help in the UK are ignored but im not going into that here .. dont want to upset the liberals...

needless to say... good fucking riddance Blair

[allstar88]

blair has been pushed the same way thatcher was pushed out,labour are desperate to win back votes ,but at the next election it looks like the conservatives will win with cameron(lord snooty) who is a clone of blair.politics in the uk now is too middle ground there are no alternatives,only the far right bnp who are a bunch on racist nazis!!

[Snick]

I was referring to John Browne the head of BP who just resigned because he got outed (or somesuch)

[Torurot]

Also Blair has been PM for 10 years. Worn out, time for a change? There is no time limit on leaders [PM] like in the US [President].

[rob69in]

(allstar88 @ May 02 2007,17:33) ,.... no alternatives,only the far right bnp who are a bunch on racist nazis!!

They will be able to join the FemiNazi's & form a new party.

[rob69in]

(Tomcat @ May 02 2007,17:33) He actually craves money and monied people and is a real hyprocrite....

The real people who need help in the UK are ignored but im not going into that here .. dont want to upset the liberals...

needless to say... good fucking riddance Blair

Totally agree, i can't stand the bloke, he & his meddling weak party have taxed everyone to the hilt, wrecked everything they have interfered with & hold the population in complete contempt. The whole lot them need to go, not just Blair.

[Road Runner]

(Snick @ May 02 2007,09:34) I was referring to John Browne the head of BP who just resigned because he got outed (or somesuch)

I like John Browne - he has helped to make quite a lot of money for me and UK pension funds


What have you got against midgets? - are you gay!


RR.

[stogie bear]

I'm voting BNP by proxy and I'm not a Nazi.

BNP is the only party who has the bollocks to stand up for issues that I care about and they will get a huge chunk of votes as the main parties continue to allow foreign rapists and terrorists and crooks to set up shop and avoid prosecution, etc.

GO BNP!

[allstar88]

(stogie bear @ May 02 2007,17:53) I'm voting BNP by proxy and I'm not a Nazi.

BNP is the only party who has the bollocks to stand up for issues that I care about and they will get a huge chunk of votes as the main parties continue to allow foreign rapists and terrorists and crooks to set up shop and avoid prosecution, etc.

GO BNP!

if the bnp win will you return to uk stogie?

[Snick]

(Road Runner @ May 02 2007,17:50) What have you got against midgets? - are you gay!

You should be talking to Monkeyman about midgets, not me

[katoeylover]

Tony Blair, although not popular now, has actually been quite a good pm, and this from a Tory!. Yes they have taxed and overtaxed, but any government woiuld do this.

Investment in Public Services has gone up forom £330billion in 1997 to over £550 bn today. The inherited economy was strong and they have managed it well.

The problem with Blair is that his party do not believe that he is the vote winner despite winning three elections, and are forcing him out. They will get a short sharp shock when the new leader goes to the polls and they find themselves in opposition again.

But as Allstar points out, there really is little difference between labour and conservative now.

As to the British Nationalist Party - there is no answer. Just a bunch of hate induced racists trying to hide under some idea of decency.