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« on: May 17, 2007, 01:57:18 AM » |
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Brown confirmed as Labour leader
Philip Webster, Sam Coates and Fran Yeoman
May 17, 2007
GORDON Brown will become Britain's Labour leader without a contest, it was confirmed today. The man who has waited 13 years to wear the Labour crown achieved his goal in six days.
When the running list of MPs nominating candidates was updated at 6pm local time (4am AEST today), the Chancellor had 307 of Labour?s contingent of 353 MPs publicly supporting him.
The figure rose to the 308 he needed to avoid a contest when the office of Andrew Mackinlay, MP, said that he, too, would be nominating Mr Brown.
John McDonnell conceded defeat in the leadership race, saying that it was ?mathematically impossible? for him to gain the 45 nominations that he needed to go forward as a candidate. He had received nominations from 29 MPs.
Mr Brown will officially become Labour leader in waiting and prime minister in waiting when nominations close today.
The deputy contest seems likely to swell to six today. Five of the six contenders already have the 45 votes that entitle them to stand, and last night the sixth, Hilary Benn, had reached 42 votes.
Mr McDonnell expressed disappointment that Labour Party members would not have the chance to give their views in an election.
?Naturally I congratulate Gordon and wish him every success in government, but it is a great shame that Labour Party members will now not be allowed a vote on the leader of their party or the party?s future direction.? he said.
?I had hoped that by standing I would have given them a voice in this crucial decision.
?The demand from Labour Party members to debate the issues that confront our country will not go away and we will continue to campaign for a democratic say in that debate.?
Many of the MPs who did not cast their vote last night said that they were reluctant to give their backing to a Brown coronation, even though they said they would have voted for him in a contest.
Frank Field, the former Welfare Minister and a critic of Mr Brown, said: ?I?m not in the business of nominating for nominations? sake.?
Charles Clarke, who ruled himself out of the running in an interview in The Times, had also said that he would not be nominating Mr Brown even though he would vote for him.
The deputy contest will dominate the next few weeks. Jon Cruddas confirmed his presence on the ballot paper at 1pm, with the news that he had acquired 46 votes, up from 44 on Tuesday.
Alan Johnson, the frontrunner among MPs, had 70 nominations, increasing his lead over Harriet Harman to seven votes. Peter Hain had 53, up two, and Hazel Blears 49, up one.
Mr Cruddas said that he had earlier nominated Mr Brown after hearing him speak about his intentions.
?I wanted to listen to what Gordon has had to say and I?ve been impressed by his openness and his humility,? Mr Cruddas said.
?He has shown that he is prepared to listen to the party and the country. He is clearly the consensus choice and I am happy the party has been able to coalesce around him.
?I am particularly encouraged by his commitment to build new social housing, which I believe is the biggest issue facing people in the country."
The extent to which the Left is behind Mr Cruddas was high-lighted by research from Philip Cowley, of the University of Nottingham, showing that 85 per cent of MPs nominating him had voted against the Labour whip.
Almost half of the MPs supporting Peter Hain and Hilary Benn ? 48 per cent ? have rebelled against the Government in the Commons. In contrast, just 4 per cent of MPs behind Hazel Blears, the Blairite candidate, had done so.
Mr Cowley?s analysis showed more than half of those nominating both Ms Blears and Harriet Harman were women, compared with just 6 per cent of those backing Mr Benn.
Well there you have it. The next British Prime Minister; Scotsman Gordon Brown.
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