Click here to read full
poll results
As sackings go, it was pretty unorthodox, but then Siobhain McDonagh’s call
for Gordon Brown to face a leadership contest was no ordinary act of
political rebellion.
It was shortly before 7pm on Friday when McDonagh, hitherto a serial loyalist
who had never revolted in 11 years as an MP, learnt that she had been
dismissed from her job as a government whip.
There was none of the usual choreographed exchange of letters. “The lady from
Channel 4 told me I was sacked when I was due to do an interview with them,”
McDonagh said yesterday.
Her crime had been to pen a letter to Labour’s general secretary, Ray Collins,
asking for nomination papers to be sent to the party’s MPs, triggering the
first stage in a leadership challenge to the prime minister.
“It is a brutal game,” she said. “But when I sent the letter I knew what the
possibilities might be.”
Yesterday she faced an emergency meeting of her local party in Mitcham and
Morden, south London. She was hailed not as a traitor but as a political
martyr. Some in the party are even comparing the devoutly Roman Catholic MP
to Joan of Arc, who was burnt at the stake for her beliefs. McDonagh was
characteristically modest. “I am not hearing voices,” she joked.
This weekend the names of the dozen or so other plotters against Brown began
to emerge. And the sackings continued. Joan Ryan, the MP for Enfield North,
was relieved of her roles as a Labour vice-chairman and Brown’s envoy to
Cyprus after she called for the prime minister to face a formal vote. “We
need to have a leadership election to trigger a deep and far-reaching debate
and those people in our party who have something to offer and are capable of
leadership need to put themselves forward,” she said.
The letter writers are mainly former ministers who were loyal to Tony Blair.
Some have already voiced criticism of Brown, but others, like McDonagh, are
what MI5 might call “clean skins” – MPs with no record of attacking the
leadership.
Writing in The Sunday Times today, Barry Gardiner, Brown’s special envoy on
forestry and a former minister, said he had called for a leadership contest
because “the public has stopped listening to Gordon Brown” and he is “not a
popular prime minister”.
Fiona Mactaggart, a former home office minister, said she had applied for
nomination papers because the Labour party no longer had “a clear sense of
leadership and direction”. She said Labour lacked “a clear blueprint of
values and ambitions” and that it had become an object of pity among voters
who were “confused about what we stand for”.
Greg Pope, a former whip and MP for Hyndburn, admitted that he too had written
a letter demanding a vote. “We can’t go on like this pretending there isn’t
a problem,” he said. “The leadership is the only thing that is being
discussed by MPs. What we need to do is bring it into the open.”
The rumbles of discontent are sure to continue this week at Tuesday’s meeting
of Labour’s ruling national executive committee where, with Brown present,
the party’s grandees will discuss the crisis.
THE row hinges around arcane clauses in the Labour rule book. Under its
constitution, a candidate needs to be nominated by at least 71 MPs before a
leadership contest can begin. The rebels do not have that level of support
yet, but they hope to revive the old practice where nomination papers were
annually sent out to MPs and the leader was formally approved at conference.
At least then they will be able to keep the issue of Brown’s competence centre
stage at this year’s conference, which begins on Saturday in Manchester.
Is this really the beginning of the coup that will force the prime minister to
quit office? Or are we in fact witnessing, as No 10 argues, a final
desperate attempt to cause trouble by a small rump of malcontents?
This weekend’s political storm rose out of a clear blue sky. Following the
attack on Brown earlier this month by Charles Clarke, the former home
secretary, which failed to gather any public support, the received
Westminster wisdom had been that the much predicted September revolution had
been postponed. Brownites reflected with relief that nobody had the “bottle”
to come out and challenge the prime minister.
What few people knew was that 10 days ago McDonagh and other plotters had set
a political timebomb. The softly spoken MP, who says she is more interested
in parish pump crusades than plotting in the bars of Westminster, had not
been on the list of malcontent “usual suspects”.
Indeed, that is true of many of the rebels. Their disquiet and determination
to do something had apparently developed over the summer through phone
calls, private visits and on the summer parliamentary junkets. It was, they
say, an informal alliance, with various “cells” developing.
For many, it was a point of principle that caused them finally to act.
McDonagh explained yesterday how it was her battle to save a local hospital
that prompted her letter.
“I have been fighting to keep St Helier hospital open,” she said. “We finally
won it. But then I looked at the time line and thought, ‘If the Tories win
it may not happen. They will move things to where the well-off people live
in Surrey.’ ” McDonagh revealed she consulted her baroness sister Margaret
who was Tony Blair’s party general secretary between 1998 and 2001, about
party procedures. “I asked her about the rules, whether the way I read them
was right, and she said yes.”
With the format of rebellion set, the letter-writing took off. The sheer
number of MPs acting in concert means that No 10 will be looking for the
“big beast” behind the plot.
The trio of Blairite former cabinet ministers – Clarke, Stephen Byers and Alan
Milburn – who have been closely linked to the agitation against Brown are
understood to have been in the dark over McDonagh’s letter. However, it is
likely they will seek to capitalise on the chaos.
MPs claim that Charlie Falconer, Blair’s former lord chancellor, had used his
legal expertise to cast his eye over the leadership rules and spoken to the
rebels.
McDonagh dismisses claims that she was merely a puppet of a more powerful
Svengali. “I passionately believe a Labour government is needed and I want
it to be the best,” she said. “We are not here to earn a salary and have a
nice retirement pension.”
However, what is striking about the rebels is how many are close allies of
John Reid, the former home secretary who repeatedly clashed with Brown. Joan
Ryan was a junior minister under him at the Home Office. Waheed Alli, a
Labour peer who has reportedly been involved in the plotting, used to be an
adviser to Reid.
McDonagh said Reid was not aware of the letter she wrote, but she received a
telephone call from him after the news broke on Friday night. “He was
interested in how I was,” she said. “He knows how this works. He would just
think, ‘If she’s done it she’s done it and there’s nothing I can say.’ ”
The feeling among Labour MPs is that this plot is an attempt by the party’s
officer class to prod its generals into action. “This is throwing the ball
into the cabinet’s court,” said one. “If they’re so unhappy, they should do
something about it.”
Yesterday one minister said: “Joan and Siobhain have got the temperature of
the party. Clearly there are a lot of people who are extremely unhappy and
very anxious. I don’t think that there are many people who are relaxed about
the state of play as it stands at the moment. The question is just how many
people are prepared to do something about it.”
Another minister said: “MPs and cabinet members are all talking to each other
about this off the record and it’s right that it’s finally brought out into
the limelight. This matter has to come to a head. The public need to know
that all is not fine.”
EXACTLY how serious is this latest threat to Brown’s future? A No 10 source
was dismissive. “If this is what the plot amounts to – nine people writing
letters – then it all seems rather desperate,” he said.
“The Blairites have been talking up the idea of loads of ministers resigning.
But the best they can come up with is an assistant government whip.”
Brownite loyalists should not celebrate victory yet. Throughout yesterday more
and more MPs were added to the roll call of rebels, including 10 former
ministers, and they were becoming more vocal.
Eric Joyce, parliamentary private secretary to the business secretary, John
Hutton, said the prime minister had three weeks to prove himself. “It should
become clear in the next two or three weeks if [Brown] can turn things
around or if he is utterly incapable of it,” he said. “He needs to have a
bit of pizzazz at conference. Most members think we are in a pretty deep
hole.”
The prime minister should also remember that his predecessor was not forced to
quit by a leadership election, but rather by Brownites who confronted him
after meetings in an Indian restaurant. This is a far more open attack.
Brown had hoped to use Labour’s Manchester conference to lay out a grand
vision of Britain for the next two years and beyond. Now it is simply going
to be about the bare-knuckle battle for survival.
Additional reporting: Chris Gourlay
Labour 19 points behind
There is no solace for Gordon Brown in the latest YouGov poll for The Sunday
Times, which shows his economic package has failed to prevent deepening
gloom. The poll of more than 2,000 people gives the Conservatives 46%, up
one on last month, and Labour 27%, up two. The Liberal Democrats are down
two on 16%. The 19-point Tory lead compares with 20 last month and has
barely shifted since May.
Only 20% think Brown is doing well as prime minister, compared with 73% who
say he is doing badly. His negative rating of 53% compares with Cameron’s
positive rating of 27%. Asked about the economy, 82% said it was “quite bad”
or “very bad” and 76% said it would either not grow or go into recession
over the next 12 months.
YouGov asked about Tory hints of public spending cuts to make room for lower
taxes. The policy appears popular, with 28% saying they would be more likely
to vote Conservative, and only 7% saying it would put them off. There is
scepticism, however, about the Tories’ ability to cut taxes. While 19% said
a Tory government would mean lower taxes for “people like me”, 23% thought
their taxes would go up.
Who's who in the coup
BARRY GARDINER Special envoy for Brown and former minister. Neither
Blairite or Brownite, so a surprising rebel
JOAN RYAN Party vice-chairwoman until yesterday, close to ministers
Hazel Blears and Caroline Flint
FIONA MACTAGGART Former Home Office minister. Not a ‘usual suspect’ for
rebellions
MARGARET MCDONAGH Labour general secretary under Blair, now a baroness.
Her sister Siobhain sparked latest turmoil
WAHEED ALLI Blairite peer and TV entrepeneur. Close to McDonagh sisters
CHARLIE FALCONER Blair’s old flatmate and former lord chancellor. MPs
claim he scrutinised leadership rules
CHARLES CLARKE Criticised Brown in magazine article earlier this month.
Not a lone voice any more...
