According to the BBC,

The government has denied that its decision to shelve plans to sell part of Royal Mail was taken because of the threat of a backbench rebellion.

Ministers insist it was due to a fall in the value of the postal market and a lack of bidders.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson announced that the proposal was being put on hold on Wednesday.

He insisted part-privatisation was merely being postponed until market conditions improved.

Whatever the reason, it´s good news anyway.

There is a rumour, on the BBC news website and elsewhere, that the Government is canvassing for Beckett. Labour MPs are believed to favour Bercow, a change from the sheet metal worker and surprising that they would back a Tory, albeit a wet.

Yet, one wonders how the Commons can be taken seriously with either as its speaker. Surely someone of the stature of Frank Field would be more plausible. He´s not besmirched by his expenses claims, as alas Mrs Beckett is (remember her notorious heckling on Question Time? who can forget?). As for Bercow, I don´t need to say anything about him.

Let´s see what happens. Maybe someone will be elected as Speaker who will bring some dignity back to parliament but I´d not be surprised if a majority of MPs, snout-deep in the troughs, decide to make an ever bigger laughing stock of the Commons.

There was I, enjoying Midsummer in Finland (well, actually, no, it´s raining so I´m in the office in the university catching up on some work in anticipation of some sun next week), and I glance upon this latest iniquity by our MPs and the House of Commons authorities (hat tip: Conservative Home).

I thought that the Times front page does it most justice:

I look forward to obtaining a copy of the Guardian here (no Telegraph alas) and reading the juicy details, maybe, next week.

In the meantime, I, like everyone else apart from the MPs, am disgusted.

Brown needs another crisis to show what a failure he is as Prime Minister, and how, like Macavity, he manages to dodge them all – with a bit of spinning from Mandy – as he seems to have escaped from the disastrous Local and European Election results by spinning that Labour has to stick together.

Not only Glasgow NE and Norwich N, but we may soon have another Livingston by-election due to the deselection of its Labour MP, who now threatens to “do a Gibson” and resign his seat. Fair play, methinks. If Brown loses all these elections (about the only thing he´s good at being losing elections), he will, with Mandy´s help, spin his way out of it no doubt.

And yet, while we can all wish the by elections to roll on, one election he won´t be able to worm his way out of is next year´s general election, at which more Labour MPs will be wiped out than ´79.

What a shame.

The European elections have been a disaster for Labour. It’s lost 5 seats, it’s been beaten by the Tories in Wales and by the SNP in Scotland, and has even let in BNP MEPs, Nick Griffin in the North West and his colleague in Yorkshire and the Humber.

But Brown may well limp on, will avoid an election, with a poor Cabinet, and we can expect another 12 months of Brownite shambles.

His Government is going down the pan more than even this blog is (down from #84 on Wikio to #209). But you win some, you lose some.

I’m off to England for a few days, then to Finland until at least the end of September – depending on whether my job contract is renewed, or not, or whether a decent offer is offered – and the Wilted Rose will not be totally silent. Maybe a comment or two on the speaker election or any other developments, if I can be bothered. Who knows, maybe some other shocker of news will emerge …

Brown’s weak Cabinet reshuffle – retaining the hapless Darling and the hopeless Milipede in their posts (because of their selfish demands to remain in post) and the pathetic recruitment of “Lord Sugar” as enterprise tsar (whose ‘You’re fired’ attitude will do much to damage the perception of business) – meant that he had nothing to offer the delightful Caroline Flint (Lab, Don Valley), who has been ultra loyal to him and deserved a promotion.

So she has resigned from the Cabinet and complained about how Brown uses women as ‘window dressing’. After all, with Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears gone, why are their no roles for the good women in the Labour Party? Why indeed.

Flint has done a brave thing, but not as brave as Ian Gibson (Lab, Norwich, N) who has resigned as an MP and forced a by-election, because Gordon Brown treated him as a scapegoat. At least Hoon has now resigned, after his capital gains tax scandal; but why has Darling not done the decent thing and resigned?

Caroline Flint is right. Labour, despite the Blair’s Babe of the 90s, has always treated women as tokens. While some have risen to the top, they have been allowed to crash and burn.

The Tories will gain Norwich North, having taken councils such as Derbyshire and Lancashire. Now Warwickshire, and many more will follow.

Brown should resign, Alan Johnson is a fool to stand by him (although he’s clearly after the Leadership eventually). How many more Caroline Flints will there be?

So Tim Montgomerie reports. Labour’s rose may have Wilted, but Lancashire’s is now blooming – and has a blue tint. And DERBYSHIRE?

Turn out the lights when you leave the Labour party, Gordon. It’s game over. You cannot cling on any longer.

Fascinating that, according to Sky News, Hutton has now resigned. Is it part of the coup or has he just had enough of the abuse that comes about being a cabinet member? Word is that Cumbria, where he has his Barrow-in-Furness seat, has gone deep blue.

Who’d blame him for jumping ship, and we’ll soon find out why… In the meantime, we must watch this fiasco of a very uninspiring reshuffle …

Alistair Darling was characteristic and didn’t dare resign. Just like his handling of the economy: typically indecisive.

Now James Purnell has resigned and called for Brown to step down. Brown is finished.

The Telegraph’s final, eve-of-poll YouGov opinion poll shows the following vote share:

Con 26%
UKIP 18%
Lab 16%
LD 15%
Grn 10%
BNP 5%

Hopefully, this will result will finish off Gordon Brown and we can have some sensible governance in the UK … and many Labour councillors will be gone too in the Shires.

…and maybe it will make the Tories realise that they need a more hardline European policy. Remove Ken Clarke from the Shadow Cabinet, and sack the expenses offenders. The Tories should have had a 40% vote share in this European election, but they’ve only got themselves to blame. So much for the Cameroon bounce.

As for Labour, they are in big trouble. Big trouble. And helpful Labour MPs are gathering 50 signatures to force Brown’s resignation. Will Labour even manage 10% tomorrow? Should its voters even bother turning out?

Here’s the letter from the Sky News website:-

Dear Gordon,

Over the last 12 years in government, and before, you have made an enormous contribution to this country and to the Labour Party, and this is very widely acknowledged.

However we are writing now because we believe that in the current political situation, you can best serve the Labour Party and the country by stepping down as party leader and prime minister, and so allowing the party to choose a new leader to take us into the next general election.

Yours,

XXXX

 

Does Mr Brown know how to spell the word “untenable”???