Rebel Yell
Now that Labour have been re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, Tony Blair will face an interesting set of challenges as he tries to push through some of the more controversial policies.
Anti-terror legislation will undoubtedly continue to cause problems, as the sunset clause ensures that the powers will be reviewed. And when that time comes, Blair can expect trouble from the following 16 Labour MPs:
Jeremy Corbyn
John McDonnell
Lynne Jones
Alan Simpson
Kelvin Hopkins
Kate Hoey
Diane Abbott
Barbara Follett
Clare Short
Mark Fisher
Peter Kilfoyle
Gwyneth Dunwoody
Glenda Jackson
Jim Cousins
Mike Wood
Ian Gibson
Robert Marshall-Andrews
Then, when Parliament discusses ID Cards, Blair can expect to receive a rough ride from the following 20 Labour MPs:
David Winnick
Michael Clapham
Gwyneth Dunwoody
Neil Gerrard
Ian Gibson
Kate Hoey
Clare Short
Dennis Skinner
David Taylor
Alan Simspon
Mike Wood
Diane Abbott
Lynne Jones
Austin Mitchell
Albert Owen
Kelvin Hopkins
Julie Morgan
Robert Marshall-Andrews
And that's just two policy areas to start with. When you start to consider other areas such as reforming the House of Lords or further extending PFI then Blair has a truly massive headache. One has to question why Blair would want to continue leading a party and a country when both have expressed (and continue to) grave doubts regarding his suitability for the job.
A full list of the contentious issues and likely rebels will be published later today. If your MP is on one (or more) of these lists, then give them your support and encouragement to continue their opposition.
Anti-terror legislation will undoubtedly continue to cause problems, as the sunset clause ensures that the powers will be reviewed. And when that time comes, Blair can expect trouble from the following 16 Labour MPs:
Jeremy Corbyn
John McDonnell
Lynne Jones
Alan Simpson
Kelvin Hopkins
Kate Hoey
Diane Abbott
Barbara Follett
Clare Short
Mark Fisher
Peter Kilfoyle
Gwyneth Dunwoody
Glenda Jackson
Jim Cousins
Mike Wood
Ian Gibson
Robert Marshall-Andrews
Then, when Parliament discusses ID Cards, Blair can expect to receive a rough ride from the following 20 Labour MPs:
David Winnick
Michael Clapham
Gwyneth Dunwoody
Neil Gerrard
Ian Gibson
Kate Hoey
Clare Short
Dennis Skinner
David Taylor
Alan Simspon
Mike Wood
Diane Abbott
Lynne Jones
Austin Mitchell
Albert Owen
Kelvin Hopkins
Julie Morgan
Robert Marshall-Andrews
And that's just two policy areas to start with. When you start to consider other areas such as reforming the House of Lords or further extending PFI then Blair has a truly massive headache. One has to question why Blair would want to continue leading a party and a country when both have expressed (and continue to) grave doubts regarding his suitability for the job.
A full list of the contentious issues and likely rebels will be published later today. If your MP is on one (or more) of these lists, then give them your support and encouragement to continue their opposition.
11 Comments:
I'm under the impression my MP only supported these contentious bills so he could ensure full party backing during the election for his ultra-marginal seat (and how - Brown was about the only Cabinet member not to put in an appearance in the last month).
Now that he's increased his majority to a couple of thousand, I'm going to test the water and see how radical he is likely to become...
Scary, how about asking him writing whether or not he supports ID cards, the anti-terror legislation etc. We can then keep tabs on his actual performance.
So is the site staying up and running then?
Yup. The objective of Backing Blair was to get rid of Blair by returning Labour to government with a massively reduced majority.
We've done the latter, but now need to keep the pressure on the Labour Party to achieve the former.
The Backing Blair team will be putting out a statement explaining just where we go from here, but the concensus is that 18 months to 2 years is too long to wait for Blair to go.
My feeling is that we are close to the dumping point. Either Blair goes within the year (i.e. after the European Constitution referendum at the latest) or he lasts the best part of the parliament.
Now the election is over how about changing the name of the site from Backing Blair to After Blair/ Post Blair?
This post has been removed by the author.
Keep up the good work. Also, what does anyone think about joining the Labour party on the lowest subscription possible in order that we can agitate further for our goals from within? Couldn't a big contingent of Backing Blair supporters at Conference, for example, have an impact on proceedings?
btw: broken link on home page at Video V: Iraq war.
Mark, link has been fixed now, thanks.
As for joing the Labour Party, at least one member of the team behind Backing Blair is a paid up member of the Labour Party and the Fabians. That person believes that achieving change requires pressure from both within and without. At this point in time there exists an excellent opportunity to cover both angles, through external campaigning via Backing Blair and also from within through groups such as Save The Labour Party.
One word of warning though, prepare to be astounded and frustrated by the sheer inertia of political parties.
You forgot Bob M-A! How could you! :-)
Hmmm, strange. Using the comparison between the BB Anti-Blairite ID Cards and BB Anti-Blairite Anti-Terror Laws dream MPs and all real MPs at the public whip doesn't list Bob at all. Yet do a direct comparison between Bob and the two dreams and there he is. Nuts! This is going to make checking the rebel list a mite tricky.
Joining the Labour Party is the best value for 50p a week on offer. You will get to elect the next Leader, decide whether to res/elect your current/next Labour MP, choose your Labour candidates for the European Parliament, regional parliament/assembly if you have one, and your local council.
As for Backing Blair's concerns about inertia in political parties, that only comes into play if you allow someone else to run the show.
Now is the time to get off the fence and be an active citizen.
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