Gordon Brown derailed by own Labour MPs

May 12 2010 by William Green, The Journal

GORDON Brown’s attempts to work out a deal with the Liberal Democrats were derailed by his own party as North MPs declared it was time for Labour to go into Opposition.

Mr Brown declared a Lib-Lab coalition was the country’s best option when he announced on Monday that he would quit within months to secure any deal after the general election produced a hung Parliament.

But he said he would remain as Prime Minister for up to six months while a competition for a new Labour leader was held, sparking fears about public fury about another unelected Prime Minister being foisted upon the country.

Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham, said: “We should listen to the electorate. We lost the election. It is now time to go into Opposition and make sure we can defend the North East against what is going to be quite a nasty Tory Government.

“I think a lot of people in the North East who voted Lib Dem will feel cheated. They were voting for change, but will get a very right-wing Tory administration which is not what they wanted.”

Durham City MP Roberta Blackman Woods echoed other backbenchers’ frustrations at not being consulted by the Labour leadership about the abortive talks with the Lib Dems.

She also attacked the Lib Dems for their negotiating tactics, saying “They don’t come out of it at all well. Speaking to the two parties at once is not what we thought was happening. I don’t they are very transparent about what they are doing, but we will have to wait and see.”

Former Home Secretaries John Reid and David Blunkett spoke out against a coalition between their party and the Lib Dems, with several Cabinet ministers also reportedly expressed their opposition to such a deal as it became clear such a coalition was not going to happen.

A Lib-Lab coalition would still not have had a Commons majority and would have been forced to rely on other, smaller parties in a so-called “rainbow” alliance.

Mr Reid said this would be inherently unstable and warned that voters would punish Labour if they felt it was trying to “cobble something together that patently isn’t in the national interest”.

Mr Blunkett said a “coalition of the defeated” would spell electoral disaster for Labour. “If we continue not listening then we will lose very badly at any subsequent general election,” he said.

And he asked: “Can you trust the Liberal Democrats? They are behaving like every harlot in history.”