BBC (Saturday): Labour rebels target Blair

[Jack Rabbit]

From the BBC Online
Dated Saturnday March 7

Analysis:
Labour rebels target Blair
By Steve Schifferes
BBC News website reporter

When Parliament resumes next week, Tony Blair will face a much-reduced Labour majority in the House of Commons.

With a majority of only 66, just 34 rebels could stop him in his tracks, if supported by the opposition parties.

But are there enough Labour rebels left with the reduced majority - and if so which are the issues that they are most likely to rebel against?

And, just as importantly, will they be able to make common cause with a divided opposition?

Read more.

[blogbear]

1. If nothing more they can make him look silly, out of step, befuddled,

and outright wrong..that is if he doesn't do it to himself again.

[Vladimir]

2. It will certainly be interesting to see whether Labour

rebellions magically stop five or six votes short of defeating the government in this parliament, as they did throughout the last one...

[Jack Rabbit]

3. The BBC thinks so

(The BBC Analysis and Research Unit's) analysis suggests that there 37 hard-core rebels (who rebelled on all four key issues in the last Parliament, including student tuition fees, foundation hospitals, Iraq, and the prevention of terrorism act), and another 29 soft rebels, who voted against the government on at least two of those four issues.

Thirty-seven is more than 34. Blair is going to have problems.

There are a number of opinion pieces suggesting that Blair will have to leave Number 10 sooner rather than later. I've posted a couple in Editorials, one by Polly Toynbee and the other by Robin Cook.

[Vladimir]

4. Yeah I've read those two

and I have to say I am a bit dubious, not least as to whether Gordon Brown will want him out so soon. But maybe I should stop being such an eternal pessimist, eh?