SocraticGadfly: Could Gordon Brown stand down?

April 21, 2010

Could Gordon Brown stand down?

It certainly looks possible, as more and more Labour leaders mouth the word "coalition" in the face of what looks to be a continuing Liberal Democrat surge in advance of May 8 elections in the UK. Those voices include at least one cabinet minister.

As for Brown?
"I'm only here because I want to make a difference. If I cannot make a difference, I go," he said.
Sounds like he's resigned to the possibility of coalition, and the possibility that his head will be part of the price of it.

Meanwhile, debate goes on within Labour, not just about coalition, but overall conduct of the campaign. Sounds like rats and sinking ships.

Meanwhile, the Tories are resorting to scare tactics, saying any Lab-Lib alliance would force the IMF to take over British finance.

Tomorrow night, the three leading PM candidates hold their second televised debate, this one on foreign policy. Much of the debate hinges on whether Lib Dem candidate Nick Clegg can focus on British adventurism in Iraq, supported by both Labour and Tories, or whether Brown and Tory candidate David Cameron can raise Euroskeptics' fears by attacking the Lib Dems on their relatively greater support for EU-related issues.

What's likely to happen in the election, including hung parliment or coalition possibilities? Read here.

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