Huge loss for U.K.'s Labour in local elections

[Gunny]

Associated Press
updated 7:23 p.m. CT, Fri., May. 2, 2008

LONDON - An eccentric opposition Conservative lawmaker was elected as London's new mayor Saturday, heaping gloom on Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose first test at the polls has brought his party's worst local election results in four decades.

After a decade-long wait to become his party's leader, Brown — dogged by accusations of dithering and incompetence — was forced to make a humble pledge to heed the scathing verdict from voters after his party lost London's City Hall and more than 300 municipal council seats.

His main political foe, opposition Conservative Party chief David Cameron, said his party's strong gains in the capital and in a longtime weak spot in northern England represented a key moment on the path to ousting Brown at the next national election.

No Conservative victory was more symbolic than in London, where former magazine editor Boris Johnson defeated Labour's incumbent Ken Livingstone.

more ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24433697/

The just got control and the people are already trying to kick the lefties out. Imagine THAT.

 

[Gungnir]

From what I understand the BNP did fairly well in local elections as well.

To top that I believe an actual Fascist was elected as the Mayor of Rome.

I am going to say this is a natural movement of statist minded countries, the movement from one authoritarian extrene to another. Knee jerk reactionism...

That is why all the smart people came over to America. Then stupid France ruined it all with the Statue of Liberty.

 

[Larkinn]

The just got control and the people are already trying to kick the lefties out. Imagine THAT.

Actually the "lefties" have had control since 1997. Oh and if "the people" wanted to kick the lefties out, they would have. They didn't. Despite the perception that Blair was Bush's poodle and got them involved in the idiocy that is Iraq, they still prefer Labour.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Actually the "lefties" have had control since 1997. Oh and if "the people" wanted to kick the lefties out, they would have. They didn't. Despite the perception that Blair was Bush's poodle and got them involved in the idiocy that is Iraq, they still prefer Labour.

That would be why they just lost over 300 local seats and the Mayor of London. England does not work like us, they do not have set elections for their Central Government's high office. And the people have no direct involvement at all.

 

[Diuretic]

The just got control and the people are already trying to kick the lefties out. Imagine THAT.

If they were Left that would be a valid claim, the fact is that New Labour isn't left, it's still running that Third Way con of Blair. This is a great opportunity for them to get back to being a Labour party instead of being some sort of Tory Lite.

 

[Diuretic]

That would be why they just lost over 300 local seats and the Mayor of London. England does not work like us, they do not have set elections for their Central Government's high office. And the people have no direct involvement at all.

That's because the offices aren't recognised in the English constitution, the offices are customary.

 

[roomy]

Local authority elections is what they were, absolutely nothing to do with government elections but are used as a kind of yardstick as to opinion.Hopefully Brown will accept the kick up the arse and improve our lot before he is forced to the polls.

 

[Gungnir]

The question must be asked: how much of the New Labor is being kept in power by immigrant communities wishing to maintain their benefits and policies which have allowed them to swell their numbers?

If you were a Pakistani immigrant, where would you want your Family to live; the North West Frontier Province or Anglia?