Senior figures are ready to strike if former home secretary Alan Johnson signals he is prepared to step into the breach, according to The Observer.

The number of Labour MPs prepared to act has "reached a critical mass" but they want a coronation rather than a difficult leadership contest.

A senior figure told The Observer: "There are 20 frontbenchers who are actively considering what is best to do. They are from all areas of the party, bar the hard left."

news.sky.com/story/1369726/ed-miliband-i...isis-over-leadership

"bar the hard left" = the ultra loonies who bought him power !

This is what happens when Agatha Christie meets Rupert Murdoch...do ye see a 'Hesseltine' moment approaching?

There's nobody of that stature available in the Labour party now,except Gordon Brown...and my sources tell me he'll only step forward for his 'De Gaulle' moment when the party has lost the next election.

Unfortunately they have got nobody suitable to take over and nobody even likable. Still, It couldn't be worse. Anyone would think they were trying to lose on purpose!

Speaking on Sky's Murnaghan programme, former Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay said it was time for Mr Miliband to go.

"There comes a point where the press and the media and the critics have got their teeth into this and are not going to let go. It's all going to end in tears.

"It would be much better if in a generous way Ed Miliband said 'I accept I’m not the man to do this', step aside and the modalities can be put into place for an emergency election and we can achieve that."

Polls suggest a dramatic fall in support for Mr Miliband's leadership. Only 34% of Labour voters now think Mr Miliband is up to being party leader, compared to 51% last month, said a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times. The poll also found 45% of Labour voters think he should step down.

all from - news.sky.com/story/1369726/ed-miliband-i...isis-over-leadership

So ... Labour voters don't want him - and the country certainly does not want him !!!!!!

I really like Alan Johnson.

In The Know (as always) wrote:
Speaking on Sky's Murnaghan programme, former Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay said it was time for Mr Miliband to go.

"There comes a point where the press and the media and the critics have got their teeth into this and are not going to let go. It's all going to end in tears.

"It would be much better if in a generous way Ed Miliband said 'I accept I’m not the man to do this', step aside and the modalities can be put into place for an emergency election and we can achieve that."

Polls suggest a dramatic fall in support for Mr Miliband's leadership. Only 34% of Labour voters now think Mr Miliband is up to being party leader, compared to 51% last month, said a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times. The poll also found 45% of Labour voters think he should step down.

all from - news.sky.com/story/1369726/ed-miliband-i...isis-over-leadership

So ... Labour voters don't want him - and the country certainly does not want him !!!!!!



Milliband knew damned well he was wrong for the job within weeks and put his own interests first. He wont go unless he is dragged out kicking and screaming.

JK2006 wrote:
I really like Alan Johnson.

Mmm .. beware of people who "smile" alot (remember B-Liar ?) !

His conduct as Home Secretary brings alot of doubt about his credentials

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
Anyone would think they were trying to lose on purpose!

There may be more truth in that statement than you realise, honey!

How else are they going to "explain" to their dimwit followers that after complaining about everything - from the bedroom tax to the cuts - they plan to retain them all after the election (as they know the only alternative is the bailiffs !")

In The Know (as always) wrote:
The poll also found 45% of Labour voters think he should step down.

So ... Labour voters don't want him - and the country certainly does not want him !!!!!!

You really do have a way of making a fool out of opinion poll watching ITK

.....If 45% don't want him then the other 55% should be a minority?

I can remember the same stuff being put out over Hague and IDS...the tories have not had a strong leader since the late 80s....and as I've said before Brown aside the Labour benches are lacking....does anybody think Johnson will hold up under the scrutiny of parliament and the press?...or that feeble feminist Mrs Balls?....Better to lose and blame the fool you've got already,than lose and let your next leader take the blame for a general poor performance over the last five years.

Sky News..give me a break.

Pattaya wrote:

.....If 45% don't want him then the other 55% should be a minority?

The point that I was trying to make - and I thought you might have been bright enough to work it out ! - is that if, only around half of LABOUR supporters want Silliband - what hope have they got of convincing the rest that he is worth having ????????

hedda wrote:
Sky News..


... quoting The Observer !

Pattaya wrote:
There's nobody of that stature available in the Labour party now,except Gordon Brown...and my sources tell me he'll only step forward for his 'De Gaulle' moment when the party has lost the next election.
Perhaps he'll have some kitchen utensil named after him. The French apparently call those corkscrews with two arms that lift up a Charles de Gaulle.

In The Know (as always) wrote:
Pattaya wrote:

.....If 45% don't want him then the other 55% should be a minority?

The point that I was trying to make - and I thought you might have been bright enough to work it out ! - is that if, only around half of LABOUR supporters want Silliband - what hope have they got of convincing the rest that he is worth having ????????

If he has a simple majority of his party support him how can you say his party don't want him?
If you want bright stick a light bulb up the darker recesses of your anatomy ...and as for the rest of us his party is still mainly in the lead in most opinion polls....does this mean your having a 'mathematically challenging moment' again?

Pattaya wrote:
his party is still mainly in the lead in most opinion polls....


... and he isn't ! - in fact, his personal rating is dropping like a stone - most unpopular Labour leader since Michael Foot - and we all know what happened to him !

Didn't Foot follow Kinnock? - 21 points in the lead .... AND LOST !

In The Know (as always) wrote:
Pattaya wrote:
his party is still mainly in the lead in most opinion polls....


... and he isn't ! - in fact, his personal rating is dropping like a stone - most unpopular Labour leader since Michael Foot - and we all know what happened to him !

Didn't Foot follow Kinnock? - 21 points in the lead .... AND LOST !

No ITK,Kinnock followed Foot...and the popularity of the leader is not important,its how many seats the party win...remember John Major was popular in '97,but still lost heavily.

Whoever Labour have as leader will struggle,because of recent historical matters,irrelevant of what policies are adopted...as the Tories did until the last election,due to their long period in office.

I'm up north this weekend...a curry in Bradford..maybe a spot of tiffin with Mrs ITK?....Whatever the result,ye owe me a pint of real beer...afraid you need 'Courage' to drink the cr@p brewed down here!

We're actually in Leeds tomorrow ... one of Mrs ITK's shopping favourites (but not my credit card's !)

Pattaya wrote:
...and the popularity of the leader is not important,its how many seats the party win...

In modern times no party has ever gone on to form a government without at least once being over 50% in the polls. Labour not even close.

For at least the last 15 elections, the main Opposition Party has got a lower vote share than its poll rating 15 months out

No leader of the opposition has ever gone on to become Prime Minister with ratings anywhere near as bad as Ed Miliband's.

- New Statesman

In The Know (as always) wrote:
Pattaya wrote:
...and the popularity of the leader is not important,its how many seats the party win...

In modern times no party has ever gone on to form a government without at least once being over 50% in the polls. Labour not even close.



Are you sure ITK? Those figures make little sense to moi....50%?

Can you provide a link...instead of a simple reference to 'New Statesman'?

I don't remember any of the parties reaching 50%...early 40s max....oh and the BBC agrees with me!

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8280050.stm

ITK has quoted - verbatim - the Andy Cooper (Populus founder) quotes carried by the New Statesman earlier this year.

But the NS added that 'Cooper's error is to assume that history is a reliable guide to the outcome of the next election'.

Cooper's view were also described as 'superficially impressive' - with the NS comment that, before 2005, no Labour leader had ever won three consequetive elections, and no party had ever won with 35% of the vote.