Saturday, May 06, 2006

Incredible...Tony's had quite a time of it over the past few days.Charles Clarke is out of a job.. the second Home Secretary to have caused the government great embarassment of late.. John Prescott, our Deptuty Prime Minister, but loses his Department..(many a head's being scrateched over that one.. just exactly will the man do all day now but wait for Tony to suddenly drop dead..).Our Defence Secretary is the New Home Secretary.. one wonders just what will cause his expulsion, for it seems to go with the job..Jack Straw, that old hand at Foreign Affairs, has been replaced by Margaret Becket, a name that will no doubt become recognised.. Jack, by the way, is now Leader of the Commons.. whoopee..It's the biggest shuffle in Tony's tenure, and all the while he has the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, hectoring for a date to book the moving vans at No. 10.True, Labour was sent a message by the electorate in these elections just past.. they lost 319 Councillors, with most of the replacements coming from the Tory ranks..But a change is inevidable. It is almost without question that David Cameron will be the next British Prime Minister, in part helped by Gordon Brown taking over Labour, and poor old Ming bumbling along with the LibDems..What is the salient issue at this point, is what stances will be taken by both Government and Opposition on several key domestic issues, and of course, our relationship with the US, and our presence in the Middle East. When Tony is going to step down will depend on what mark he feels he has made in history, and he would undoubtably try to make it impossible for his successor to step far away from the long-term policies he has yet to put in place. Gordon Brown is a Europhile, and would lean closer to the Continent just across the Channel, than to an ally across the Atlantic..It's a question of economics Tony faces. Leaving this country bound with the American economy will be his legacy, if he can effectively manage it. The IMF and the World Bank are suspicious of the European hegemony, and while it settles, Britain should remain aloof. It will not be long til the GNP of new European Union member states will outstrip that of France and Spain and Italy, and we here need as tenuous attachment to this consortium as can be managed.
posted by John at 9:08 PM
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