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Wednesday 3 June 2009

Verity Murphy | 18:26 UK time, Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Here's Emily Maitlis with what's coming up on tonight's programme:

"Is today the most perfect day to choose to do that? No."

And the prize for understatement goes to Lord Mandelson, commenting on the resignation of the secretary for local government the day before the local elections.

When a cabinet crisis gets even worse, what does it become? Three ministers left yesterday, Hazel Blears is gone today. And Alistair Darling is still looking deeply unsettled after Gordon Brown sidestepped yet another chance to endorse his long term future in the Commons this lunchtime.

Today, more than at any time I can remember, there is a delicious inevitability that whatever I put here will be woefully out of date by the time we broadcast.

Latest reports suggest a reshuffle of sorts is already underway. In an extended programme we'll be looking at this unprecedented round of resignations and asking if Gordon Brown can survive this.

We'll be talking to a senior cabinet minister plus Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems and Nigel Farage of UKIP.

We will also be bringing you the latest from Liz MacKean's special series on young people leaving care. Tonight Jareth turns 18.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Question : Can a knight of the realm be elevated to a living deity?

    If so, then Sir JP should receive such promotion!

    Last nights crucifixion of Mr Hague was a reminder of the classic role NN had when it was so fervently crusading on behalf of the British Public as opposed to groveling to the PC Brigade.

    Along with, sadly, only the occasional appearance of Lady Emily M. (Much, much more .....Please!) could it be that NN has finally got its Orbs back and we will see far more of the type of investigative reporting and questioning - of all and every - that NN has been ordained so to do, and that the British Public so much deserves? Like it or not the Great British Public (GBP) must get more on board as to what has been going on uninterrupted since 1979 and hence be involved with what needs to be done for the future!

    Question: Were the following answers edited out of last nights Hague castration?


    I have no reason to believe ...... that I would ever be granted an audience with Mr Ashcroft.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that Mr Ashcroft would ever do anything that was truly for the benefit of the British People.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that the GBP has any need or right to know Tory policies until after the election.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that if his godship (Mr C, in case you are confused.) were actually PM - at this specific moment in time - the revelations would most likely only be different as to which Newspaper bought the disks and which party were to receive the bulk of the GBPs rancour.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that any other person other than an ex-member of the Bullindon Club would ever again be appointed to the other place.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that our grandees are any more in touch with the GBP than anyone else in our party.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that anything would be any different after the General Election (Assuming the GBP are gullible enough to elect us, which of course we have convinced them they are.)

    I have no reason to believe ...... that I can even understand your question let alone lower myself enough to answer it.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that Mr O only got Grade FE in CSE Maths, Communications and Sociology and was deferred in A Level Politics.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that Mr O aspire to owning a yacht.

    I have no reason to believe ...... Ms Spelman will not be appointed Minister for Children with special responsibility for childcare.

    I have no reason to believe ...... That Mr Clark was brought from the wilderness into the Shadow (sic) to be Minister for Europe with special responsibility for Community Integration.

    I have no reason to believe ...... that I believe anything that you think I might be saying. So there!

    I have no reason to believe ...... that once we get in to power you - PAXMAN, yes you PAXMAN - will still have a job!


    Moving on .........

    Does Ms Blears remind anyone, other than me, of the little girl in the classic film Dont look now. (Apt film title, or what?)

    Does Mr Camerons dull performance at PMQs indicate that perhaps he is aware of something that we are not? (Apt film titles perhaps .... Dont lose your head. I know what you did last summer. Grease. Downfall.)

    Oh, and the star chamber makes a decision and then its condemned as unfair!

    Sadly ...... Damned if you do Gordon, damned if you dont!

  • Comment number 2.

    Hurray the deck-chairs/cabinet is to be re-arranged ! For the past 20 years + this country has existed on buying and selling our houses to each other at higher and higher prices. The loans created to do this have put money in our pockets and in the governments coffers. Now the party is over. We need a) to use NEFS : Net Export Financial Simulation or b) a Cabinet re-shuffle ?

  • Comment number 3.

    ANARCHISM IN THE UK: DISCUSS

    Will they stay, will they go? In the end, what do they really do in these anarchistic times? Lots of talk, lots of debate, lots of interviews for reproters and lots of meetings. As nearly all of what matters is devolved one way or another these days, why does anyone really care who's in Parliament or in Government?

    Ah...that right, the polls say that most people don't...and this is why: we have anarchism in the UK served by the three main parties.

  • Comment number 4.

    so on the eve of an election blears calls what she is doing campaigning for the labour party? that it looks like the act of a calculated self serving petty minded personality vendetta must be a mistake then?

  • Comment number 5.

    UKIP are getting to be quite welcome on many 91Èȱ¬ programmes. Could this publicity be due to fear that the public may otherwise give their protest votes to a more extreme party?

  • Comment number 6.

    indignantindegene (#5) Maybe we could have someone from Old Labour on sometime? That would be really radical. Or have they all been brainwashed?

  • Comment number 7.


    I have a feeling Gordon will be the political equivalent of a wounded beast in the coming days and weeks.

    Radical will be his rallying call, Paul Mason has heard whispers that proportional representation may be given a go as well as the hapless lords being led out for public political slaughter, a worthy sacrifice in Gordons view no doubt in lieu of his own party.

    We shall see. It is all he has left in the political locker to try, so Gordon being Gordon I tend to think he will go for it.

    The personal tragedy for him is that he can not see that he is mortally wounded and all his efforts are in fact symptomatic of his political death throws. The test being that he would never ever consider doing such things if he were not mortally wounded.

    We shall see.

    Where have you been hiding anyway Emily, have not seen you on NN for ages?

    Jericoa

  • Comment number 8.

    Get this. The Vermicious Knid rocking the boat is about as terminal as it will get for Gordon Brown; he will stay, Darling will stay, Mandy will be Foreign Sec, and maybe, just maybe, John Reid will return as 91Èȱ¬ Secretary.Some of the Blairite munchkins will retire wounded - so what? New Labour is dead, died when Tony moved on. Over the next year, re-shaping will take place for John Cruddas to become Leader of Real Labour, with Ed Miliband as his deputy, after a disastrous result for Labour at the General Election. Until then, Gordon stays.
    Remember, this is the man who feels he was cheated out of the PM's job once; he will not let it happen again. It's not going to be pleasant or easy for any of us, but it's worth taking the time before the General Election to figure out how it will all play out afterwards. A hung Parliament.

  • Comment number 9.

    So UKIP are to be on our screens again tonight!
    Why have we not had as much coverage for the other 'minor' parties?
    The Jury Team, at least, is fielding enough candidates to make it's message worth hearing.
    For the first time we could get a group of MEPs that actually vote according to the wishes of the electorate.
    Not 'get out, no question' from UKIP or 'in, so there' from Labour or 'in, out? not sure!' from the Tories.
    The 91Èȱ¬ MUST do a better job of giving it's viewers exposure to a wider cross section of the political messages on offer.

  • Comment number 10.

    A Hung Parlimeant

    looks/sounds/smells good 2 me

  • Comment number 11.

    THE NARCISSIST

    For an inkling of what might be broken in Britain, watch tonight's The Apprentice =;-)

  • Comment number 12.

    RoMan Numero 2 JJ no Thanks, I do watch from time 2 time pmq's

    I take the view of a little known religis/es sect from/in Iraq

    They dont eat/KILL the female of the specis

    How long do you Hang Meat for

  • Comment number 13.

    It may seem we are already descending into political chaos, but I think it may be possible that we are all underestimating the scale of the changes taking place. Indeed secretly many of our leaders are heaving a sigh of relief; the worst is over and we can get back to business as usual with a few minor changes. They could not be further from the truth. What is taking place, albeit without all the bloodshed, is a real revolution comparable with those of the 18th century in the US and France.

    In economic terms, as evidenced by the success of the April G20 meeting, our global leaders already fully recognise that the banking crisis is a symptom of a revolutionary shift in global trade overall. Indeed, above all, the rapidly growing power of the emerging nations, whose 80% of the global population is now the main driver for growth, indicates that the form of globalisation which was based on a US hegemony is already being superseded by a much more diverse set of factors. If truth be told, US hegemony has passed and we are already part of a multi-polar world.

    But the financial and trade implications are just one part of the overall revolution. We have long recognised that the IT revolution would progressively empower individuals, and that empowerment of the individual is now sweeping all before it. Thatcherism and Reaganism talked at length about individualism, but that was in terms of the few elite individuals who needed to be freed to lead society to a better future. We have just seen where those most favoured by this philosophy, the bankers, chose to lead us. The real empowerment of the individual is therefore at last to be seen in the masses who are now taking power into their own hands. This was the inevitable outcome of the investment in education, across all nations, which means that the twentieth of the population - who half a century ago received a university education and with it entry to the elite who ran the world has now grown to half those joining the electorate and expecting to run their own affairs. Where they know far more than government ministers of a century ago, they have every right to expect to be invited in to share power.

    Where recently such power, and especially the riches which accompany it, has instead been grabbed by an ever smaller group of people, the time is ripe for the masses to revolt; as the whole electorate is now ranged against MPs in general. Where this popular revolution will ultimately head is difficult to predict, but we must at least start by recognising its existence.

    More practically, in the shorter term, where goes governance in the UK over the next year; until that time if nothing else intervenes Armageddon is visited on Labour. Indeed, it seems most likely that Gordon Brown reverting to his characteristic timidity - will resort to circling the wagons against the overwhelming numbers of Indians who want their chiefs scalps; if I may be excused that mixed metaphor. The test of this will come when he appoints Ed Balls to be Chancellor. Ed is, of course, the most exquisite practitioner of the dirty trick. It was he, you will remember, who ran Gordons campaign to undermine Tony Blair. That was, in his terms, successful; though it fatally soured the electorates view of politicians in general Much less successful were his machinations less than two years ago, was it really so recent for it seems like prehistory, when he destroyed Browns honeymoon overnight; overplaying the early election story. But, despite being an object of hate for so many of his own side, he is Browns closest political friend.

    Can this slide into the abyss be halted, and will Cameron be allowed a blank cheque to visit on us the excesses that his right wing who are already happy to cosy up to some of the most objectionable right-wing parties in the EU will force him into; now that he has abandoned his promises about compassionate (Blairite?) conservatism - remember the similar promises Bush Jr made!

    Perhaps the only hope for (New?) Labour will be to back a new Blairite candidate with a remit to find a centrist consensus. That new leader could them genuinely open up government, inviting in the best of the other parties (in particular Vince Cable, rather than Balls as the new Chancellor to replace Darling, and Menghies Campbell, as Speaker) to form a coalition. Of course Cameron, who thinks he is onto a landslide will refuse. This leaves the resulting Labour/Liberal coalition a year to put together the new constitution which should be radical (going as far as Proportional Representation not just MPs expenses!), whilst consolidating the economic recovery. If necessary, of course, the election when it comes - could then feature coalition candidates: with the strongest runner in each constituency (justifiably) being given free rein.

    The result might be a very different political world, and one in which many fewer MPs would lose their seats; whilst feeling good about doing right by the country!

  • Comment number 14.

    species even one 2

  • Comment number 15.

    Perhaps Hazel Blears walked the plank today in order to take the pressure off particularly Hoon and Purnell, both with similar form to Blears. Darling appears already toast, I hope that its the end of " seven eight's " are fifty-four ( Byers ) New Labour economics.

    Bank shares down significantly today, perhaps in anticipation that a new chancellor would have the " balls " to make at least the state aided banks call in their loans to hedge funds and make the money available to lend in the real sustainable future small business economy.

    The Corporate Multinational Cartel must be rattled, it wont lend the money to West Star so that they can save LDV. The CMC pressure is on Brown to continue their Corporate Nazi Plan yet the possibility of Johnson as prime minister must keep them in check to some extent.

    Cameron can't say anything just so long as Gove, Duncan and Landsley remain in the shadow cabinet. They collectively think that as they are not actually in government yet they don't need to clean up their act. There would appear to be more stories about Tories coming out in the near future, perhaps the least that they can hope for is not to be proven to have left your rented flat in a condition one might expect to find from a drug addict, like James Purnell recently ?

  • Comment number 16.

    Even Species Even One 2

  • Comment number 17.

    C Emily Play Long time No See Emily

    Copious Amounts of Claret on the Carpet Required 2 Night

    Remember if you can PrinceeSPIT Tony's nulabour have been giving us that for the last 12 years, at home and abroad.

    Fix the Bayonet/Stick the BOOt IN

  • Comment number 18.

    Now the media have clarified the policies of the parties hoping to represent the British people in Europe. We now know what the various treaties have been about, what the Lisbon treaty is about and what benefits have accrued as a result of membership. What good value we get from our news sources. How else could we go to vote on a fully informed basis?

  • Comment number 19.

    Emily
    You were in danger of losing your objectivity when you were interviewing
    the the politician for Northern Ireland & he challenged some of your remarks, he realy got under your skin & it showed

  • Comment number 20.

    What a shame that Gordon Brown is left with Shaun Woodward as best friend at PMQs. For a man with Gordy's Presbyterian sensibilites it must be painful to have to whisper to the man who was a Tory, then saw a better deal across the floor, has a butler (still I presume) and is the living symbol- along with Mandy- of the greedy and corrupt creatures who disgust so many of us.By their friends shall we know them.

  • Comment number 21.

    I seem to decide not to vote for every party represented by the politicians who have been on Newsnight over the last two nights. Clegg's Liberals seem to be just the same as the other two parties, plus he reneged on his EU Referendum manifesto pledge and Chris Huhne's denial of free speech to that Dutch MP was distinctly illiberal. Nigel Farage didn't come off much better. Looks like it's the BNP then. I think they deserve a sympathy vote for all the villification they have received without being offered a chance to defend themselves. There is also the added bonus of them being the party which the main three would really hate me to vote for.

  • Comment number 22.

    BUT IS HE STILL CHEWING HIS NAILS?

    Brown is behaving with a detachment that passeth all understanding.
    Has Paul McKenna been seen around No10? Or has he got a painting in the attic that is coming apart with terror and stress?

    No wonder they want to get rid of him. It must be terrifying being round such incongruous calm. There is something of the Jack Nicholson about him.

  • Comment number 23.

    Great job Emily! You managed to wipe the smile off the faces of both Woodward and Farage. A bit hard on young Clegg though, reminding him that that Grandad Cable is better known. Anyone who continues to support Brown to the bitter end will never be trusted in any longer term resurrection of the Labour Party.

    Farage and Bloom are pretty much a disgrace they have sold out on their chance to do anything useful - they will never publish their expenses. Farage says he was fined for giving his excess travel allowance to charity and therefore stopped. Why then does Bloom claim that he still does? Not much of what they say bears close scrutiny.

  • Comment number 24.

    First

    #17 dAllan169 Pink Floyd

    As to the the rest. Does it really matter? The thesis and the anti thesis generate the new synthesis.

    There is no longer Government and opposition. Thesis and antithesis.

    There are many football teams. But only one game.

    All politics has now become the thesis. There is only only one political party. Different teams take turns to occupy power.

    The antithesis is thus generated. That is not political party Games.

    Remember Democracy is Government by the people OR their democratically elected representatives.

    You don't need politicians to have a democracy.

    You are being told that you need elections. Remember all elections result in jobs for politicians. Democracy is a job creation programme for politicians. That last sentence ended with a full stop.

    Please look at the real state of our planet. A planet on the surface being 'run' by politicians. But politicians want the money and the Kudos, but say they will give power and decision making to the PEOPLE.

    So who are they really working for? Or are they just lazy and don't want the responsibility that goes with the job? Or are they just good at getting elected, and nothing else?

    Is the planet a mess? So who is responsible?

    So why do we need the middle man? or woman.

    Celtic Lion

  • Comment number 25.

    When it is said that all politics ends in failure, perhaps this applies to anything where we seek to serve our own interests rather than those of others?
    Perhaps John Profumo didn't want to return to politics because he found his new work far more fulfilling than his life in Westminster? and perhaps the sort of people we need in Power are those who have being broken in some way, such as Jeffrey Archer or Mr Aiken, perhaps such people are potentially far more use now than they were in the past,
    Bubbles

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