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Defeat is Brown's 'John Major moment'
Joe Murphy, Political Editor02.05.08
Gordon Brown today conceded heavy defeats but pledged to lead Labour's fightback with a blizzard of new policies.
However a Labour MP called the disastrous results a "John Major moment". Derek Wyatt, who has a majority of just 79 at Sittingbourne and Sheppey said: "Gordon has committed spectacular own-goals and the public is punishing him for it."
He was referring to the drubbing Mr Major received in council elections in 1995 - a defeat that symbolised the loss of the middle-classes to New Labour.
The Prime Minister admitted to "a bad night" in the town hall polls but promised to "learn the lessons" and not give up.
"My job is to listen and to lead and that's what I will do," he said at No 10. Mr Brown spoke after the worst Labour defeats for 40 years. The party was battered into third place, with an estimated 24 per cent of the vote.
Labour had lost 226 councillors by this afternoon and lost control of councils Reading, Merthyr and Hartlepool and, to the shock of veterans, was crushed in heartlands such as Wales.
Signalling his intention to stay in charge of his party, Mr Brown went on: "The test of leadership is not what happens in a period of success but what happens in difficult circumstances. The challenge of leadership is to take the country through difficult times, as well as through good times. The challenges show that we have the strength and the resolution, as well as the conviction and ideas to take the country forward."
David Cameron's Conservatives surged to 44 per cent - a result that gives him a serious claim to be called prime minister in waiting. Mr Cameron embarked on a lightning tour of his key gains in Bury, the West Midlands and Glamorgan.
Speaking outside his London home, he called it "a very big moment for the Conservative Party". He claimed: "I think these results are not just a vote against Gordon Brown and his government, I think they are a vote of positive confidence in the Conservative Party."
A victory for Boris Johnson tonight over Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral contest would badly hole Labour morale across Britain.
Despite recent criticism, Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats leapfrogged Labour to gain a 25 per cent share.
He said: "Politics is very much on the move. It is much more fluid than it has been for many, many years. Everything is up for grabs." Mr Clegg's party grabbed control of Kingston-upon-Hull from under the noses of local MPs John Prescott and Health Secretary Alan Johnson.
Labour's vote share was two points below the 26 per cent achieved four years ago when the same seats were fought against a backdrop of Iraq war protests. It was worse than the record lows recorded under Michael Foot in the Eighties or Harold Wilson after the 1968 devaluation.
Other big Tory gains were North Tyneside, for the first time in 30 years, the Vale of Glamorgan and Redditch - each marking solid advances into the critical territory needed to win a general election.
Also damaging to Labour morale were gains for the smaller parties. Greens were celebrating in Norwich, where they over-took the Lib-Dems to become the main opposition grouping on a council for the first time in their history - just two seats behind Labour. The far-Right British National Party gained eight seats - two each in Rotherham, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Amber Valley and one each in Pendle and Thurrock.
The inquest into Labour's collapse was awaiting the outcome of the London race.
Labour ministers blamed economic turmoil and the cost of living, implying it was down to issues out of their control. But many Labour MPs blamed Mr Brown for ignoring their appeals for a change of heart over the 10p tax until too late.
Deputy leader Harriet Harman admitted: "We didn't respond early enough to those groups of people who were going to lose out as a result of the change in the 10p rate."
Reader views (33)
Come back Tony, at least you lied with a smile.
- John, Essex UK
Mr Arrogant Brown, if you really want to listen, deal with these 10 issues:-
1/ Forget about ID Cards.
2/ Stop charging VAT on Fuel duty - SAVING 9p a litre!
3/ Reinstate the 10p Tax band and or increase allowances to £10K.
4/ Cut back on spy/speed cameras and the nanny state.
5/ Reinstate tax relief on pensions.
6/ Cut Stamp duty on house sales to bump start the market.
7/ Stop stealth taxes on motorists.
8/ Confirm that road pricing is dead.
9/ Get rid of the Dartford 'TOIL!'
10/ Build more Roads.
We all thank you in anticipation of your new listening approach!
- Working Man, Hempstead
It's now time for this unelected Scotsman to go home.
- Malcolm May, Windsor, UK
It's time for these Labour losers to go and give Britain a chance to become Great again.
- Simon, Melbourne, Australia
So, it's all the fault of the credit crunch, which Gordon Brown washes his hands over, BUT he is in control of the recovery process, and we're going to get blitzed as that will reverse the crushing defeats of today.
Isn't that a fundamental contradiction?
We don't want a blizzard of policies from you Mr Brown, we've had far too many from you and your predecessor as it is. They do more harm than good. Still listening?
- Roland Lucas, Guildford, Surrey
Gordon’s utterance that it was the “failing economy”, which was the cause of his party’s demise, is inane on his part.
This smug despot refuses, even now, to come to terms with his own fallibilities; laying blame on everyone or everything but himself. Comrade Gordon, unconscionably, has led this nation down a ruinous path, with dictatorial aplomb. Consequently, the electorate seeing through his deceitfulness thus voted to give him and his pitiable collectivists the toss.
This is a warning to David Cameron that the nation is not in the mood to be hoodwinked, whether one’s political bent is left or right wing. The ball is presently in his court… but for how long?
- Ric , Toronto, Canada
Time for Labour to go. Too long in and not enough right done. Sums it up!
- Will, London
Unfortunately for the Great British public we can not have a vote of no confidence in our governing party, and therefore need to wait for a general election. We have suffered under Blair and he has brought Brown up like a child to follow in his footsteps as being arrogant and dictatorial.
- Ron, Hornchurch, Essex
Posterity must surely record these years of Labour governance as the time Great Britain was almost destroyed. I say 'was almost' in the hope that out there, somewhere, there is a leader capable of turning this sad state of affairs around; not just another Blair/Brown carbon copy, but someone who has the confidence to allow Britain to be Britain. I see withdrawing from Europe as an inseparable adjunct to this.
Can you fit in these shoes, Mr.Cameron ?
- Toolan, Lincoln
Only the wealthy and the unemployable can afford Labour.
- Anthony Bootle, London
The labour party has deserted its guiding principles towards looking after the poor and vulnerable. It is arrogant and authoritarian, the proliferation of so called safety cameras (cash cows) just symbolises this for me and many others that I know. I have always voted labour but not now. The first party that gets its head around what is happening on British streets and takes appropriate measures towards addressing it instead of telling us that crime is declining will get my vote and that of many other citizens.
Recorded crime maybe in decline, but that is because the public has lost faith in the government and the police, and simply do not bother to report it anymore.
Gordon Brown will never recover the confidence of the British people unless he listens and begins to address some of their longstanding and real concerns, but that is simply too much for us to expect.
- Steve Manson, Lincolnshire
At long last 44% of the voters have woken up and seen how corrupt and incompetent New Labour is.
May it be repeated at the general election!
- Claus B. Clausen, Guisy, France
Brown is the greediest "Prime Ministers"(unelected) we have ever had. Anyone who could not see what the removal of the 10p tax rate would do in terms of public reaction is a moron. As one of millions of pensioners, I will never forgive him for even thinking of doing it. I will NEVER vote labour again.
Furthermore, the new vehicle tax, a green tax red herring, is just another excuse to gather even more money to pay for the war and other huge gaffs made by the Labour Government.
Also, thanks to the plethora of legislation supported by labour we now have lawyers crawling all over us, speed and surveillance cameras everywhere, we dare not tackle criminals, jails are holiday camps, kids rule the streets, immigrants flood in, human rights lawyers are having a field day getting villains of the hook, private data is lost by Brown's vile Tax Hounds etc etc etc.
The sooner Brown is gone, the better...maybe.
- Richard Preston, England
Usually presented as a party of the moderate left, Labour is an administration that has attempted to abolish the country. Good riddance to Labour I say.
- Chris Kay, Swindon UK
Good old Labour- the party of TAX, tax anyone and tax everything, then give back a bit of your own money and call it credits. Hey Gordon TAX is all you understand and now we all understand you.
- John Graham, London
Thank God! At long last it seems that the majority of people are waking up to the fact that Labour is a disaster and that they are finally showing his cronies what they think of his government.
By the way Brian, I fully appreciate why you don't want him up there but why should the English get stuck with this lame duck? And anyone who is afraid to own up to his nationality by saying they are British shows they are ashamed of themselves.
Come Home Judas, all is forgiven.
- Schmuel, Peterborough, England
Hey Gordon it's TAX - as always with the Labour Party they have one idea and it's TAX TAX TAX and now the people are fed up with it, Gordon really is a moron and guess what he's still on about TAX.
- John Graham, London
If Brown and the rest of his cronies believe that the 10p tax fiasco is their undoing, they are all living in a fantasy world. Brown's 'we will listen to the people, and then move on' is yet another example of his absolute arrogance and deceit. Hard working families have been hammered by above inflation rises in Council tax, fuel duty, VAT on domestic gas and electricity, the wholesale manipulation of the RPI and the huge increase in motor vehicle taxation.
In Ken Livingstone's London we have a going to work tax (AKA congestion charge) along with double inflation fare increases on public transport, a Transport Union that 'blackmails' Londoners into inflation busting pay rises, then demands no change to working practices and benefits when the company goes bankrupt, due to poor workmanship.(Livingstone recently granted union members free passage on London Transport to avoid another strike, whilst accepting huge campaign donations from the Union in return. No one on the London Assembly was consulted over this.). A record increase in violent crimes, spy cameras everywhere, not looking for criminals, as that may breach their Human Rights, but directed against the motorist who happens to briefly stop in a restricted area to drop of a passenger, or something equally trivial, or to spy on people who may drop a piece of paper, fill their bins to full, or try to get their children into a decent local school. These are just some of the reasons why Labour are not fit to Govern.
- Pip, Sutton. Surrey
Ho Ho Ho! Has Christmas come early or what! I am delighted to see the ghastly Labour rabble reeling from the prospect of their nemesis. "We must listen more" Oooops! That is a bit telling isn't it when we know they have not listened for years! Expect a spate of spiteful policies as they now know they are going to be routed in the general election and may never recover. I so hope so. What fun to see this arrogant bunch of inept greedy graspers as the rump of a totally failed party doomed to be on the sidelines forever. Ho Ho Ho!
- John, Surrey UK
I am sorry antibnp, but your views on what democracy should be are obviously as tainted as your name. I have been a Labour supporter and party member for nearly thirty years, but respect everyone's right to choose their own party. To label anyone a mindless simpleton because their views do not match yours makes you no better or tolerant than the people you choose to criticise.
- Ben, Coatbridge, Scotland
Blair assured us he was listening in 2005.
Brown assured us he was listening in 2007.
Both denied us the promised vote on the EU constitution.
Both pushed on with the expensive and intrusive flop known as ID cards / the 'National Identity Register'.
Both have pushed ahead with road pricing in spite of a massive majority against.
If Labour continues to think the public are idiots who swallow their spin, their percentage is going to drop a lot lower than 24%.
- Brian The Battered Taxpayer, London
A place to start on your new approach, Mr. Brown, is to honour the Labour Party's manifesto promise to give a referendum on the E.U. Constitution (Lisbon Treaty). You can't shove a new system of government down the people's throats without giving them any say. The new federal system of government (with the UK as province rather than country) would affect every facet of British life. (Believe me, as someone who lived most of their life in federal states -- Canada and the U.S. -- and knows what it's like to live under a double tier of government.) Approval for the Lisbon Treaty can't be done without giving the people a say. So please, Mr. Brown, start listening -- and give the people the referendum that 90% want. (Better to give us a say voluntarily than wait for the High Court to rule in June that you have to give us a say!)
- Phil Jones, London UK
I suspect Brown's "listening" just means he will tell us that he is right and we are wrong. I suspect that Brown's "Strength, Resolution and Conviction" just means he will become an even bigger control freak. What he needs to do is co-operate with the public, first by restoring the 10p tax band immediately, or lowering the personal allowance - which needs to be set at about £12,000 before one begins to pay tax. Who will pay for it? - why not start by withdrawing troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then continue by taxing non-dom millionaires at a proper rate - even though they may donate illegally to Labour Party coffers. We have seen how billions of pounds can be produced overnight to invade other countries, or to rescue a failed bank.
- Neil, Gloucestershire, England.
He must do the honourable thing and now resign as leader. Otherwise Labour will be confined to the wilderness for more than one generation, there is already no hope of them winning the next election. The Conservatives are now the government in waiting.
- Terry Munro, Wellingborough, England
Immigration, crime, political correctness, chav/benefit culture, MPs' expenses, political spin and taxation have all gotten way out of control and now the electorate has made their feelings known, people want rid of Brown, but who do you replace him with as they are all alike with their "I know best policies", and by the way, we don't want Brown up here either please keep him!
- Brian Wilson, Edinburgh
Gordon has waited ten years for this moment. He now knows that he will not get back in. I bet he's glad he did not hold an election last year. The question now is how long he can hang on. He can do a lot of damage in the next two years. A wounded animal can be very dangerous.
- Dave, Croydon
Gordon Brown now has no right to be running the UK he only has 24% of the vote. He is a disaster for the UK. It is time we had a GENERAL ELECTION and get the country back on its feet.
- Guy Simpson, London
Do you think it would matter if the BNP votes were stolen, they only get a handful from a couple of mindless simpletons who should really be living in the provinces. Do yourself a favour and hug an immigrant.
- Antibnp, London
Brown will stay in a hole until he comes to his senses and ditches the unions who no longer stand up for the working class but are simply drains on people who work in real jobs while their members are molly-coddled in cushy government jobs of all kinds. All the subsidy junkies have to be kicked off the bus and sadly for Londoners that includes most of them with their cushy government or city jobs built on the sand of contributions from the real working class areas of this country; houses built on sand have an awful habit of collapsing when the storm arrives. I remember someone once told us to build on rock and not on shifting sands, ..... I would have thought that Gordon of all people should have known this story. If he won't do it and take the credit for it someone else simply will. It is time.
- John, Dundee, UK
When will Brown listen. He started by taking away tax credits for pension schemes then takes away the 10p rate of tax which has had such an effect on pensioners and low earners. I would like to see him live on the paltry old age pension.
- J Pestell, London
If the Labour leadership and MPs pin the blame for New Labour's drubbing on the 10p tax fiasco, they have learned nothing and will be deservedly thrown out at the next General Election (when Gordon Brown is finally forced to allow one).
People are sick of another dogmatic, dictatorial Prime Minister who is pushing ahead with attacks on our freedoms and rights. If Gordon Brown does not scrap the hugely wasteful, completely unnecessary, democracy-threatening ID Card and NIR system he will be evicted from Downing Street as soon as the electorate get the chance to vote on it.
His authoritarian attitude to the people he is supposed to serve contrasts markedly with his sycophantic approach to the US President and his policies.
- Stan E., Derby, UK
Mayor Elections May 1st 2008
A BNP official has just reported widespread fraud by the cutting open of paper ballet boxes to steal BNP votes, the government official at the scene of the crime in London’s Olympia said there’s nothing that can be done about it. What a corrupt miserable evil 3rd world lawless dump Britain has become.
George Deighton.
- Nickbar, London
Good...he is a useless prime minister and as chancellor was just as bad. He presided over the worst housing bubble in UK history, lies over inflation rates, destroyed the pension system, wrecked banking regulation tot eh point where a High Street bank almost collapsed and has now had to be bought with tax payer money. Sooner he goes the better!
- Tc, London, UK
