Friday, May 18, 2007 – Part 2

Daily Express

Coronation by default just makes Brown a dictator

GORDON Brown may have the backing of his parliamentary party and a large majority of Labour Party and trade union members, but they account for only a minority of the electorate, who are forced to watch helplessly as Brown becomes Prime Minister without a mandate from the British public (“Brown cruises into PM’s job without a fight”, May 17).

When people voted for Labour in 2005, they voted for the whole package, including Tony Blair staying around for a full third term.

Two years in, Blair has resigned, leaving Labour with a Prime Minister who has not gained the backing of the British public. That makes Mr Brown a dictator.

That may sound a little strong, but Mr Brown has already started talking about how he is going to pursue different policies to the ones the electorate voted for in 2005, with just 308 people having officially supported him.

That is 308 people out of a total population of around 60 million – or just 0.0005 per cent. Even the Monster Raving Loony Party polled more at the last election.

Alan Collins
By e-mail