The sleeze allegations against Blairites will stick to Labour unless Gordon Brown does to the the Right what the Right did to the Left

This blog has repeatedly called for tactical voting to ensure that the Tories do not form a majority government after the election.  The recent narrowing of the opinion polls has pointed to a hung parliament, while optimists hope that Labour can pull victory from the jaws of defeat.  The joker in pack has been the Blairites, including Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, or as they are also known the Bitterites, who hate Gordon Brown more than they hate the Tories.  They are, afterall, Tories in Labour clothes.

I had always expected the Blairites to put the boot in during the election campaign.  They may yet do this.  They have form, not least in 1983 when they openly attacked the Labour Manifesto even though many were standing for election on that very platform.

What has come as a surprise, though why it has shows my innocence, are the disclosures about cash for influence.  The video footage of former Blairite Minister, Byers, has brought condemnation from his former colleagues, and there may be more to come in tomorrow’s Dispatches programme.

What Gordon Brown should do is withdraw the whip from them for the duration of this Parliament while the Party undertakes an investigation into their actions that clearly bring the Party into disrepute.  The Labour Party has never hesitated doing so against the left, but will it, and Brown himself, have the courage to do it against the Blairite right?  It would send a signal that Labour finds the alleged behaviour unacceptable.

But of course, Labour won’t do this, and Gordon Brown will at best remain silent, or at worst try to give the Bitterites some political cover.  He thinks he needs them and that his personal prospects depend on their loyalty.  They don’t and they won’t remain loyal.  This will be another opportunity lost for Brown.

Caroline Lucas has the Big Mo

In the West Wing they call it the Big Mo.  Bartlett had it. Santos had it.  Now Lucas has it.  Momentum!  The real difference is that in the case of Caroline Lucas it is real.  It may be the start of a snow blizzard out there, with freezing pavements and fresh snow everywhere.  But all you can see while slipping and sliding around Brighton Pavilion is Green.  I lost count at the number of Green Party activists delivering Green Leaf. 

In the past month or so, the Greens have posted a letter/leaflet to every household in Brighton Pavilion, had the ‘bump’ of the opinion poll that put Caroline Lucas well ahead of Charlotte Vere and Nancy Platts, and now they are blitzing the constituency with Green Leaf.  What was a stunning campaign in Goldsmid that saw Alex Phillips elected, is being reproduced in Brighton Pavilion, but eight times bigger.

Caroline Lucas has the Big Mo.  With four months or so to go, and with the ever increasing probability of a significant win, momentum is definitely on the side of the Greens.

I cannot feel anything but sadness for Nancy Platts, a strong candidate but for a party that is committing political suicide.  The Hoon / Hewitt betrayal  has wounded every Labour candidate.  Brutus and Judas, Hoon and Hewitt, two has-beens whose enduring legacy may yet be the destruction of Labour at the polls.

Why do some Labour Elders want to see the Party defeated?

What an interesting week this is turning out to be.   With the polls narrowing, David Cameron barely able to cope with the questionning at his press conference on Monday (even calling Nick Robinson a stooge of the Labour Party – the man was a yopung Tory for goodness sake!), and today Gordon Brown was far and away the most compelling at Prime Minister’s Questions, we see some Labout elders trying to commit electoral suicide.

Geoff  Hoon and Patricia Hewitt have raised the issue of Brown’s leadership. The Blairites in Labour clearly have a death wish.  And then Charles Clarke calls for a secret ballot on the leadership.  What is their problem?  Do they have to sow the seeds of division?  It seems that for some Blairites, a Cameron victory would be less undesirable than Brown being successful at the polls.  The bitterness and divisions may run deep, but now is the time for them to shut up.