Conflicts of Interest

"4B.2e Procedure in a vacancy (i) When the party is in government and the party leader is prime minister and the party leader, for whatever reason, becomes permanently unavailable, the Cabinet shall, in consultation with the NEC, appoint one of its members to serve as party leader until a ballot under these rules can be carried out."

'These rules' are too time consuming and would take the country too close to the end of the current Parliament to be operable. The only way Brown will not lead the Labour party into the election that should be held between now and 2010 is either: no election is called; or 'for whatever reason, [Brown, as party leader], becomes permanently unavailable'.

It is hard to imagine such a fractious, ambitious and undistinguished Cabinet being able to agree on an appointee. It is clear that any appointee would run in the election for Leader that must take place unless no opposition to confirmation as Leader is offered. And the chances of that, after the disaster resulting from such action in making Brown leader, are negligible. The proposal that Brown should appoint a deputy to be groomed for leadership takeover runs headlong into the Party rules as there is a deputy Leader already, Harman, who would take over the Party until leadership elections could be held should Brown become 'unavailable'. Brown has refused already to make her deputy prime minister - an office of doubtful validity anyway. Furthermore, the Labour party cannot spend its last effective parliamentary term conducting a leadership election which promises to be particularly vicious as it would involve, too, the dismantling or confirmation of the New Labour Project.


If the New Labour Project is to survive, (and its primary purpose is its own permanence in power), Brown must be supported in office; as he is an electoral disaster under our current democratic arrangements, there seems to be a direct conflict between the Project, the Labour party Rules, and the UK's constitutional system that expects a general election at least once every five years.

Meanwhile the country has an utterly incompetent person holding the barely restricted executive powers of a British Prime Minister.