As I have already confessed, I have incurred the sympathetic derision of commenters here with my various and variously expressed hopes-stroke-predictions that Gordon Brown will, within a matter of days, or weeks, or just soon, no longer be our Prime Minister. But just when I had resigned myself to Mr Brown’s non-resignation, that is to say to him not being ejected from Downing Street with whatever would be the necessary degree of force by a delegation of Labour Party heavies appalled by the damage that Mr Brown is doing to the Labour Party (even as they remain stubbornly indifferent to the damage he might also be doing to the mere country), and thus resigned also to the consequent hell of Mr Brown remaining our Prime Minister for another fourteen months, this happens. This being a petition to the Prime Minister, begging him to resign.
Even if it fails in its ultimate purpose, this petition may surely do some good. It may, for instance, show the Labour Party rank-and-file something of the odd mixture of fear and contempt now felt towards Mr Brown and his hangers-on (hanging on being all that they now seem able to think about) by almost all British non-tax-guzzlers, and many others besides. This in its turn may cause Labour supporters to join in by adding their own names to the electronic heep, if only to earn a few shreds of national gratitude for their now apparently supine and utterly corrupted Party.
Better yet, this petition, if it takes off as I think it might, may put a rocket up David Cameron’s rear end, to tell him to stop merely waiting for the country to fall into his lap like a rotten apple (while carefully refraining from telling us what he would then do with it other than allow the rot to continue), and get him instead to start saying that the rot should stop, and saying how. (Basically: which government activities should be closed down, now.) In due course, and I realise that it goes against the grain around here to be saying such a thing, Mr Cameron might even become the kind of Prime Minister who might actually stop some of that rot.
Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale have already linked to and given their support to this petition. Both have insisted that they don’t usually ‘do’ government petitions, but both of them sense that this one could be something else again. No doubt other bloggers have already added their voices to what I trust is now a chorus, saying similar things, and if they have, I think that all of them – Guido, Dale and all – are right. This could get very big, very fast.
” … Mr Cameron might even become the kind of Prime Minister who might actually stop some of that rot.”
Dream on. Seriously! Dream on.
David Cameron *isn’t going to do that*. He has no interest in closing anything down. He’s going to expand the government, or diffuse it further might be a more accurate term- he’s already made it clear the “Third Sector” are going to be given a much bigger trough to snout in.
There aren’t going to be any liberal/libertarian/small government reforms. He’s going to shuffle things around while using a few buzzwords to soothe us, like “choice” and “putting experts in charge” and “letting doctors make the decisions” and “letting teachers get on with teaching” and leviathan is going to expand some more.
I don’t know why people are having trouble grasping this. He’s said it all plainly enough.
Ian B, how do you think he is going to pay for it ?
By hanging from a lampost perhaps?… though I’d prefer things not to come to that.
Perhaps someone would explain this to me:
Why are the writers of Samizdata so keen on Brown resigning? What is the point? I mean. It’s not like Cameron is going to be better.