so tony has lost the 90 day clause battle.
28 days has been seen as being fine.
322 to 291 was the winning margin.
and already mr howard, the conservative party leader, has said that tony blair should go, because he has lost this vote and "failed to carry his party". i believe this is the first vote he as lost since he has come to power.
according to howard's point of view the prime minister of the uk is no more than a football manager; if you lose you should resign. what a stupid view of democracy that is. (and given the examples of tory unity in the past it’s not like they would ever have a leader for more than a month….)
ironically a lot of the opinion polls have supported tony blair's desire to see the 90 days come into affect.
so our elected parliament has seen itself potentially ignore the desires of the populace. no doubt there was some voting in order to give tony a slap, equally there has been votes that have been cast due to their principals.
in a perverse way this is a perfect example of democracy in action.
what i have heard of the debate has been good and approached seriously with little of the shouting down associated with parliament.
just a shame that the tories (so desperate to appear to be a grown up party) have already started calling for blair to resign.
in the end i think parliament got it right with a 28 day clause, but that isn't to say that blair should go. blair provided a clause and it was debated. in the past he has been pilloried for pushing policy through, that there was an open debate should be something to praise. it is after all what democracy is about.
but rather than focus on the fact that this venerable institution has once again proved its worth the tories are trying to score political goals.
no wonder they will never win.
2 comments:
the cryptic title is in reference to the change from 90 days to 28 days rather than the winning margin.
perhaps i should have said it was a craptic comment....
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