THERE are very few Labour MPs putting their names to their opinions about their leader just now. So journalists reporting what they see as a frenzy over Gordon Brown's future are having to fall back on such time-worn formulae as well- placed source...prominent backbencher...junior minister...cabinet collegue and their readers are left to wonder whether the opinions are of any value if they are not attributable.
So full marks to the Labour MPs Geraldine Smith and Bob Marshall-Andrews who both said yesterday that the prime minister should sack David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, for the article he wrote in The Guardian on Wednesday which has widely been interpreted as a pre-emptive strike against Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership - even though he actually claimed yesterday that it was really an attack on David Cameron and the Conservatives!
They were quite right. As a matter of fact I said more or less the same thing in this space on October 29 last year for a different reason - when Mr Miliband absented himself from official events of the State Visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia - The Foreign Secretary's decision to take paternity leave (for an adopted child) at the precise moment of this State Visit casts serious doubt on Mr Miliband's fitness for the office he holds and Gordon Brown would be wise to ask for his resignation. Very wise, as it has turned out.
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.