Those with an interest in politics will remember when Geoffrey Howe stood in Parliament and asked Tory MPs to reassess their loyalties. The speech wasn’t the beginning of the end, but it certainly was the decisive push which led to Thatcher’s resignation. So will Blair have a Howe moment? With a load of junior resignations announced today, that moment could be nigh.
For this to happen, there needs to be someone of sufficient authority to do the pushing. Brown is an obvious candidate, but with every day he delays the move, the move associated with Blairism he becomes. He tends to make is point by his silences. His silence on the Lebanon crisis is notable. Yet this approach, of remaining silent on issues that are purely Blair’s personal decisions, cannot last for long. People are entitled to ask what he did to stop Blair.
The other candidate of sufficient authority and independence of thought is Straw. He has an added motive, which is his demotion to the post of Leader of the House after the being Foreign Secretary. Already he has demonstrated his independence by saying things about the Lebanon crisis that Blair would not endorse. However, the longer he remains in the backwater, the more his authority lessens.
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