“I think we have got to respect the results of the general election and we can’t get away from the fact that Labour didn’t win.”
Thus spoke Labour Cabinet member Andy Burnham on hearing that The Weasels (Mandelson and Campbell) had cobbled together a cunning plan to construct a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition by persuading Gordon to promise to resign by October once a new Labour leader had been elected.
He wasn’t the only angry Labour voice
It’s not just David Blunkett, John Reid and Tom Harris speaking out against the idea of a Lab-Lib coalition. Andy Burnham has now broken cover on BBC World at One and said the election decision should be respected. At Cabinet yesterday, he spoke out against the idea of a rainbow coalition, as did Bob Ainsworth, Sadiq Khan and Jack Straw.
The weasels’ wheeze (with Brown’s full support)was to bring together all the “Progressive” forces (Labour, Lib Dem, Scottish Nationalists etc etc) into an anti-Tory Lovefest that would consign the forces of Reaction to the dustbin of history.
There was only one problem – if there’s anything a Progressive hates more than a Reactionary it’s another Progressive. Most Labour MPs hate Lib Dems more than Tories and Scottish Labourites (and they are legion) loathe the SNP…..and, above all, most Labour MPs dislike Mandelson and Campbell who both spent the Blair years bullying and knifing anyone who stepped out of line. When Brown brought them back two years ago to act as his minders that dislike morphed into detestation.
For years, however, fear of the Weasels was greater than hatred so they were able to strut the stage with impunity. But even as they were busy orchestrating Brown’s five month exit people like Burnham sensed power draining away from Mandelson and Campbell – it became Labour’s Vichy France 1944 moment. The Lib Dems returned to the Con/Lib table and the Weasels were left spinning in the wind.
Savour this picture from The Times – it is a Mandelson/Campbell nightmare. David Cameron and his wife Samantha about to enter 10 Downing Street, the new tenants of a house that for thirteen years echoed to the footsteps of the Weasels as they prowled the halls of power – and now they have been evicted.
“Ultio dulcis est” as the Romans said “Revenge is sweet”
