Johnny Bognor

This. Fair play Badger, at least you haven't lost your sense of humour

To be honest it has got Dave off the hook. They are now able to drop policies (that they should have dropped before the election) and now claim they were sacrificed for the common good.

Now you know what it feels like and yes I agree, the country is ****ed and hopefully we can now put that right.

At least we have a PM that will support us in the World Cup, unlike Brown who would at the very least hope we lose. He's a jock and it is in his DNA.

I am glad he has gone. As another human being, I feel sorry for him, but he was the architect of his own downfall. .....but come on BTF, "sound knowledge of economics"......you're having a laugh. No more boom and bust, reducing NI is taking money out of the economy. He is at best naive, if not a liar. I think he should get a job at Ocean Finance as his knowledge of borrowing is second to none.

Would be happy for that. I never understood why the tories didn't ditch Osborne a long time before the election. Clarke (the most successful chancellor in decades) supported by Cable (one of the most respected politicians from a financial/economic perspective). You would have to say that this is the dream team in terms of dealing with the worst financial crisis since WW2. As for a coup for the Lib Dems, there are many tory voters that would see this as a coup for the tories (Osborne is, was and will be a ****).

"Ask not what your party can do for our country, ask what the country can do for your party"?

I wanted Lib/Lab for the same reason (and it's Gordon's mess, let him clean it up).

Cojones (in Spanish terms)

I agree with the FA Cup final run analogy and we did get an easy run - this line of argument was used to counter claims that Lowe got us to the cup final. You can only beat what is put in front of you and we got an easy run. However with the FA Cup, the minnows do want to take part and don't roll over for the favourites. Why did none of the 350+ MP's stand? Was the quality of Labour MPs available so bad that Brown was the best option? Or was it a case of no-one dare stand, due to the consequences?

That's right, because during his very brief tenure there was not one single leadership challenge. Not one, zilch, zip. Actually, I vote for the party manifesto, rather than the party itself and if you look at the current situation (which is far more likely to be repeated under PR), the party/manifesto I voted for will not get implemented and will be watered down by horsetrading. If the future of politics is to have policies from either side diluted by consensus, this will make me less likely to vote.....for anyone, because what would be the point? A fair vote would become a pointless vote.

Brown was not chosen, don't distort the facts. In order to have a choice, it means you have to have more than one option. Don't you ever wonder why out of 350+ MPs not one would stand? It's because it was a stitch up and to pretend otherwise is misleading. That's like me having a 100m sprint in the car park and declaring myself the fastest person in the office. As it was, Major didn't put himself forward in the first round of voting, and only entered the race when Mrs T didn't get enough votes and withdrew. He then had to beat Tarzan and Douglas Hurd. He had to compete for and subsequently won the right to be PM. Brown was given the job, he was not chosen. Had he been chosen, he would have had more legitimacy (and possibly more support from his own MPs).

Oh come on. Can you give me a single MP under the FPTP system that has fought for their local hospital to be closed? Even if they believe hospitals should be closed, it is more likely that they would not be in favour of their local hospital closing and more likely that they would be in favour of hospital closures in other areas. If a local MP fought for the closure of their local hospital they would be booted from their seat at the next election under any voting system.

********, It was a wind up. The clue was in the TV programme.....as if I would watch GMTV

Hi BTF, Thank you for the education lesson. I hope you enjoyed your holidays. You were sadly missed on the run up to the election, it was fun. Now we're really in the ****, I'm not laughing anymore. Regards JB PS Doesn't it make you wonder why no-one would stand?????

Thatcher went which triggered a leadership election..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)_leadership_election,_1990 Therefore John Major was an elected Prime Minister. Brown was given the job and it was a total stich up between Blair and Brown. Had the Labour party voted for and got Brown, he would have had more legitimacy. As it was, we all got stuck with Gordon the Moron by default. Now he has gone, I hope the Labour party go through the process of choosing a leader rather than handing the batton on to Medolsomes new bum boy.

John Major won a leadership election in the party. Can you remind me how Brown was selected?

Ah, didn't you see the article on GMTV this morning regarding proposed industrial action at Calais and Boulogne????

PR may be democratic but that still doesn't mean it is fair. PR will generally deliver more hung parliaments and the current situation will become the norm. I voted on the basis of a manifesto for the next parliament and what I am going to get will be watered down at the very least. That is not what I voted for and so although my vote might not count for something, when it does count, I won't get what I voted for anyway. What's the point?

John Major was elected by the MP's which were chosen by the electorate to represent them. Brown was given the job without a single vote being cast. There is a difference......

My decision to go on a weeks cruise from Soton with the kids at half term is vindicated what with the Ash and BA/Unite. Don't worry, I'll send a postcard (that's if they don't go on strike too)

I agree with Nick

Me and St Jason may disagree on politics, but I can vouch for him 100%. He broke the NOTW Avram Grant story long before they did and he doesn't need to bull****. If this is what he has been told then he has been told it - St Jase has better things to do rather than waste time spreading bull**** rumours on an Internet forum. If Ladbrokes have closed the books, then they've closed the books. Read into that what you will, but there is no smoke without fire.....

I am not sure how these talks wil play out. The Lib Dems turned up 15 minutes early this morning, the tories haven't yet arrived. If the Lib Dems eat all the Custard Creams before the tories get there, there will be big trouble.

.... and then went to Chicken Land