Goodbye IDS, but what happens now?

[mentalbunny]

I expect all who live in Britain know about the outcome of the vote of confidence in IDS' leadership, what do you make of it, if indeed you care at all?

My family are very central in comparison to most of the members in this board (my dad's a member of the Lib Dems) so they've been discussing what kind of impact this could have on the UK, does anyone here have any opinions?

[Saint-Just]

There is already a thread about this. Anyway, I can't see that it will signify any movement in the politics of the Conservatives. I do not think Portillo will become leader although I heard he is standing. This is because he drags too much 'dirty laundry' around with him Not everyone knows this, but he has a lot of stories that will come out if he becomes party leader, and they would make sure he did not last very long at all. Ken Clark is too pro-Europe to become leader.

They will likely lose the next election regardless and so they will probably elect a new leader following that. It is interesting but perhaps inconsequential for the success of the Conservatives.

[Intifada]

i live in scotland and heard that a guy named howard will be the next leader and that nobody else is standing against him.

what i dont like is that there is nobody to take out blair. i hate the cons, and think that their in-fighting has ruined them. however i also hate blair, and labour. i wouldnt mind the lib dems taking control, but i cant see this happening.

i cannot vote yet, but my family votes for the scottish socialist party, and they did well in the last election

i also heard that george galloway is thinking of creating a party based on the "stop the war" campaign. is this true?

[ComradeRobertRiley]

I believe so yes, I have heared he is going to be standing as an independant

[toastedmonkey]

I think they have left it very late to change leader, in respect to the next election.

They cant win now, not that i expected them to anyway. I imagine labour will end up winning quite comfertablely.

I will be eligable to vote at the next election, and occasionally in the Common Room at school, the topic of who will you be voting for comes up.

Often people say, im not voting, but when im asked and i say probbaly the green party, they acuse me of wasting my vote?&#33;?&#33; <_<

Ive argued that, i wouldnt vote for any of the three main parties, as i dont want to be responsible for the atrocities they will surely cause.
But if enough do the same as me, and somehow the green party got in, though they might not be particularly great on some issues at least they will get things right, unlike so many other governments

[Socialsmo o Muerte]

I didn&#39;t see this post here and started the same thing in Politics&#33; Arrrrgh.

Anyway, I think with Michael Howard at it&#39;s head (as looks likely) the Tory party will be no different. Policy-wise, he is the same as IDS, but time will tell whether or not he&#39;ll make a better leader, which is not hard at all.

People are beginning to wonder about the Tories getting even more right wing and electing Howard in will be safe for the party as he is conservative (small &#39;c&#39;). As for the next election, well Howards early days of his leadership are crucial either way. I don&#39;t think you can say now that Labour will win easily next time because of this. They will either win easily or the Howard will make such a good early impression as a new leader that the Tories will win. Remember how impressionable the British public are with new leaders...look what happened with the introduction of a certain Mr. Blair into the mainstream British political picture.

Howard has his work cut out.

[Funky Monk]

Think Howard will get it automatically, everone else dipping out for the good of the party.

But i think his main objective may be to try to unify (gasp) the party. He cant get elected, especially with the baggage from the poll tax. Perhaps he can provide a foundation and start the rebuilding that may lead to the New Tories.

How long do you think it will take for a credible candidate to emerge from the Tory mass? Id go for at leat 5 years.

[The Feral Underclass]

Michael Howerd is most definatly going to be the next tory leader. What effect on the party as a whole I don&#39;t know. The papers have been saying constantly that Howard is a real challenge to Blair as a parlimentarian which I think will work well, in parliment. They [Tories] have been concentrating too much attention on whether or not their leader can out-wit Blair and whether they can stand up to news reporters. I cant see how this will win an election but hey, who cares.

I am pretty confident anyway that Labour will get back into power. Blair will have a tuff time at the polls, especially if Brown stands against him, which I think is going to be the case. It&#39;s my oppinion that Brown has more support with grass root MP&#39;s than blair so it may be that Blair loses and Brown becomes the new Prime Minister.

i wouldnt mind the lib dems taking control, but i cant see this happening.

Yes I suppose it would be interesting to see the Lib Dems in power, I have not been alive long enough to have seen a Liberal government. What we must understand though is that neither the Labour, the Tories or the Lib Dems are going to change anything in society. They all wish to defend capitalism and will sell out the workers when ever it suits them. They are all the same things simply packaged and presented in a different way. Reformist parties such as these will never solve the problems of society and they will never free the workers from wage-slavery...do not trust them, whether they wear red, blue or yellow ribbons&#33;

Ive argued that, i wouldnt vote for any of the three main parties, as i dont want to be responsible for the atrocities they will surely cause.
But if enough do the same as me, and somehow the green party got in, though they might not be particularly great on some issues at least they will get things right, unlike so many other governments

Like i just said any party that wishes to maintain capitalism is never going to "do the right thing". Capitalism is what causes societies problems. I wont go into a deep discussion about it now, but the jist is that capitalism can not be altered. It can not be reformed or changed. Unless the green party wish to overthrow capitalism in its full, they are never going to be able to avoid "atrocities" you speak about. The biggest atrocity of all is allowing big business to walk all over the workers. The green party have no agenda to stop that from happening. They may give a few concessions, but this will not free society or the people in it. The Green party is slightly better than the Lib Dems, but no more. Do not be fooled by these liberal twurps with wishy-washy ideals about saving the planet. These people have no more of a clue than the Tories. We need to fight for a society which is fundamentally different to the one we have now and the ballot box is not going to do that.

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