LONDON (Reuters) - Speculation about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's future gathered pace on Saturday with media reports of concern amongst senior Labour figures and a new opinion poll putting the Conservatives 22 points ahead.
Ministers have openly spoken of their support for the embattled prime minister but a day after Labour lost one of its safest parliamentary seats, newspapers were rife with rumours of backbenchers were sharpening their knives behind the scenes.
The Guardian newspaper said that discussions were under way at cabinet level on whether to seek Brown's "orderly resignation" while the Independent said Labour MPs were urging senior ministers to tell Brown to quit.
"I do not recognise those comments from the Cabinet colleagues I talk to," Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband told BBC's Newsnight programme when asked about the claims.
"People realise there is a big collective responsibility here -- the collective responsibility is not to turn inwards but to turn outwards and understand the concerns of the country."
The BBC also reported that Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who papers said had been approached by Labour backbench MPs to tell Brown to step down, had told them to "calm down".
The speculation has grown since the Scottish National Party (SNP) snatched a slim 365-vote majority in the Glasgow East constituency with a 22.5 percent swing that overturned the 13,500 majority enjoyed by Labour at the 2005 election.
In further bad news, an opinion poll for the Independent on Saturday showed the Conservatives with 46 percent support of voters, way ahead of Labour on 24 percent.
That would give the Tories a landslide victory at the next general election, which Brown must call by May 2010.
This weekend the party's main policy-making forum is meeting to try to work out how to win back voters disillusioned by a string of political gaffes, rising inflation, falling house prices and a slowing economy.
Brown, whose popularity has slumped in the 13 months since he replaced Tony Blair, has vowed to fight on, saying he is the right man to be at the helm as the country deals with difficult worldwide economic problems.
Former minister David Blunkett backed that stance.
"The issues that affect people are not ones which divide the party or Gordon Brown from any potential successor," he told BBC radio.
"We are not a hatchet job party like the Conservatives who can drop their leader literally at the drop of a hat.
"So grow up, don't go for what might be a popular quick fix that you couldn't actually put in place and let's actually combine in the way we know best and work out what will actually reach people."
Showing posts with label reuters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reuters. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Olympic terror fears as China bus bomb kills two
At least two people were killed by bombs placed on board buses in a southern Chinese city this morning, causing consternation three weeks before the Olympics open.REUTERSThe first explosion happened at 7.05am on board a bus at a stop on People's Road West, one of the main thoroughfares of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. Yunnan borders Vietnam, Burma and Tibet in China's far south.One person was killed and another ten injured, according to local media. Websites showed photographs of the bus with a gaping hole in its side and glass all over the road.The second explosion happened on another bus on the same road about an hour later. Another person was killed and a further four injured.According to some reports, there was a third explosion later in the morning, in which two people were killed and one injured, but this was discounted by some local officials.The motive for the attacks was unclear, but police said they were clearly acts of sabotage."According to preliminary investigations, the explosions were cases of man-made, deliberate sabotage," a spokesman said. Police were using roadblocks and checkpoints in a bid to catch those responsible, according to the state news agency.The authorities have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by terrorism to the Beijing Olympics, using it to justify intense security preparations in the capital.They say there is a particular threat from "Uighur and Tibetan separatism". Uighurs are Muslim, and the main ethnic group in Xinjiang province to the north-west, and police say a Uighur separatist group known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement is linked to al-Qaeda.Yunnan is an ethnically diverse province, home to large numbers of both Tibetans and Muslims. But Chinese cities are also occasionally hit by more mundane acts of terror, in which aggrieved citizens take revenge for lack of legal recourse by random acts of violence.At the weekend, there was a violent riot in a Yunnan town close to the Burmese border about the price a state rubber company was paying local farmers. Two people were shot dead by police as they tried to restore order.
Bank split three ways on best path for interest rates
By Sumeet Desai and Matt Falloon Reuters - 1 hour 53 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) - One Bank of England policymaker wanted to raise interest rates this month and another wanted a cut, but the remaining seven chose to keep them steady as both the inflation and economic growth outlook had deteriorated.
Minutes of the July 9-10 policy meeting on Wednesday showed that hawk Timothy Besley wanted an immediate quarter percentage point increase to 5.25 percent, while dove David Blanchflower argued that a cut was needed to prevent a recession.
This produced the first three-way split on the direction of rates since May 2006 and policymakers said the decision was "a difficult one" as inflation was likely to turn out higher and growth lower than the Bank had forecast in May.
Analysts had forecast an 8-1 vote for steady rates this month, with Blanchflower wanting a cut. Most expect rates to stay put for now before eventually falling as the economy slows.
However, sterling rose and bonds fell as the unexpected vote indicated there was little broad-based support for lower interest rates among policymakers.
If anything, members of the Monetary Policy Committee appeared more inclined to raise rates to defend their reputation as guardians of price stability, but they were also worried about the economic costs of such a move.
"The minutes are certainly more hawkish than we expected," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec. "The committee gave serious consideration to tightening policy this time round.
"The outlook for interest rates looks more uncertain."
STRONG SIGNAL
The minutes said there was little the Bank could do to tame inflation in the near-term, but also said that a rate rise this month could "send a strong signal that it (BoE) was focused on inflation and remained determined to bring it back to target".
Arguing against a move that would have caught markets hopping, however, policymakers noted significant downside risks to the economy -- and hence for inflation in the medium term.
"An increase in the current circumstances, when confidence was low and the financial sector fragile, could impart a downward momentum to the economy that risked a significant undershoot of inflation in the medium term," the minutes said.
Policymakers noted that while official second quarter GDP data due on Friday could turn out slightly stronger than expected, survey evidence and reports from the Bank's own agents suggested the economy was continuing to slow.
"Keeping Bank Rate at 5.0 percent when the economy was slowing was arguably already sending a strong signal of the Monetary Policy Committee's commitment to reducing inflation," the minutes said.
"A rate change this month would be a surprise at a time when credit and other financial markets remained fragile, and any change in rates would be better communicated alongside the Bank's August Inflation Report."
Evidence of a sharply slowing economy continued to roll in on Wednesday, with banks reporting approvals for home loans tumbled by two thirds in June to a record low, pointing to further sharp falls in house prices in the next few months.
The Confederation of British Industry said optimism in the manufacturing sector was at its worst since 2001, although price pressures were at their strongest in more than 18 years.
"It looks as though stable rates are here to stay for several more months," said James Knightley, an economist at ING.
LONDON (Reuters) - One Bank of England policymaker wanted to raise interest rates this month and another wanted a cut, but the remaining seven chose to keep them steady as both the inflation and economic growth outlook had deteriorated.
Minutes of the July 9-10 policy meeting on Wednesday showed that hawk Timothy Besley wanted an immediate quarter percentage point increase to 5.25 percent, while dove David Blanchflower argued that a cut was needed to prevent a recession.
This produced the first three-way split on the direction of rates since May 2006 and policymakers said the decision was "a difficult one" as inflation was likely to turn out higher and growth lower than the Bank had forecast in May.
Analysts had forecast an 8-1 vote for steady rates this month, with Blanchflower wanting a cut. Most expect rates to stay put for now before eventually falling as the economy slows.
However, sterling rose and bonds fell as the unexpected vote indicated there was little broad-based support for lower interest rates among policymakers.
If anything, members of the Monetary Policy Committee appeared more inclined to raise rates to defend their reputation as guardians of price stability, but they were also worried about the economic costs of such a move.
"The minutes are certainly more hawkish than we expected," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec. "The committee gave serious consideration to tightening policy this time round.
"The outlook for interest rates looks more uncertain."
STRONG SIGNAL
The minutes said there was little the Bank could do to tame inflation in the near-term, but also said that a rate rise this month could "send a strong signal that it (BoE) was focused on inflation and remained determined to bring it back to target".
Arguing against a move that would have caught markets hopping, however, policymakers noted significant downside risks to the economy -- and hence for inflation in the medium term.
"An increase in the current circumstances, when confidence was low and the financial sector fragile, could impart a downward momentum to the economy that risked a significant undershoot of inflation in the medium term," the minutes said.
Policymakers noted that while official second quarter GDP data due on Friday could turn out slightly stronger than expected, survey evidence and reports from the Bank's own agents suggested the economy was continuing to slow.
"Keeping Bank Rate at 5.0 percent when the economy was slowing was arguably already sending a strong signal of the Monetary Policy Committee's commitment to reducing inflation," the minutes said.
"A rate change this month would be a surprise at a time when credit and other financial markets remained fragile, and any change in rates would be better communicated alongside the Bank's August Inflation Report."
Evidence of a sharply slowing economy continued to roll in on Wednesday, with banks reporting approvals for home loans tumbled by two thirds in June to a record low, pointing to further sharp falls in house prices in the next few months.
The Confederation of British Industry said optimism in the manufacturing sector was at its worst since 2001, although price pressures were at their strongest in more than 18 years.
"It looks as though stable rates are here to stay for several more months," said James Knightley, an economist at ING.
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