An Englishman's Castle

Losing his grip on Scotland - Scotsman.com News

THE rift between Gordon Brown and the Scottish Labour Party deepened last night, as Wendy Alexander openly defied his orders by pushing ahead with her plans for an independence vote.

The Prime Minister has long regarded Scotland as his personal power base, but he appeared to be losing his grip on Scottish Labour as Ms Alexander ploughed on with calls for the SNP to bring forward its referendum bill to next week.

Her move means Mr Brown no longer seems to have control over what happens north of the Border, leading Tory leader David Cameron to say: "He's lost his authority."

To this day, the reasons for the mutiny are a subject of considerable debate. Some believe that Bligh was a cruel tyrant whose abuse of the crew led members of the crew to feel that they had no choice but to take the ship from Bligh. Others believe that the crew, inexperienced and unused to the rigours of the sea and, after having been exposed to freedom and sexual excess on the island of Tahiti, refused to return to the "Jack Tars" existence of a seaman. They were "led" by a weak Fletcher Christian and were only too happy to be free from Bligh's acid tongue. They believe that the crew took the ship from Bligh so that they could return to a life of comfort and pleasure on Tahiti.

Wendy is busy positioning herself for a life after Brown, he's a done force especially in Scotland so it is no longer politic to be hiding under his coat tails now that the police have gone away. Expect to see more Brownies declaring their independence but carefully not challenging Brown. His one use now to the party is to lead the party into the next election and take the blame for the defeat.